The Colorado offense was scary to begin this season, but now it’s scary how cold the Avalanche are with the puck.
Colorado won its first six games by averaging 4.7 goals a game but has been held scoreless in its past two. The Avalanche hope to find the back of the net again when they host the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night.
Colorado’s struggles on the offensive end were a little surprising, especially coming on the road against Pittsburgh and Buffalo, two teams struggling at the onset of the year. The Avalanche managed just 23 shots on goal against the Sabres while suffering consecutive shutout losses for the first time in seven years.
“I just think at the moment right now, I don’t know if we’ve just gotten complacent as a team,” defenseman Cale Makar said. “You come off six wins and everyone is gung ho, but then you get punched in the face in Pittsburgh a little bit, and then it was the same (against Buffalo). If anything, it’s just a reality check to reset the boys.”
Makar didn’t practice Tuesday and his status for Wednesday hasn’t been announced. Makar went into the boards in the second period against the Sabres and his right leg bent awkwardly. He was helped off the ice, went to the locker room but returned to the game.
Fellow defenseman Bowen Byram was also absent from practice on Tuesday, but coach Jared Bednar said at least one of the two will play against St. Louis. The Avalanche did recall defenseman Caleb Jones and forward Riley Tufte from the Colorado Eagles of the AHL.
Bednar may start backup goaltender Ivan Prosvetov on Wednesday night. Alexandar Georgiev started the first eight games while Prosvetov played the final 8:05 at Pittsburgh, his only action this year.
Georgiev has been playing well, and Prosvetov starting for the Avalanche might give the Blues a chance to get their offense going. St. Louis has scored just 14 goals through seven games, ahead of only San Jose’s nine goals, and is coming off of a 5-0 loss at Vancouver on Friday night.
Head coach Craig Berube has used the four-day break to shuffle his lines to create more scoring chances. At a recent practice, he moved Kasperi Kapanen to the top line to play with Rob Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich and dropped Jordan Kyrou on a line with Brayden Schenn and Brandon Saad.
“I think just a little more balance that way, but also we’re not producing like we should be,” Berube said. “Mix it up a little bit and see if we can get some more goals.”
Kyrou is happy to be playing with Schenn and Saad to get something going offensively. The Blues have scored more than three goals once — a 4-2 win over Pittsburgh — and have two or fewer goals in five of their seven games.
“I’ve played with Schenner a bunch before,” Kyrou said. “We have great chemistry. I think it’s good for us. Change up lines a little bit, get a little bit of a different look, get a different spark in us.”
– Field Level Media
