The Colorado Avalanche have been, overall, pretty lucky this season in terms of serious injuries. Unfortunately, that’s changed, quickly.
Heading into the most important stretch of the season, the knee injuries to Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene are untimely, to say the least, but the other members of the team are not particularly worried.
“One of the strengths of our team is the depth up front. We’ve got guys that can fill those minutes and fill those roles,” Avalanche forward Blake Comeau told Mile High Sports. “We can’t really think about who’s injured, who’s not. Whoever is playing has got to be ready to go.”
While MacKinnon and Duchene have combined for 13 points in the month of March, they have had a lot of help from the rest of the team in putting points on the score sheet. In the most recent six games for Colorado, the Avalanche were capable of scoring 17 goals from 11 different players, so it’s clear that there are more hands in the scoring pot than ever before.
Also, MacKinnon and Duchene don’t see much penalty-kill ice time, and the Avs penalty kill has been a major part of their recent wins. Killing 44 of the last 46 power play opportunities, the penalty kill has been among the league’s best over the last couple of months.
“I feel like our preparation before games is really good; I feel like everyone is on the same page the last month or so,” Comeau said about their penalty-killing success. “We’ve had some big saves at key times in the penalty kill; we’ve had some big blocked shots, and winning faceoffs has been a big part of it too.”
But it’s not just the injuries that holding Colorado back from the final playoff spot in the West; it’s the other teams around them that keep making the playoff race a tough one. For the Avs, though, all they can do is worry about themselves.
“We can’t get caught up on how Minny is doing or Nashville,” Comeau said. “It’s about focusing on what we have to do. If we take care of our own business and we play good hockey, then we control our own fate.”
All of the distractions facing the Avalanche don’t exactly seem to be affecting them, and that’s important. Proper focus down the stretch will be vital to the Avs playoff chances.
The Colorado Avalanche face a big two-game home stand this week against two teams desperate to make the playoffs, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Minnesota Wild. With only nine games to go in the regular season and a tight Western Conference race, every game from here on out is a playoff game for Colorado.