Avs Need to Fire Up Offense Against Panthers

The last time the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers met was in Sunrise and Alexandar Georgiev was in net. A few things have changed for the Avs since their 7-4 win over the reigning Stanely Cup Champs, mainly a change in goaltending.

The teams are evenly matched, with only a point difference between them. The Avs have three players in the NHL’s top 10 in points, goals and assists (Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar), the Panthers only have one (Sam Reinhart). However, the stats do not indicate what kind of offensive power Florida possesses.

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“They’re a well-rounded team. They score a lot because they play extremely hard, but they’re a good checking team too,” Avs head coach Jared Bednar said. “They’re going to take time and space away from you, they’re going to run into you every chance they get. So this is a difficult team to create offense against, no questions.”

Florida’s head coach Paul Maurice said his team is more defensive-minded despite having highly-skilled scorers in the lineup. With two highly-offensive teams facing each other, there’s the possibility of it coming down to a goaltender battle.

“God, we hope not, but possibly, probably, right at the end of the day, that’s how it’s decided. We have some really good offensive players that we can score goals. But it’s really not how we’re built or how we play,” Maurice said. “We were a very strong defensive team last year. We tied Winnipeg with the fewest goals against, and that’s really how we’re built.”

Mikko Rantanen scored his 100th career power-play goal against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night but said special teams could be better. The PP and penalty kill will be important against the No. 6 power-play team in the league and an exceptional goaltender.

“Hopefully our team can help Blacky (Mackenzie Blackwood) in the net as much as we can. He’s a really good goalie …,” Rantanen said. “We rather play a little low-scoring game and win the game. He’s playing really well so hopefully he can help us, help us again.”

The Avs offense was lighter than usual last game, which led to a 2-1 shootout loss against the Habs. A key to beating the Panthers is to create more offense while taking away their scoring chances — and that means beating Bobrovsky.

“He’s a really good goaltender, so get traffic anytime you can, try and make it difficult on him with screens and tips,” Logan O’Connor said. “It’s sort of cliche, but it’s obvious with good goaltenders that no one likes traffic, so it’s making his job difficult in there, and don’t pass up on opportunities.”

Cale Makar is on the verge of scoring his 100th career goal and Rantanen is riding a 13-game scoring streak. If the Avs rev up the offensive power they’ve had in the six games before Saturday’s SO loss, they’ll ensure a victory over the Cats.