Strike 2: We know the sport of hockey got a huge boost from the recently concluded Four Nation’s Faceoff tournament. But did the Colorado Avalanche?
Sure seems like the Avs opposition did. As for Colorado, not so much. Not yet anyway.
Three Colorado standouts, center Nathan MacKinnon and defensemen Cale Makar and Devon Toews were all members of Team Canada, which won the event and the hearts of their home country. Colorado had a total of four players in the event, including Artturi Lehkonen playing for the Finnish team. Maybe there’s such a thing as a Four Nation’s hangover?
Just two days after they defeated the USA in an overtime thriller, the three Canadians were back on the ice in Avs sweaters, trying to push what has thus far been an underachieving Avalanche team into a stronger postseason position before it’s too late. MacKinnon – the MVP of the Four Nation’s event – continues to fly up and down the ice and create scoring chances, but through the first two games back, he’s come up empty on a total of 11 shots on goal.
While the Avs as a team were playing well before the Four Nation’s break, that hasn’t carried over. Maybe somebody somewhere forgot to flip the switch back to ‘on’ for the entire vaunted Avalanche offense? In their first two contests, Colorado mustered just two goals – one each – against Nashville and Team Finland goaltender Juuse Saros, and again versus their former Team Canada teammate, St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington. Strangely enough, the Avs scored first in both contests, but the sputtering attack isn’t being sustained. The two international star goalies have certainly been able to transition back and keep the good vibes from the Four Nation’s event going when they rejoined their respective teams.
Maybe that switch only gets turned on – and stays on – with the return of winger Valeri Nichushkin?
It’s clear that Colorado is still missing the large presence of Nichushkin, who’s been out since New Year’s Eve. When they didn’t have him during the last two playoff runs, they fell short. Now, with him out injured since New Year’s Eve, the offense has returned to being spotty.
It was first thought that Nichushkin would be out for a brief time with a minor injury, but it was apparently worse than that. What’s been missing most the last two months has been his presence in front of the net – blocking the goaltenders vision and picking up rebounds and those “gritty” goals that seem to be the missing piece in Colorado’s attack.
While Nichushkin is practicing some, he’s yet to return. It could be any time now. He can’t get back too soon.
Wednesday night’s home game against the equally frustrating New Jersey Devils – who don’t have a standout international netminder, but are led by Team USA star Jack Hughes – is another chance for this up and down squad to start to get right. The focus is on improving their playoff positioning – the Avs are in the first of two “wild card” spots at the moment, just five points ahead of Vancouver, but just eight points away from being out entirely.
However, They’re also just six points behind the second place team in the Central Division, the Dallas Stars. You could say that Colorado will spend most of the rest of the season “shooting for the Stars.”
If this team can find the on switch and keep it on – with a healthy Nichushkin being a key component – they catch Dallas and have a legit shot at a deep playoff run. If not, then perhaps the Four Nations tournament will be the highlight of the Avs season, too.
