Colorado Avalanche Play Game 2 of Turnaround against Blue Jackets

The Colorado Avalanche need to get on the winning side of things if they want to have any hope of turning the season around.

If the Colorado Avalanche are going to turn their season around, it begins tonight. Actually, it needed to begin Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks. The Avs lost 5-1, though, so let’s move on from that game.

We all have a strong opinion of what needs to change for the Avalanche to turn their season around. Most of us will point to goal tending. However, scoring and defense haven’t exactly been with the team recently either.

Anyway, the turnaround has to happen period by period, shift by shift. Indeed, we should all be watching the first shift of the Avalanche closely. They need to come out flying and determined.

Tonight marks the second and final time the two teams will meet this season. Previously, they played in Columbus in early October. Colorado lost — oops.

Columbus is holding on to the last wild card spot in the East by virtue of three points. Colorado, of course, dropped out of the bracket when they lost to the Vancouver Canucks.

How to Enjoy the Game

Game time: February 5, 7:00 pm MT
TV Networks: ALT,  FS-O (Jackets’ Feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (FM 92.5)

Goalie Tandem

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I don’t know why the Colorado Avalanche’s goal tending went careening off a cliff. Going into the season, it seemed as if we’d be one of the teams that was better set up in net, with two goalies fighting for the number-one spot.

Well, fighting for that number-one spot has looked more like fighting for the number-two spot. While Semyon Varlamov’s stats are marginally better 00 2.89 GAA and .905 save percentage against 3.38 GAA and .891 save percentage — neither goalie has been putting up winning numbers over the last two months.

Thus far, the hope has been that one of the goalie would get hot. Tonight would be a good night for that to happen.

Winning Culture

Are you going to roast me if I talk about a Stanley Cup attitude? Well, at this point, I’d be happy with a winning mindset.

You don’t get to the NHL if you’re not hyper-competitive. Once you get there, though, sometimes… complacency happens. Or it seems to anyway.

Hockey isn’t just about putting together a talented lineup. There’s a certain amount of psychology and even sociology — it’s the intangibles you hear pundits and coaches talking about. Well, in some cases, those intangibles can be just as important as skill.

The Colorado Avalanche need to develop a winning culture. Too often their mindset seems to be they only succeed when they perceive themselves as the underdog.  That’s not a winning… I’m going to say it — attitude.

The Avs need to channel the winning attitude that got them to the upper echelons of hockey.