This one was ugly from the jump, and the final score only made it louder.
Colorado’s 9-6-1 record still looks respectable on paper after 16 games, but that number is not the real problem. The Avalanche keep getting blown apart, and too many of those meltdowns have come on the road against teams that haven’t exactly been lighting the league on fire.
Tuesday night in Columbus was the latest example. The Blue Jackets came in ranked 29th in the NHL in goals per game, then turned around and posted their most productive offensive night of the season in a 7-2 win at Nationwide Arena. That’s the kind of result that makes the recent stretch feel less like a bad night and more like a bad habit.
The pattern has been hard to ignore. Philadelphia beat Colorado two weeks ago while sitting on just one win through its first 10 games, and the Flyers scored three on the Avs.
Winnipeg, which ranks 31st in the league in goals, put three past Mackenzie Blackwood when the Avalanche visited on Oct. 7.
Chicago, with the NHL’s 30th-ranked offense, got out to a quick two-goal lead Monday before Colorado rallied to steal a win and avoid another road collapse. And then there was Nashville, where the Avalanche gave up six goals to a Predators team ranked 23rd in scoring and playing the second night of a back-to-back.
Tuesday’s loss checked nearly every bad box.
Scott Wedgewood started and was pulled after giving up four goals on nine shots. Blackwood entered in relief and allowed three more on 15 shots. Colorado was down just 28 seconds into the game, then watched Columbus pour in four goals in the second period.
The power play never really got going, either. Nazem Kadri’s goal on a two-man advantage was the lone bright spot there. Elsewhere, the numbers were brutal: Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas and Artturi Lehkonen all finished minus-3, and the same was true for the top defensive pair of Cale Makar and Devon Toews.
There wasn’t much to salvage. The Avalanche looked out of sync, outworked and out of answers.
Jared Bednar has plenty to sort through, and quickly. October and November losses are one thing. Getting handled like this is another.
The bad news didn’t stop with Colorado, either. While the Avalanche were getting rolled, the rest of the Central Division’s upper tier was stacking points.
Dallas beat Washington in regulation, Minnesota did the same against Philadelphia, and Utah knocked off Toronto. That leaves Colorado in fourth place behind all three of those clubs, with the margin for error shrinking by the day.
There was at least one small bright spot for Colorado. Valeri Nichushkin scored his second goal of the season and picked up his first multi-point game with his new team, and he did it against his former team.
In Other News...
Avalanche Sent A Message After Cale Makar Took A Scary Hit
The Avalanche had to settle themselves quickly at United Center after falling behind 2-0, but they answered with the kind of push that usually says plenty about a teams mood. Nazem Kadri and Jaden Schwartz each scored twice, Devon Toews added an empty-netter, and Colorado turned a rough opening stretch into a 5-2 win over the Blackhawks. Mackenzie Blackwood backed it up with 21 saves, and the comeback came after a goaltender interference challenge wiped out a potential Chicago goal.
For Colorado, the result mattered not just in the standings but in the tone it set after Cale Makar absorbed a scary hit. The Avalanche did not let the moment linger, instead leaning into a more forceful response and taking control of the game from there. It was the sort of road victory that can carry a little extra weight, especially when a team is looking to show it can handle adversity and still finish the night on its terms. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Kucherov Buzz Comes With One Massive Roster Problem
The chatter around Nikita Kucherov and Colorado has a way of grabbing attention, and for good reason. A player of that caliber naturally gets tied to any contender with championship aspirations, especially when his next contract is expected to land in the same neighborhood as other recent blockbuster deals. For the Avalanche, though, the appeal is easy to understand even if the fit is not.
Colorados bigger issue is not whether Kucherov would improve the roster, but how the roster would make room for him. The cap picture is tight, the current group already has a defined shape, and there is not an obvious need that would force a major shuffle just to chase a star of his stature. That leaves the Avalanche in the familiar position of admiring the idea from afar while the practical hurdles do most of the talking. [Read more 🡒]
Landeskog Set The Tone As Colorado Found Something Again
The Avalanche have found a little rhythm again, and it started with the kind of push that usually travels well. After dropping three straight on the road, Colorado has now strung together three wins, with Gabe Landeskog helping set the tone, Nazem Kadri breaking out of a scoring slump and Mackenzie Blackwood giving the team steady work in net. It has been the sort of stretch that reminds everyone how quickly the mood can change when the details start lining up.
Colorado also looked sharp in the latest game in a way that tends to matter in the long run, going perfect on the penalty kill and keeping opponents from grabbing easy momentum. With Landeskog providing a spark, Kadri finding his touch again and Blackwood continuing to stack up wins, the Avalanche suddenly look a lot more like a team with answers than one searching for them. The bigger question now is whether this is the start of something more durable or just a useful reset after a rough road trip. [Read more 🡒]