On Wednesday the Colorado Avalanche finally returned to Pepsi Center after a seven-game road trip that saw a 19-day gap between games played at home. Unfortunately for the 2015-16 Avs, “the friendly confines” have been anything but in the win-loss department.

Following a 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday, a game in which Colorado fell behind at the 5:54 mark of the first period and trailed the rest of the way, the Avalanche are now 2-6-1 at home. that, coupled with a 6-7-0 road record, has them at the bottom of the Central Division with a long climb to make after Thanksgiving.

Wednesday’s outcome was particularly frustrating because Ottawa was coming off a back-to-back, while Colorado had been home and able to rest up for a day after a win at Winnipeg to finish the seven-game road trip with a 4-3 record.

Adding to the loss was the fact that goaltender Semyon Varlamov was pulled in the second period after allowing his third goal. Varlamov recently returned from injured reserve where he was nursing a groin that has bothered him off and on for parts of the past two seasons, but it did not appear that he was pulled because of injury.

Postgame, Avs head coach Patrick Roy expressed his frustration with Varlamov’s play.

“That was a bad goal, the first one,” Roy said. “Coming off a seven-game road trip … when I saw the first one going in, I said, ‘C’mon, Varly.’ That can’t happen. That was not a dangerous shot at all. It was coming from the board, and it really hurt us a lot. It took some momentum off of our game. He needs to be better. Period.”

Varlamov was stellar in Monday’s win at Winnipeg, allowing one goal on 21 shots. Against Ottawa, he allowed three goals on 15 shots. Reto Berra allowed one goal on 13 shots in relief. Ottawa added an empty netter with less than one minute to play.

Following the game, The Nosebleed Section on Mile High Sports AM 1340 had plenty of questions about the Avs. Namely, just how bad was this loss for a club that is already getting in must-win mode and why do the Avs keep playing from behind?

Listen to their full discussion in the podcast below…

Catch The Nosebleed Section every weekday from 10p-midnight on Mile High Sports AM 1340 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of what’s new and what’s next in Colorado sports.