Sunday Notes: Sudden Avs Defensive Struggles

Plus: More thoughts on the deadline and 3 Best Bets for Sunday

Fourteen goals against in the last two games, both losses. Twenty-two games to go in the regular season. An eight-point deficit again in the battle for first in the Central Division (but with three games in hand still).

For the Avalanche, tonight is something of a must-win probably if they still want to win the division and, maybe, the Western Conference.

The Seattle Kraken is the opponent. They’ve won three in a row and are 6-3-1 in the last 10. Alexandar Georgiev should be in net tonight, and he needs to rebound from a horrific performance yesterday that saw him get lifted in favor of Keith Kincaid.

About yesterday, the 7-3 loss to Dallas on national television:

“I didn’t think we did a very good job handling their forecheck,” Jared Bednar said. “Two of their first three goals, we kind of turned pucks over.”

Indeed. The No. 1 thing I’ve noticed the last two games is that the Avs are getting hemmed in too much in their own zone and turning pucks over. That’s leading to scrambling around, missed assignments and pucks in the back of the net.

The Avs win when THEY get in on the forecheck and create turnovers. Then, they counterattack with numbers and create havoc for the opposition. Time to get back to that night, or else the division will start to become more of an afterthought again.

“If we get back to playing the way we’re capable of playing, it could be a race,” Bednar said.

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