With a March 26 home loss to the Minnesota Wild, the Colorado Avalanche’s playoff hopes took a major hit. Now trailing Minnesota by five points for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference with only seven regular season games remaining, playoff aspirations have become bleak for the Avs.
Colorado squandered a massive chance to push ahead in the standings by dropping their last contest against Minnesota 4-0. After a deflating second period goal by Zach Parise, the Avs never seemed to recover. Another late second period goal and early third period goal for the Wild painted a harsh picture for Colorado.
The Avs had a chance to get back in the game with a power-play midway through the third period, but Minnesota would score on an empty-netter as Patrick Roy’s odd tactic failed yet again.
Without their talented top two centers, Nathan Mackinnon and Matt Duchene, Colorado failed to punch in a goal. Recently injured, the two players are highly regarded and were significantly missed. Captain Gabe Landeskog recently returned from a three-game suspension, but the Avalanche’s playoff hopes weren’t helped by having these top three players miss games over the stretch-run.
With their core players entering their primes, Colorado needs to start winning sooner than later for management’s sake. Some have speculated Roy has been on the hot-seat before, and missing the playoffs again would certainly stoke those rumors.
Roy was given some help around the trade deadline, as the Avalanche were one of those most actively dealing teams. Forwards Shawn Matthias and Mikkel Boedker were acquired to bolster the front-nine and defenseman Eric Gelinas was brought in to fill out the bottom pairing.
Matthias and Boedker have played well, but both are on expiring contracts and may wish to test free agency. Gelinas struggled with injuries, but is younger and his contract extends through next season.
Goaltender Semyon Varlamov had another streaky season, which didn’t help the team. Backup goalie Reto Berra struggled with injury and is currently in the American Hockey League (AHL). Trading a second-round pick for his services has looked worse and worse over the past couple seasons.
Rookie goalie Calvin Pickard performed well in some games and gained coach Roy’s confidence. He stayed with the Avalanche past the trade deadline despite his restricted free-agent status at the end of the year. Berra has one more year left on his contract, so it will be an interesting situation to monitor in the offseason.
For now though, the Avalanche will probably have to come close to winning out in order to secure a playoff spot. Minnesota has been on a hot streak and looks confident in their pursuit of the last wild-card slot.
Colorado has had difficulties closing out games this season, a major reason for their impending downfall. Eight times this season the team has choked away a third period lead. Just getting those games into overtime would have resulted in eight more points and probably a playoff spot.
It’s not impossible for Colorado to surprise and surge back into that playoff spot, but it’s unlikely. They’ll have to put together some wins in a season where consistency has been a massive issue, hope Minnesota falters down the stretch or else face another long offseason.
