An empty net might be an appropriate metaphor for the Colorado Avalanche of late.
With just 12 games left to play in the regular season and a playoff berth hanging in the balance, it almost feels as if things are being left wide open for the opposition.
The Avs controlled their own destiny a few days ago. That has since changed and they’re again behind the Minnesota Wild in the race for the final Wild Card spot.
In more concrete terms, the empty net has been a growing problem of late. Patrick Roy has been juggling his goaltenders for the past month and he’s been quick to pull them off the ice late in games. The result is a see-saw four week span that has fans frustrated and the team on the outside looking in at the playoffs at present.
Goalies, it has been said, are like quarterbacks and long-term girlfriends – if you have two, you really have none. That seems like the current state of things in net for Colorado.
Since a February 14 loss to Buffalo, when they both were in net for some time, Semyon Varlamov has appeared in eight of Colorado’s 12 games and Calvin Pickard has seen ice time in six of those games. They also split time in a 6-3 loss to Minnesota after Varlamov was pulled after allowing three goals in the first period. Colorado is the definition of average during that time, 6-6-0.
Until the last three games, neither had started more than two games back-to-back in that stretch. And during that time, Roy named Pickard the No. 1 and said the job was his to lose, only to go right back to Varlamov after Pickard went 1-1 in the two games that followed.
Varlamov won his first two starts after Roy reopened door, but dropped their last contest after Colorado skated out to a 2-0 lead. He’s scheduled to get the start against Vancouver on Wednesday, but a shaky outing could see Roy having a quick hook again.
Speaking of quick hooks, Roy has been playing the empty net card with increasing frequency and with more and more time on the clock over these past several games.
In six of Colorado’s last seven losses they’ve surrendered at least one empty net goal, and on two occasions they’ve given up more than one. Roy is known for going to the man-advantage earlier and with more frequency than many head coaches, but his midas touch from several years back now feels like only a distant memory.
One can’t really blame Roy for feeling like he needs to pull his goaltender in order to produce offense; the Avs are tied for 18th in the league in even-strength goals but in the bottom five in terms of even-strentgh goals allowed.
The willingness to have such a quick hook with his goaltenders – both at the end of games and in terms of which is his No. 1 – seems to smack of desperation at a time when the Avs need to be building confidence.
The Avalanche are locked in a battle with the Minnesota Wild for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The two teams have see-sawed for the final Wild Card position of late and are currently tied in points. Minnesota holds the tiebreaker and a game in hand.
If the old adage is true that a hot goaltender can carry a team in the playoffs, then so should the adage that a team that has two goaltenders really has none.
Varlamov is paid to be the No. 1. He’s had the bulk of the starts this year. He has led the Avalanche to a playoff berth in the past.
If Colorado is going to make the playoffs and make any noise once there, it will be because of Varlamov.
Roy needs to put a stake in the ground. (Or is it the ice?) Otherwise, its going to continue to feel like the Avs are playing with an empty net.
