No Excuses This Time

Injuries or not, Avalanche gave a half-baked effort and lost to worst team in NHL and NOW it's time to worry some

Maybe it really is just one of those years. Maybe we should all just be gratetful for that Stanley Cup and the parade and the Cup-lifting photos and the pageantry and that vicarious pride and joy every fan feels when their team wins a championship trophy, and leave it at that. Maybe it’s just time to replay all those wonderful moments from last spring and turn off the Avalanche live games for now.

Because, let’s face it, the Avalanche are just a bad product to watch right now. A woeful stretch of play lately reached a nadir with a 3-2 loss to the 10-25-4, Patrick Kane-less Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center tonight. The Avalanche dads were all at the game. Maybe they should all send their sons to their rooms right now, take away the car keys.

That was a terrible loss tonight, and one that I think is going to be tough to overcome in many ways. A tired, frustrated team is only that much moreso after playing another sloppy, uninspired game against the worst team in the league. Colorado is 1-6-1 in the last eight games. They are 14 points back of the Dallas Stars (OK, sure, three games in hand still and “win percentage” in the standings and yadda, yadda, yadda) in the Central Division.