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Avs lose 5-2 against Flyers, What is Happening Here?? |
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The Avalanche have dropped their 2nd straight game last night against the Philly Flyers, 5-2, and is leaving Avalanche fans with so many question marks.... Let's discuss.
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Where is Mikko Rantanen??
Rantanen has been scoreless in his past 3 games, and the two games before that, he had 1 assist in each. His last 5 games have been just poor.
5 GP 0 G 2 A -6. Coach Bednar has even let him play 27+ minutes in multiple games to try and work through his issues, to no avail. In my opinion, Mikko cannot play with the pace needed for that amount of time in a game. It doesn't seem like he is engaged. He is trying things that aren't working, and the lack of effort skating back, along with the fact that he isn't using his size on the boards.... It looks like he is going through the motions, and not doing anything positive. Feel free to bring up examples of Rantanen making good plays lately in the comments; I bet there will be none. I have been really down on Mikko Rantanen's play lately, and I'm not sure what he needs to do to get out of this terrible run of play. If the team could afford to, I'd honestly healthy scratch him and let him watch a game. That isn't realistic, obviously, but he's been so frustrating to watch.
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Any updates on Artturi Lehkonen?
Peter Baugh is reporting the original timeline for Lehkonen's return was 10-12 weeks, which I feel is the first time an actual timeline was mentioned. This must mean a neck fracture or something to that effect, which is lucky considering that original play could have been the end of his playing career.
Jesse Montano also reported 2 days ago that Lehkonen was actually skating in a non contact jersey at Family Sports, the Avalanche practice facility. Amazing to see him back on his feet and skating again.
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Where is Gabriel Landeskog?
According to reports, Landy is back in town and settling in to stay after doing his rehab in Toronto. This is exciting news, and hopefully this means Landeskog is well on the mend. I still unfortunately have my doubts on Landeskog coming back to resume his NHL career, but this team is in need to his leadership in a bad way. It'll be great to have his personality back around.
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Is Ryan Johansen the new 4th line center?
Last night, aside from PP time, Ryan Johansen looked to be on the 4th line... This has been indicative of his play lately. He has 9 goals to start the year, but other than this, he's been mostly a non contributor. His skating has been lackluster, as expected, but he doesn't seem to have any interest in hustling to pucks or playing through physicality on the wall. It's disappointing to see him truly be losing this opportunity to breathe some life into his career, for the most part.
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Jonathan Drouin: Top 6 or Scratch??
For my money, Drouin has looked like a completely different player in the last 5 games or so. He's skating hard, hes making smart plays, hes driving to the net, making moves, and playing with a bit more confidence. He is still not putting up points with regularity, but there are some great flashes here to be optimistic about.
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Is goaltending the issue, or is it the defensive play?
This is a combination of both. There have been some really iffy goals that both Georgiev and Prospetov have let in, but the team has been doing the goalies absolutely no favors at the same time. Last night was a great example. On the Flyers first goal by Travis Konecny, you can see Jack Johnson and Sam Malinski chasing behind while he broke in all alone. On the 2nd goal by Owen Tippett, Josh Manson and Bowen Byram both get beat, and Tippett gets another swipe at the puck for free, scoring the goal.
Later, Val Nichushkin and the Avalanche are trying to push to tied the game at around the 11 minute mark, and when Nuke enters the zone, he tries to make a fancy little drop pass, leading to a Konecny breakaway. This led to a necessary penalty taken by Nathan MacKinnon (after a great effort to get back with speed), and the ensuing penalty shot was scored on by Travis Konecny.
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What is the answer to fixing this team? At this point, I'm really not sure what comes next. It seems to be guys gripping the sticks too tight, and trying to push things too hard. This leads to turnovers, defensive breakdowns and losses adding up in the standings.
What do you think helps fix this team? A trade? A big name healthy scratch? Let me know in the comments.
Colorado Avalanche Blogger • 
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