The Colorado Avalanche will head into the All-Star break out of the playoffs. The Burgundy and Blue’s 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild sealed the team’s fate, as the Wild were one point back heading into the night. The Avalanche did not show up to defend their 8th place position against a team that was on an 11 game road-losing streak. The Wild have also played two fewer games than the Avalanche.
The game brought up a lot of questions for an Avalanche team that still lacks an identity and a team that according to sources, no one in the organization can figure out. The defense was terrible Tuesday night, being bailed out by J.S. Giguere on a couple of situations but eventually being beaten on 2-on-1 and 2-on-0 rushes. The third goal was an inability by the Avalanche to clear the zone.
I specifically noticed that Jan Hejda, Kyle Quincey, Erik Johnson and Shane O’Brien played poorly tonight on the blue line. Hejda was the fourth guy back on the 2-on-1 goals the Wild scored. Kyle Quincey had a number of turnovers and a costly penalty in the first period that led to the Minnesota Wild’ss first goal.
Erik Johnson was a turnover machine again tonight for the Avalanche. His defense seemed to be starting to solidify but he played poorly in Tuesday’s game. Finally, O’Brien, who I usually love to praise, tried to carry the puck into the offensive zone. It led to a costly 2-on-0 break for the Wild, which resulted in their third goal.
T.J. Galiardi, Daniel Winnik and J.S. Giguere were the only players with energy tonight. Galiardi had a great first goal early and Daniel Winnik was relentless all night. J.S. Giguere faced 34 shots by a Wild team that averages 26. He was hitting Wild players who got too close to him tonight.
The lack of energy can partly be attributed to the absence of Ryan O’Reilly, who was sick tonight. But players like Paul Statsny need to pick it up. This was a huge game for the Avalanche and they failed miserably.
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