Next-Day Avalanche Observations

Rough night for Annunen and the D, deadline gossip plus my NHL 3 Best Bets for tonight

“We’re checking with our eyes,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said after last night’s 7-5 loss to the New Jersey Devils.

Whenever Bednar says something like that, you know 1. The Avs lost, 2. He’s not happy with how the team worked.

Correct on both counts in this case. Bednar, whose No. 1 mantra to his teams is check their you know whats off, didn’t get that in the loss to Jersey, one that dropped them back to third place in the Central Division (one point behind Minnesota, four points behind Dallas, with two games in hand each).

“They found too much space too easily,” Bednar said. “We had to be harder and heavier early, and more engaged to check the puck.”

About the play of goalie Justus Annunen, Bednar took the diplomatic approach:

“We hung him out to dry on way too many chances in the first period,” he said. “There’s some saves I would have liked to have seen him make, for sure. But he did make a handful of big saves when we were pushing in the second period. It’s a learning process, for sure. I don’t know that either goalie had a great night.”

THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS

• Frankly, I was really surprised Annunen got the start at all. If the Avs were going to play a backup to give Alexandar Georgiev some rest, I would have thought they’d start Keith Kincaid. You know, the guy they gave up an asset (Shane Bowers) for?