Avalanche gets rare chance to quickly atone for tough outing against East-leading Capitals
Denver Post
WASHINGTON — It’s a rare occurrence to play any team in the NHL twice in six days, but especially when it’s a club from the other conference.
The NHL schedule makers have provided an interesting opportunity Thursday night for the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs will get a second crack at the Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals in less than a week.
They will have a chance to measure themselves against one of the league’s best outfits, though the Capitals will be missing a huge piece. But it will also offer an opportunity to atone for arguably the worst offensive effort of the season to date.
“I didn’t like our game at all,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said of a 5-2 loss Friday at home to the Capitals. “I liked our game in Philly, and there’s some similarities to some of the things they do, especially shot blocking and keeping pucks off their net. Last game, it seemed like we just didn’t want to skate with the puck against (the Caps). It’s tough to find shooting lanes, passing lanes, to be dangerous offensively that way.
“I think with our team, as you get to know them, if the energy is down for some reason, then they’ll start forcing things. We’ll try to make them play standing still instead of skating. It certainly looked like that in the Washington game.”
Colorado faced the top-two shot-blocking teams in the NHL in its past two games, with very different results. The Avs had 64 shot attempts against the Capitals, but only 19 were on target. They produced 1.52 expected goals — easily the worst output of this season.
Three days later, the Avs encountered a different version of the same plan and struggled to get pucks through in the first period against the Philadelphia Flyers. But then adjustments were made, and the Flyers, quite frankly, are not in Washington’s weight class. The result was 29 shots on goal, 2.56 expected goals and a 3-2 victory.
“They were pretty smothering in the o-zone,” Avs defenseman Josh Manson said of the Capitals. “The forwards said it felt like they were all around them. It was also hard to get shots through from the point. They push hard on the points when you get the puck and they fill lanes well.
“We found a way against Philly to get the shots through. I think we can do it against (Washington), but we’ve got to maybe move it a little bit more.”
The Caps will not have Alex Ovechkin, whose march to breaking the all-time goals record is now delayed because of an injury he sustained in the third period of Washington’s last game in Utah. Ovechkin leads the NHL in goals with 15. At age 39, it’s an incredible feat.
But this Washington team is much improved from last season, and it’s not just because Ovechkin is scoring more goals. Second-year coach Spencer Carbery, who played for Bednar with South Carolina in the ECHL and later coached the Stingrays as well, has made a significant impact on a club that was fading from contender status as Ovechkin and others from the Cup-winning core aged.
“I don’t know the situation before. I just know that he’s a great coach,” Bednar said of Carbery. “He’s a young coach, he’s relatable to the guys. He’s detailed in his approach. All the things that you kind of need and want from the coaches to provide. And obviously, the guys like him, like his personality, because they’re playing hard for him every night.
“It’s the way they play. It is a confidence that he can instill in the team, that if they play the right way they can get the job done. … It’s a belief that he’s instilled in the room on top of everything else, that he brings. I think his impact on the team is immeasurable.”
This Avalanche team is still trying to figure out what it’s going to be. The Washington game last week was the first one of the year for Valeri Nichushkin and included the return of Jonathan Drouin and Miles Wood.
Now, the Avs are closer to full health and need to begin their ascent. Correcting the mistakes from last week against a top opponent would be a good place to start.
“They are a team that defends hard, and they attack hard and make it tough on you with their depth,” Bednar said. “But we had to do more. We knew that coming out of it. We corrected some things against Philly and were able to get the win. Now we’ve got to take it another step against Washington.”
Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.