Evan Rawal
Halloween didn’t go quite the way Colorado Avalanche forward Jonathan Drouin had planned.
The 28 year old was excited last week to go trick-or-treating with his son, who is just 18 months old, so how did the big night go?
“We only made it to three houses!” Drouin said.
As it turns out, his son isn’t quite ready for some of the spooky things people put in their yards for Halloween. I get it. My daughter is six and still wants nothing to do with any house that has anything too scary in the front yard.
The next night for Drouin also did not go according to plan.
24 hours later, the former Montreal Canadiens forward found himself a healthy scratch for the Avalanche against the Blues. Having just been shutout in back-to-back games, the organization was looking to shake things up. That meant Drouin and fellow NHL veteran Tomas Tatar spent the night in the press box.
So what was the message given by the coaching staff to Drouin?
“Less thinking, just play my game, and obviously, play a little harder,” he told me. “We have a good team. Some guys are going to be out of the lineup that shouldn’t be sometimes. That’s just the way it is, it’s the NHL.”
That’s essentially what Jared Bednar said to us last week. Yes, they need more offense from Drouin (and others), but they’ve got other guys that are a part of this team that they need to get into the lineup. And frankly, before Fredrik Olofsson‘s injury, this might be the longest the Avalanche had gone without losing a player in a while, so some players had been sitting out of the lineup for longer than expected.
When Drouin did get back in the lineup on Saturday, it didn’t go great. The Golden Knights gave the Avalanche a beatdown they won’t soon forget.
For the forward, it wasn’t the best of starts. On one of his first shifts, he iced the puck because he didn’t get to the red line. He knows it wasn’t his best showing.
“I didn’t like my first period, or our line, I didn’t like our first period,” he said.
It didn’t get much better after that.
Now, the team is looking to get back on track with their first real homestand of the season.
On Monday at practice, Drouin found himself in a familiar spot – back on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. I don’t know if that’s who he’ll line up with on Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils, but it’s a sign the organization still believes in him.
Drouin hasn’t scored a goal yet, but he’s had some good looks through nine games, and has created some chances for his teammates. Last week, Bednar said he’s created more opportunities than some of the other new guys, but nothing is going in.
While Drouin is happy that he’s at least creating good chances, he knows that’s not good enough.
“It’s easier when you’re getting looks, at least,” Drouin said. “Obviously, it sucks when you’re not burying them, but at least I’m getting looks. I’m in the right spot at the right time sometimes, and getting my chances. It’s about burying them. That’s one of the reasons I came out of the lineup. One point in eight or nine games, it’s not up to standard, and I’ve got to contribute a little bit more, and that’s on me.”
Drouin isn’t the only Avalanche player struggling to score right now. Having been shutout in three of the last four games, Colorado is looking to build some momentum at home.
The players are also looking forward to getting back to a more normal schedule after several 2-3 day breaks between games.
“It’s been a little weird having a couple of days between games. You’re used to one day, one game, one day, one game, and kind of get rolling and rolling,” Drouin said. “It’s going to be nice to be at home a little bit. I know from experience it’s not fun coming to this arena with the altitude. We’re going to have to step our game up a little bit after the unacceptable loss the other night against Vegas, and take care of our home ice a little bit.”
Drouin and the Avalanche will face off tonight against the Devils at Ball Arena. The game starts at 8 PM MST.