DENVER — No punch. No bite. No answers.
Jared Bednar coached a 48-point team in 2016-17 and still called Saturday night’s third period against the St. Louis Blues the worst period of hockey he’s seen from the Avalanche. Colorado was blown out for the second straight Saturday, getting dominated up and down the ice in an 8-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues at Ball Arena.
They entered the third already trailing 4-1 but then the wheels came off. It was as bad as Bednar made it sound.
“Third period was a joke. That was the worst period of hockey I’ve ever seen from our club,” he said.
Bednar didn’t mince his words. He called out the leadership core for not getting the team in order when they needed it. He was forward about his concerns being high for the recent goaltending from Alexandar Georgiev, who has an .842 save percentage in his last seven games and has surrendered a league-most 31 goals. Bednar outright said everything is currently a problem.
“We’re getting outplayed. Goaltender is getting outplayed by their goaltender. Forwards are getting outplayed by their forwards. D are getting outplayed by their D,” Bednar said. “First three goals, they’re all routine coverage for me. Soft and loose and we gave them the opportunity thinking our goalie was gonna save it, he didn’t, it’s in the back of our net. It’s 3-0.”
Make no mistake, the Avs already were reeling before the third period. They’ve had issues scoring in recent games, and the team’s defense hasn’t been up to par. The third period was just the cherry on top of what had already been a brutal stretch for several weeks. But Bednar said he was still surprised by the lack of effort — the quit from his team in those final 20 minutes.
“The third period is unacceptable, unexplainable. That’s why it’s a blowout. We stopped playing. It looked like we couldn’t make a pass 10 feet in the third period. Giving up odd-man rushes every five seconds,” Bednar said. “Every rush attack they had ended up in a scoring chance against. It’s not good enough.
“Guys quitting and not doing what they’re supposed to be doing. feeling sorry for themselves.”
His sentiments about quitting were shared by players in the room. Cale Makar told reporters the loss was embarrassing. Logan O’Connor said he feels the team doesn’t deserve to have eight wins. But defenseman Josh Manson expressed disappointment in what he felt was a team that quit in the third period.
“It felt like we gave up. Just didn’t feel like we had that fire at the end,” Manson told me. “I think that’s the most disappointing thing. No matter what the score, you want to see a little jam. It just felt like we lost it too easily.”
The Avalanche are scheduled to practice at 11 am on Sunday. It’ll be one of the more must-see practices in the Jared Bednar era. The team had a day off on Friday before putting up this effort the following night. Bednar was as livid as he’s arguably ever been when breaking down some of the team’s issues in the third period.
“You’re at 5-1 and we’re still trying to tic-tac-toe pass in the phone booth at their blue line to hope to maybe get a scoring chance,” he said. “Why not just kick it in below the goal line and go to work?
“So we give up two or three more grade-A scoring chances on breakaways and turnovers. How many breakaways did they have in the third period? Three? Two of them end up in the back of our net. I mean, seriously? They’re all from little turnovers at the blue line.”
The Avs are still 8-5-0, which in the grand scheme of things, is a good record. But they’ve won just two of their last seven after a perfect 6-0 start. Sometimes it’s not the loss that frustrates a coach, but rather how it happens.
This was a clear example of that.
“I’d feel better coming out of this game if it was 4-3 than what it ended up,” Bednar said. “I just don’t get the overall frustration, the fragmentation of the group. The quitting on the work ethic. That’s what happens when you do that. Sometimes you just have a bad night and things don’t go your way but I just don’t understand not just laying it on the line and at least doing what you can do to play with some pride.”