Some teams would have liked to do better in the first weeks of the regular schedule of the National Hockey League (NHL) and this is the case of the Colorado Avalanche, who despite all his talent tears off.
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Affected by injuries and suspensions to some of their players along the way, the Denver roster has a disappointing 4-5-1 record so far and enjoyed five days off before hosting the Vancouver Canucks. , Thursday. It is true that his striker Mikko Rantanen missed three games with a lower body injury, before returning to action on Saturday. However, his teammates should have led the clubs to quick wins and victories are slow to come. It seems that the lack of consistency is obvious, too much to the liking of some.
“The third period was probably one of the worst we’ve played,” Rantanen told NHL.com after the 4-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets last weekend. We had no legs, either on offense or defense. […] We were slow defensively and not physical enough. Sometimes it felt like we were playing effortlessly. “
Girard hardly
However, the statistics in attack are interesting for the key elements of the club, apart from Rantanen, who claims five points in seven games as well as a record of -5. Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Nazem Kadri each have 10 points to their credit. On the other hand, the power play of the Avalanche, penultimate place in the NHL with a 10.5% winning percentage, will have to do a lot more.
It is rather behind that the whole thing gets complicated. Cale Makar has six, but his differential of -8 is hard to forget. For his part, Quebecer Samuel Girard is in trouble with three assists in eight duels and a -7 record.
Also, despite the drinking performance of goaltender Darcy Kuemper (4-4-0, 2.89 goals-against average and .908 save rate), Colorado maintained the second-worst goals-conceded average on the league. Bettman at 3.60; only the poor Arizona Coyotes (4.00) did worse.
In the Central Section standings, head coach Jared Bednar’s squad are sixth. Before the start of the regular season, many observers expected her to dominate the Western Conference.
Without MacKinnon
If the Colorado Avalanche are to find their way back to victory, they will have to do so without Nathan MacKinnon, who will miss three weeks of activity with a lower body injury.
That’s what head coach Jared Bednar said after his team’s training on Wednesday. MacKinnon was injured on Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets in a game where he still spent 20:40 on the ice.
MacKinnon had already missed two games this season, the club’s first two, as he had to go through COVID-19 protocol.