Dater: After Winless Week, Some Worries Emerging
Power play, Landeskog among them
The record is 5-1-4 after 10 games. That’s a .700 point percentage. Only one time so far this season, the Colorado Avalanche left regulation without at least a point in the pocket. So why do things seem so worrisome right now?
Because, the real record is: five wins, five losses. Yeah, four have been OT or SO losses, but losses nonetheless.
Today’s 4-3 OT loss to the New Jersey Devils was the most aggravating of the OT/SO losses so far, at least in my estimation. It was lost in the same manner in which they lost the other night in Utah in OT - off a Nathan MacKinnon giveaway in the offensive zone, followed by a Keystone Kops fire drill defense getting back that ended with Jack Hughes roofing one past Avs goalie Trent Miner.
The fact that MacKinnon did not start OT gives you an idea, perhaps, at how Jared Bednar is getting more nervous putting him out there. He just has shown a tendency i his career to give pucks away, then get caught too deep to get back on defense. Then, game over.
Of course, MacKinnon has won games in OT as well. You have to play him in a 3-on-3 game. But the fact is, the Avs have never been very good in OT under Bednar, and MacKinnon has been on the ice for many, many losing OT goals against.
OK, but Nathan MacKinnon is not the most worrisome aspect of the Avs’ season so far. What is worrisome is:
