The Colorado Avalanche need to step up a few things in order to earn points in the second half of their long road trip.
The Colorado Avalanche need to step up a few things in order to earn points in the second half of their long road trip.
The Avalanche have earned only one point in their last three games in the first half of their longest road trip of the season. The team knows it needs to turn things around in order to beat the next three tough teams it faces.
"It seems like we've lost just a touch of our detail and goals were costing us at the wrong time again," Andrew Cogliano said after an optional practice at Amerant Arena in South Florida on Friday. "We're confident that we know that when we really tighten it up and play our best that we're defensively giving ourselves the best chance to win every night. And we need to get back to that."
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Colorado suffered an overtime loss to the New York Rangers and a regulation loss to the New Jersey Devils but showed stints of energy and intensity. But the 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday was especially tough and disappointing.
"We're reaching a point in the season where that's non-negotiable, in terms of our defensive play, in terms of our habits, our details," Cogliano said. "We're coming into the stretch here for the playoffs, and these are the teams you've got to do it against so you can give yourself a chance to win."
The Avs' special teams struggled in the loss to the Canes with only three shots on goal with the man advantage. While assistant coach Ray Bennett acknowledged the Carolina is one of the best in the league on the penalty kill, he knows his units need to step up their play.
"We do something a little bit differently — I'm going to say differently but certainly different from where I've coached — is we run two power play meetings every night by unit," Bennett said.
Splitting the groups up allows Bennett to focus on more individual aspects of the units and players themselves. He said it allows open conversation with him and the players and the players amongst each other.
"The dialogue is always there. It's rarely just coach delivered to players except that it's we have very good dialogue. And we challenge each other all the time, which is very positive," Bennett said.
As Colorado gears up to face the Florida Panthers Saturday night, Bennett explained that it will be a big challenge against a fast-paced, physical opponent.
"A game like this should get our players' attention cause of how good this team is and how diverse they are in their abilities and their personnel and their structure's good," Bennett said. "So it's a good match."
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