The Colorado Avalanche scored a record eight goals on opening night.
Nathan MacKinnon scored twice. Artturi Lehkonen scored twice. Brock Nelson had three points. The power play scored four times.
It was about as good as an offensive performance as the Avalanche could have hoped for.
And yet, Jared Bednar wasn't exactly ready to celebrate everything.
The Avalanche coach had one particularly blunt assessment after Colorado's 8-4 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.
“The rush coverage? Woof. It was rough. Guys just still a little bit in shinny mode, not enough talk, but all fixable. All fixable.”
That's not exactly what you want to hear after scoring eight goals.
Bednar also pointed to a lack of communication and said some of Colorado's defensive habits still needed work. The good news is that he doesn't believe the problems are difficult to fix.
The Avalanche just showed how dangerous they can be offensively. But if their defensive habits don't catch up, those offensive fireworks could eventually become necessary just to win games.
The Avalanche have time to fix their defensive problems
There is a pretty obvious reason not to overreact.
It was one game.
The Avalanche had an unusually short preseason runway, and this was the first regular-season game for a number of new players trying to learn Colorado's systems and play alongside unfamiliar teammates.
That's going to create some mistakes.
The rush coverage problems were particularly noticeable because the Kings were able to generate dangerous opportunities in transition, while both of their shorthanded goals came off rush chances. Colorado also surrendered four goals despite controlling much of the game.
But this is exactly the kind of thing Bednar should be addressing now.
The Avalanche don't need to change their identity. They don't need to suddenly become a defensive-first team.
It seems that it’s just a matter of focusing on fundamentals such as better communication, positioning, and an overall improved transition game.
That’s something that should improve as the entire squad gets more comfortable as the season wears on. The coaching staff still has plenty of time to iron out the kinks.
And there is plenty of reason to believe they will.
After all, the Avalanche finished last season with the NHL's best regular-season record and then added more talent over the offseason. This is not a team suddenly searching for an identity.
But that doesn't mean there isn't a warning here.
Colorado's offense is going to win plenty of games. MacKinnon, Lehkonen, Nelson, Cale Makar and the rest of the Avalanche attack showed that immediately.
The question is whether the defense can become reliable enough that the offense doesn't have to score six, seven or eight goals to make those victories comfortable.
That's the real takeaway from opening night.
The Avalanche can afford to be a little sloppy in September.
They can't still be this sloppy in November.
If Bednar's defensive concerns disappear as the season progresses, Wednesday's chaos will be little more than an entertaining opening-night footnote.
If the rush coverage remains “rough,” however, that eight-goal explosion may eventually look less like a dominant performance and more like a warning.
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