Colorado Avalanche Fall out of Playoff Bracket with Canucks Loss

The Colorado Avalanche’s most recent loss dropped them out of the playoff bracket. The team is failing.

The Colorado Avalanche have dropped out of a playoff spot for the first time this season. They dropped a regulation loss to the Vancouver Canucks, who were right behind them in the standings. Presto-chango, the Avs are outside looking in.

It was a booger of a game. There were flashes of good play. However, the Avalanche were down 2-0 pretty early in the first period, and it never got better.

It would be easy to blame the goal tending. Semyon Varlamov gave up two goals on his first two shots. He finished the game with a .808 save percentage.

It would also be easy to blame the defensemen. They haven’t been great in recent games. Quite often they’ve been downright bad. And they haven’t had the goalie to back them up. (And the goalie hasn’t had the defense to back him up.)

It would be easy to blame offense. They scored just one goal, and that from third-line forward Matt Calvert with a big assist from defenseman Nikita Zadorov. The top line was held off the scoresheet completely — looks like they used all their mojo in the All Star Game.

Apparently we’re not allowed to blame the coach. According to Avs insider Adrian Dater, upper management “doesn’t think he is the problem right now.”

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I mean, he’s implemented what The Athletic’s Ryan Clark calls The Collapse defense which results in a pair of defenders flanking the goalie with the other three ringing around the rosey, er, rest of the defensive zone. The problem with that system is that it relies on the forwards’ commitment to playing defense. If that doesn’t happen, Bednar himself calls the defensive scheme “impossible.”

We also have that ridiculous approach to line making. He makes lines that have no purpose — Nathan MacKinnon with Alexander Kerfoot and Colin Wilson? Then he doesn’t give promising lines time to find their chemistry. In all, he changes lines so frequently, it’s no wonder the forwards look like they don’t know where their linemates are.

But we’re not blaming the coach, gotcha.

I’m at least going to blame some basics. We’re not seeing players play their game. I don’t know when was the last time I saw Samuel Girard effect the spin-o-rama or Erik Johnson glide like a predator down the ice. MacKinnon hasn’t looked dangerous in weeks. Both Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen are back to falling down all over the ice.

And we’re all “What the hey” about our goalies. And Tyson Barrie… we alternate wanting to shoot him a kiss or shoot him into the sun.

Instead of playing the crisp hockey that got them into the playoff bracket to begin with, they’re playing the loosey goosey hockey that dropped them out of the playoffs in 2016.

The Colorado Avalanche have two days off before another home game, this time against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Time to dig deep.