History says Avs slow start seriously hampers playoff chances
Oct 18, 2024, 12:36 PM
The Colorado Avalanche are one of just two teams that have yet to get a point in the NHL standings thus far and the future for the winless team after just four games looks pretty bleak.
According to an NHL post on Instagram this week, since 2005-06 only 25% of teams have made the postseason from the position the Avs are currently in. And as Colorado prepares for a game against the Ducks on Friday—it may as well be a must-win. The two teams who climbed out of the pointless hole to start their season in the last 20 seasons to make the playoffs both won their fifth game. Meaning, that no team that was pointless or even had just one point made the playoffs after five games.
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The Avalanche are dealing with some of their best players out to start the season. Three of Colorado’s top four wingers in Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin were known to be unavailable to start the season. And Jonathan Drouin joined them as sidelined on Opening Night when he went down with an upper-body injury. That has left just Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Casey Mittelstadt as the Avs projected top group forwards who are available going into their fifth game on Friday.
Drouin will likely be the first forward back on the ice from the group of those bigger-name players missing. Landeskog’s experimental knee surgery is still an unknown, Lehkonen could be back sometime next month and so too could Nichushkin, who has been suspended until mid-November while being in stage 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. Yet Drouin is still slated to miss some more time per Jared Bendar.
Despite all the issues on the attack, the Avs’ 13 goals is middle of the pack. It’s the team’s 25 goals allowed that are worst in the NHL, somehow even lower than teams who have played six and seven games already. Sure, Colorado is also without Cale Makar’s defensive partner Devon Toews and that’s hurting the defense but most are pointing the blame on goalie Alexandar Georgiev. The Avs’ .794 save percentage is by far the worst in the NHL thus far. The starter has been pulled twice for backup Justus Annunen, who has also struggled.
Thankfully the Ducks might be just exactly who the Avs needed to run into, the young team has missed the playoffs six seasons in a row and travels to Denver with a 2-1 record on the season, beating lowly San Jose and the recently relocated Utah.
