The Colorado Avalanche, only six points out of the last playoff spot in the West, have scratched and clawed their way back into relevance. Now that they have gotten themselves within reach, every point is important.
Having acquired 14 points in the last ten games, the Avs are making strides at closing the gap between them and the last wildcard spot, but are still struggling with their play at home. They understand, however, the urgency of winning games and the importance of each game they have ahead of them.
As the Avalanche are in the midst of a season-long, five-game homestand, one would believe that they could not ask for a better situation to spark a win streak. Unfortunately, the Avalanche have the second-worst home record in the league; at 6-9-3 Colorado is ahead of only San Jose. The Avs are also tied for the fourth worst home goal differential in all of the NHL at minus-8; on the road they are tied for sixth best at a plus-7 goal differential.
Ideally, the Avalanche would be able to take advantage of this stretch of home games and continue climbing the standings, but their play at the Pepsi Center makes you almost wish they were playing on the road.
Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog is frustrated with the results, and the team as a whole is aware of the importance of improving.
“We know that we can play a lot better than we have in the last few games; we aren’t happy with the way we have finished the last few games,” Landeskog told the media before Monday’s meeting with the Los Angeles Kings. “When you don’t come out on top its hard to be satisfied.”
Landeskog then went on to discuss how they get out of their home funk, “It’s just a matter of playing a little simpler and making sure that we bring the same type of game as on the road. For some reason on the road you tend to simplify things a little bit. I think that is something we are going to have to do on home ice, and keep doing that and not forcing plays too much, making sure we make good decisions with the puck, and the game is going to come to us, we wont have to chase the game.”
After a very road-heavy first half of the season the Avalanche are catching up in their home game count. Colorado will play five out of the next six at home, starting Monday night against the Kings. The following three games are against division opponents, which equate to four-point games, a great chance to climb the standings.
This year, the Avalanche are 7-2-1 within the division and 6-2-2 in their last ten games. A stronger home presence is extremely vital to Colorado’s ability to stay afloat in the Wester Conference playoff standings.
