Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said the team struggled with a lack of effort in pieces of its game which was addressed ahead of its matchup with the Arizona Coyotes at Ball Arena. After a disappointing six-game road trip where the Avalanche collected only three points, the team has returned to Ball Arena to get back on track and get a win against the Arizona Coyotes. Colorado has struggled with its consistent play and defending details. Elite forward Mikko Rantanen said the team meeting before practice on Saturday was about how to fix the issues that have cost them games. "I think we're sporadically playing well but in this league you know it's tough to win if you don't play consistently good," Rantanen said. "When you have times in the game when you play really well for a period and then 40 minutes you're not playing that well." The 27-year-old Finland native said the team has been giving up too many scoring chances for its opponents. "I feel like we're making it too easy for teams to score against us. But I think it's going to change now and we need to change it if we want to be good this year," Rantanen said. Jared Bednar said the team has suffered similar slumps and improved in the next segment. The Avs know how to win and that's what they're working to get back to — starting tonight against the Yotes. "A lot of things that we wanted to improve upon that we came up with the next segment and we really did improve on all the defending side of it," Bednar said. "We were fifth in the league in expected goals against during that 10-game segment — a huge improvement from what it was prior to that. I mean, now we're in the same boat. I just don't want to wait til the end of the 10-game segment. You know, this is sort of a break in this segment where we played the road games and now we got to come home turn it around." PROJECTED LINEUP Jonathan Drouin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen Miles Wood — Ross Colton — Artturi Lehkonen Zach Parise — Ryan Johansen — Joel Kiviranta Andrew Cogliano — Chris Wagner — Fredrik Olofsson Devon Toews — Cale Makar Samuel Girard — Josh Manson Bowen Byram — Jack Johnson Alexandar Georgiev Justus Annunen Due to the early start, there was no morning skate so this projected lineup was determined by previous lineups and rotation for goaltending. RECENT AVALANCHE ARTICLES What Avalanche coach said team lacked in loss to Lightning [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/news/what-avalanche-coach-said-team-lacked-in-loss-to-lightning] Avalanche end 6-game road trip with loss to Lightning [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/news/avalanche-end-6-game-road-trip-with-loss-to-lightning] 'Just another game': Avalanche forward back in Tampa Bay to face former Lightning team [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/news/just-another-game-avalanche-forward-back-in-tampa-bay-to-face-former-lightning-team]
