KANATA, Ont. – It would have been borderline impossible for the Colorado Avalanche to keep up the pace they set for the first 40 games this season, but there’s no doubt the most recent 11 haven’t been up to their standard.

The Avalanche had just five shots on goal through the first 30 minutes of Wednesday night’s game at Canadian Tire Center, something that never came close to happening earlier in the year, on their way to a disappointing 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators. Colorado picked it up a bit in the third period, but at that point, it was too little, too late.

“We couldn’t even get sustained (offensive) zone time to get shots,” forward Parker Kelly said after the loss. “Not good enough by us tonight.”

Head coach Jared Bednar had a bit more to say.

“Flat, almost the whole team,” he said. “I don’t want to group everyone into that because it’s not accurate, but the bulk of our team, flat. … It’s that point in the season where it’s tough to move through (the neutral zone), but we’re not moving. We didn’t move tonight. When you’re standing still, you watch our execution, couldn’t put a pass or two together because we’re not moving.”

What makes this effort even more disappointing is it comes on the heels of the win in Toronto, which was one of Colorado’s best games this January. After remarkable consistency to start the year, the Avalanche have been anything but of late, seemingly alternating between good and bad games.

As teams start to ramp up in the push for the playoffs, inconsistency won’t cut it.

“I think the consistency aspect of it has kind of been up and down,” defenseman Cale Makar said. “It’s just something we got to find again. …
We got to find ways to get back to the basics and the simple things that make us a team. There were glimpses of it tonight, but we got to continue to do it more.”

The Avalanche are no doubt missing important players like Gabriel Landeskog and Devon Toews, as well as a solid depth player like Ross Colton, but there’s still more than enough talent on this team to muster up more than 18 shots over a 60-minute stretch.

“(Consistency) is not as good as what it was,” Bednar said. “We’re running a little thing with some guys, and we’ve got some guys that aren’t playing that well. Tonight, when you got a bunch of guys that don’t play well, then you’re running a pretty short bench just trying to stay in the game and hoping some other guys will find it. Tonight, they didn’t.”

Bednar indeed shortened his bench in the third to try to create offense. Taylor Makar didn’t take a shift over the final 20 minutes, while Zakhar Bardakov and Gavin Brindley only received two shifts each before the game was out of hand. That won’t make Thursday’s matchup in Montreal any easier.

“Hopefully this one stings a little bit and it drives them a little bit on the mental side of things,” Bednar said.

Senators 5, Avalanche 2

What happened: Colorado was flat all night on its way to a loss in Canada’s capital.

What went right: Parker Kelly hit a career high in points with his 20th after scoring his 11th goal. He’s been one of the few consistent players over the last month.

What went wrong: The Avalanche attempted just five shots in the first 20 minutes, and at the halfway point, had just five total shots on goal. They struggled to even hold onto the puck for longer than a few seconds, which is one reason why the Senators didn’t end up in the penalty box all night. Martin Necas, Nathan MacKinnon, Brock Nelson, and Artturi Lehkonen combined for just one shot on goal.

Avalanche goal scorers: Kelly (11), Nichushkin (12)

Senators goal scorers: Cousins (7), Greig (9), Giroux (10), Tkachuk (13), Stutzle (24)

Between the pipes: Mackenzie Blackwood made some big saves in the second period but didn’t get a ton of help. He finished with 18 saves.

What’s next: No rest for the Avalanche, who will be in Montreal on Thursday to take on the Canadiens at 5 p.m.