Colorado facing 3-game trip without injured MacKinnon
The infirmary ice was a busy place Wednesday at the Avalanche’s practice rink. Nathan MacKinnon, the all-star center who has carried Colorado into a mid-season resurgence and square into an NHL playoff chase, skated circles through two orange cones. It wasn’t enough. He added a green water bottle for some extra dipsy-doodles.
A left-shoulder injury separated MacKinnon from his team, onto the lonely island of recovery. The Avs, though, are plowing forward.
In their first game this season without two top-line skaters — MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen (lower-body injury) — the Avs on Tuesday streaked by San Jose for a 3-1 victory in Denver. They figured out, in short order, how to win without their two top scorers.
But with a three-game road trip starting Thursday at St. Louis, the stakes are raising. The Avs are gripping tight in the three-team log-jam in the Western Conference and they remain a losing team away from home. There is plenty more to figure out beyond MacKinnon.
“This time of year, coming down the stretch, it’s not going to be good enough to play .500 hockey,” Colorado captain Gabe Landeskog said Wednesday after the team’s short practice before an afternoon flight to Missouri. “We’re looking to raise the ceiling. Being good on the road and above .500 on the road is a big part of it.”
In a 10-game winning streak that carried them from late December well into January, the Avs rocketed back into contention. Going into Wednesday, their 62 points had them in a three-team tie with Calgary and Anaheim for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.
Then the road arrives. Seven of Colorado’s next nine games are on the road, including two key Central Division tilts, at St. Louis and at Winnipeg on Feb. 16.
The Avs are trying to survive MacKinnon’s absence, and Rantanen’s, at the exact point they wanted to start making a move in the standings.
“We have to expedite the process and improve as fast as we can,” Landeskog said. “That’s where character comes into it. It’s your will to be better than the other line, really.”
On Tuesday, Landeskog’s linemates to his right included rookie center Alexander Kerfoot and winger Colin Wilson. They combined for just three shots, and no points. The hole where MacKinnon normally excels was obvious. The Avs initially estimated he would miss 2-4 weeks, after a check against the boards Jan. 30 at Vancouver knocked him from the game.
“He has such tremendous speed through the neutral zone and he’ll find ways to control the puck, attack defenseman,” Landeskog said of his missing linemate. “You don’t always have to be the one to drive the net. I don’t think any- body in the National Hockey League has the speed with the puck that Nate does.”
Instead, Landeskog said his new line will have to bunker down to survive.
“Just stay with it,” he said. “As a line, you have to be reliable on both ends and make sure you do the little things right, so even if you’re not having dominant shifts in the offensive zone, you still make sure you have good habits and get pucks out and in.”
What the Avs need, coach Jared Bednar said, is to fill in MacKinnon’s production with new-found production across the roster. On Tuesday, that came from 19-yearold winger Tyson Jost, who scored a goal and added an assist.
“Good is not good enough when you’re missing some of your top guys,” Bednar said. “We need more than one player to step up. It’s not Jost stepping up to fill MacKinnon’s spot or Kerfoot. Everybody in this pack has to be better.”
Their timing, though, is difficult. The Avs have not won in St. Louis since Dec. 13, 2015 and they are 1-6 against the Blues in the past two seasons, including two meetings this season — one an ugly 3-1 loss at St. Louis in January.
The Avs have 30 games remaining on their schedule, and the math of playoff scenarios is too murky to see. But their formula is simple: If Colorado can survive without MacKinnon and learn to win more than it loses on the road, the team could return to the playoffs for the first time since 2014 and just the second time since 2010.
“You need to elevate your game and take it to the next level,” Bednar said. “And hopefully when (injured players) come back, we can sustain that level, which makes us even better.”
NOTEBOOK Avalanche:
The Blues are undefeated against the Avs at home over the past two seasons, going 6-1 against them overall. “Obviously, St. Louis has been a tough place to play,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said Wednesday. … Goaltender Jonathan Bernier, whose 38 saves helped in Tuesday’s victory, will start in net, Bednar said. Semyon Varlamov, who has played just once since returning from a groin and hip injury, will start Saturday at Carolina. … Mikko Rantanen will skate for the first time in his recovery on Thursday, Bednar said. … Nathan MacKinnon’s rehab work Wednesday did not include shooting, a possible indication the Avs are protecting his shoulder. Blues: They scored the first goal Tuesday at home against Minnesota but allowed six unanswered goals and fell 6-2 to the Wild, which was limited to just 20 shots. “Goalies stand on their head for two months, and then we do that to them,” Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo told reporters of the shoddy defense in front of goalies Carter Hutton and Jake Allen. “Just disconnect all over the ice.” … St. Louis is 2-2 since defeating the Avalanche at Scottrade Center 3-1 on Jan. 25. … The Blues went with seven defensemen and 11 forwards against Minnesota, but blue-liner Robert Bortuzzo ended up playing wing on a line with Kyle Brodziak and Scottie Upshall.