The optimist would say the Avalanche is on a three-game points streak, having lost its last three games in overtime.
The pessimist would say Colorado has lost three straight games in OT — falling to 1-11 on the season when the game goes beyond regulation — and takes a seven-game losing streak overall into Tuesday’s game against the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.
Bottom line: The Avs (55 points) would be in a wild-card playoff spot if they had won had won just half of their 12 OT games. St. Louis and Minnesota, both with 59 points, currently occupy the Western Conference wild-card berths.
“We’ve identified the issues we have in overtime,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said after the morning skate at the Pepsi Center. “There’s two things that stand out for me. One, you have to be able to defend 1-on-1 in overtime. It’s a series of 1-on-1s. You’re playing man-on-man most of the time in your D-zone and we haven’t been good enough in that area. It’s cost us. No. 2, taking care of the puck and making sure we’re supporting the puck in the offensive zone and we’re not driving the puck in dangerous areas where we can turn it over. We have to make high-percentage plays with the puck in the offensive zone.”
He added: “The final thing is, when we create a scoring chance or two, we have to score on them. That’s what other teams are doing to us.”
The Avs are coming off a 2-1 OT loss at Boston, a day after falling 4-3 in the extra period at the New York Islanders. Colorado began its three-game road trip losing 4-3 in OT at Washington.
The Bruins’ victory was bad luck for the Avs, who saw the winning shot carom in off the skate of Avs forward Matt Calvert.
“I think we made some good adjustments after the Washington game. They’re probably one of the best 3-on-3 teams in the league. We kind of looked at what they were doing, and although we lost two more in OT after that, we created some better offensive chances. Three-on-3 is tough. It’s changed a lot since they introduced it. It was more run-and-gun. Now it’s more puck possession and trying not to give the other team a chance. But’s it’s also a bit of luck. The last one … went off a skate, but for sure, we have to find ways to get some of those to a shootout or win some of them. It’s frustrating because 3-on-3 hockey feels like summer hockey sometimes and to lose points in those is frustrating.”
Jared Bednar after morning skate at PC. Maple Leafs up next #Avs //t.co/eZw1tyuiUn
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers) February 12, 2019
Footnotes. Tyson Jost was recalled from the American Hockey League’s Colorado Eagles on Monday and will center a line with fellow second-year forwards J.T. Compher and Alex Kerfoot. Jost, 20, had four goals in eight games with the Eagles. … Goalie Semyon Varlamov will make his fourth consecutive start and 11th in the last 13 games. … Bednar said defenseman Ian Cole (orbital bone) and forward Colin Wilson (undisclosed) are out indefinitely.
Avalanche lineup
Forwards:
Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen
Kerfoot-Jost-Compher
Nieto-Soderberg-Calvert
Andrighetto-Dries-Bourque
Defensemen:
Girard-Johnson
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Zadorov-Barrie
Graves-Nemeth
Goaltending:
Varlamov, Grubauer
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