Colorado Avalanche are Having No Puck Luck

The Colorado Avalanche have portrayed 2 excellent offensive performances to start off the Canadian road trip, however they are an abysmal 0-2.

The Colorado Avalanche have outshot the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames a combined 76-37. However, the Avalanche have been outscored 12-7. Excluding two empty net goals, that’s allowing 10 goals on 35 shots against. Now first things first, you win games by scoring goals, and there is one golden rule regarding shots on net and the resulting goal. You only need one shot to score.

Another issue regarding shots on goal is the quality of the shots. A team can have 35 shots on goal and not one quality scoring chance, where a team who has 14 shots can score 5 goals.

With saying all of this, the Avalanche do not fall under the lack of quality shots category. In watching the last two games, the Avalanche have been the dominant team for minutes at a time. Then in an instant, in Winnipeg, the Jets proceed to have a 2 on 2 rush that -twice- proceeded to be a two on one and a goal, following an Avalanche miscommunication.

There was an even more abundantly clear scenario, in the third period last night -and for that matter all game- the Avalanche were the team creating chances. The trio of Nathan Mackinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen were outshooting the Flames 22-2 while they were on the ice last night.

Then Calgary proceeds down the ice for Mark Giordano to miss the net by a few feet, but to somehow hit off Michael Frolik’s knee pad and bounce right past Semyon Varlamov.

No Puck Luck

There is only one way to reverse the curse of puck luck, and as hard as it seems , the Colorado Avalanche need to continue to work the same way and eventually the puck luck WILL come. The lack of puck luck is just not in the offense’s dismay.

More from Mile High Sticking

Everybody surrounding the Colorado Avalanche organization, from Joe Sakic to myself, a die-hard fan, is well aware that the Avs are not a team built to win hockey games 1-0 and 2-1. We have an offensive juggernaut in the first line and an array of young, untapped talent behind them.

We all understand that the Avalanche usually give up 30 + shots per game and are basically conceding 2 or 3 every game. But allowing 10 goals on 35 shots as I alluded to earlier, will not get it done. It won’t get it done in any league at any level, but especially the National Hockey League.

The Avs need a goaltender who can, against all odds, make a giant save when it’s needed most. Semyon Varlamov has made those big saves for us late in games numerous times in the past few years, but seems to not be able to find that save this year. His goalie partner and hopeful Avalanche goalie of the future, Phillip Grubauer, hasn’t made that game-changing save either.

I don’t believe that Varly and Grubi have played terrible as they have been on the wrong end of the puck luck. They are constantly facing odd-man rushes and breakaways, which is something the Avalanche desperately need to work on, but in the end, they are NHL starting caliber goaltenders who need to make that big save to keep the avalanche in the game.

Is the Answer Pavel Francouz?

Maybe, maybe not? Let’s try it out. Let’s give him a start. We need a spark. Worse case scenario he gives up 4 goals on 14 shots and we are right back where we are. He has looked strong in his relief appearances and is deserving for a shot.

Ultimately, the Colorado Avalanche need to put their heads down and get back to work as the puck luck will find them hopefully as soon as Saturday in Montreal.

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