All good things must come to an end.
The Avalanche suffered their first regulation loss of the season Saturday, falling 3-2 in a matinee against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Big mistakes again cost the Avalanche, who will have a quick turnaround before facing the New Jersey Devils at 11 a.m. Sunday.
Here are five takeaways from Colorado’s first regulation loss:
In a surprising move, Jared Bednar opted to go back to Scott Wedgewood for his ninth straight start as opposed to starting Trent Miner. Wedgewood wasn’t the only issue for Colorado in this game, but the Avalanche were outshooting Boston 10-1 early in the first period before the Bruins scored two goals in 37 seconds, one of which came on a shot from behind the Colorado net. Mackenzie Blackwood, barring any setbacks, is expected to return from injury Tuesday when the Avalanche are back at Ball Arena. Will Bednar turn to Wedgewood or Miner on Sunday vs. the Devils?
Sooner rather than later, the Avalanche need more offense out of Brock Nelson and Gabriel Landeskog, who make up two-thirds of their second line. The two have combined for one goal and four points through nine games.
This begs the question: Should the Avalanche switch things up in the top six to spark some more offense? The top line has been consistent all season and is holding up its end of the bargain, but the second line could use a facilitator. Swapping Martin Necas with Landeskog or Valeri Nichushkin might be worth a look, as Necas would add some high-end skill and creativity to the second line that it’s lacking at the moment. You probably want to keep the Artturi Lehkonen-Nathan MacKinnon duo together, as it combined for both Colorado goals on Saturday.
Boston’s third goal was an absolute killer. It should have been a harmless play as the Bruins just dumped it down the ice with under 10 seconds to go in the period, but Morgan Geekie beat everyone to the puck, put a move on Josh Manson, and caught Wedgewood looking the other way to make it 3-1 on a jam play. It’s the type of play you can’t allow to happen late in a period.
It doesn’t help that the Avalanche have been forced to play from behind in each of the last three games, but it seems clear the coaching staff doesn’t have a ton of trust in Zakhar Bardakov at the moment. His ice time over the last three games: 5:57, 4:24 and 4:33.