The Colorado Avalanche feel they haven’t played well for two straight games. They got away with it once, but the subpar performance Monday night cost them in a 5-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Colorado can atone for its loss when it faces the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night to close out a three-game homestand in Denver.
The Avalanche bounced back from an 0-4-0 start to the season to reel off five straight wins before falling flat against Chicago. Now without another forward, they face a Tampa Bay team that has won two straight.
Leading goal-scorer Ross Colton left Monday’s loss after taking a shot off his leg in the first period, adding to the list of Avs on the injured list. Colton’s injury appears serious enough that he will be out for more than a few games.
“He’s going to miss some time, but we’ll get a better feel on how long, how much time that’s going to be, (Tuesday) or by Wednesday morning,” coach Jared Bednar said.
Colton has eight goals in 10 games to bolster the offense while top-line forwards are out. Artturi Lehkonen (shoulder), Gabriel Landeskog (knee) and Valeri Nichushkin (suspension) have not played this season and Jonathan Drouin has been out since suffering an upper-body injury in the opener.
Stars Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon have shouldered the scoring load. Both have at least one point in each of the first 10 games; Makar has 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) and MacKinnon has 16 (five goals, 11 assists).
If Colton goes on the injured list, Colorado will call up a forward from the AHL. More importantly, the Avalanche need to play better than Monday night.
“We’re not looking at moral victories here right now,” Bednar said “It wasn’t our best game. Needed to be better and it wasn’t. It’s two in a row.”
Tampa Bay is coming off an emotional 3-2 overtime win over Nashville on Monday night when it honored former captain Steven Stamkos, who helped the Lightning win two Stanley Cups. After 16 seasons in Tampa, Stamkos returned for the first time since signing with the Predators in the offseason.
Tampa Bay spoiled his return, but like the Avalanche wasn’t pleased with the overall performance ahead of a four-game road trip.
“We have to be more consistent over 60 minutes,” Lightning captain Victor Hedman said. “We’re playing some really tough teams. We can’t take a period off here and there, we have to be on it for 60 minutes. We have to go out there and execute our game plan.”
One area that can improve is special teams. Tampa Bay led the NHL in power-play percentage last season but is just 5-for-31 this year. The Lightning are also struggling on the penalty kill; they rank 28th at 71.9 percent.
That could be an issue against Colorado’s potent power play. The Avalanche are third in the NHL at 36.4 percent and have 12 power-play goals despite missing four of their top players on that unit.
