Good & Bad: Avalanche ‘Turned Some A’s Into C’s’ in Home Loss to Utah Hockey Club

DENVER — The first game back from a lengthy road trip is often a trap game. That’s exactly what happened with the Avalanche on Thursday. They couldn’t quite find their legs coming off an off day upon arrival from a lengthy five-game East Coast road trip.

“We turn some A’s into C’s,” head coach Jared Bednar said, referencing his team’s inability to take advantage of good looks at the net, especially on the power play.

The Avalanche lacked energy and bite in a 4-1 loss to Utah Hockey Club at Ball Arena. They were minutes away from getting blanked before a late tally from Nathan MacKinnon ended the shutout bid for Karel Vejmelka. But that was all the Avs could muster. Colorado fell to 17-14-0 and likely will need a strong bounce back on Saturday against Nashville to avoid a disastrous two games back at home.

“That little extra that you need to create dangerous chances wasn’t there for the whole game,” Bednar said. “And then we got some really good looks and [Vejmelka] made some saves, and we missed the net on some really good looks too.”

Scott Wedgewood got the nod in goal and made 19 saves. Colorado outshot the opposition 24-23 but didn’t get much momentum offensively. The Avalanche had two strong chances where Vejmelka went post to post to make a big save. Other than those, and a late second-period net-mouth scramble, the Avs didn’t have much else going on in the first two periods.

In the third, Artturi Lehkonen was stopped on a breakaway.

“Little bit trouble putting the puck in the net tonight,” Bednar said.

Dylan Guenther led the way for Utah, posting two goals and an assist. The other tally came from third-pair defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok off a point shot that bounced in off Avs defenseman Calvin de Haan. The empty netter came from Kevin Stenlund. Vejmelka made 23 saves at the other end.

For Wedgewood, the first two tallies beat him off bounces off his teammates. And the third was a beautiful tic-tac-toe play from the Utah power play.

“Nothing you can really do. We got guys trying to do the right thing,” Wedgewood said of the first two goals.

Bad: Special Teams

Colorado’s power play continues to be a problem and it’s reaching a level where the coaching staff should probably start to get a little concerned. Against Utah, the Avs had an early second-period PP when it was only 1-0 and couldn’t do anything with it. They had a few good looks and either hit the post or missed the net. Bednar’s “turned some A’s into C’s” comment came when he was asked about this specific power play. He felt the team could’ve done a lot more with the looks they got but couldn’t quite take advantage of what should’ve been grade-A scoring chances.

The Avs then gave up two more goals before getting a length 2:42 of PP time to start the third. Starting a period on the man advantage is never easy and that was again the case as the Avalanche didn’t create much of anything at all.

To make matters worse, the penalty kill was equally as bad. Givani Smith, in his first home game with the Avs, was called for unsportsmanlike conduct after trying to rally the troops with some after-the-whistle rough stuff. Players often toe the line but Smith wasn’t able to take anyone to the box with him, understandably so.

Good: Wedgewood’s welcome

Grasping at straws here, but Wedgewood, despite the loss, referenced the roar he got from the crowd during the player intros. Truly, I could see why the Avs felt having a personality like his in the room was so important. I’m excited to see what Mackenzie Blackwood could bring, too, both on and off the ice.

“I noticed that,” Wedgewood said. “Hopefully I could stay on the good side of the faithful here. I’ve played in this building before, against them, but it’s always been a fun place to play. Unfortunately, we got behind the 8-ball tonight and didn’t give them much to cheer about until the end.”