Don't Stop Believin'

Hard to believe the Avalanche only have 10 REGULAR season games remaining. Up until now, it looked like a sure bet that the Avs would make the playoffs, but now anything could happen. Since the Olympic break, the Avs have 5 WINS and 6 LOSSES. Not quite what I was expecting. A previous blog of mine talked about the effect the break would have on the team. Well, here’s how things have played out.

Paul Stastny: After bringing a silver medal back to Denver, #26 has been on fire. He has had at least one point in all but one game since the break. After playing with some of the best in the league, he is feeling more confident on the ice and knows what it takes to win.

Craig Anderson: I thought the Olympics were going to serve as a great break for Andy to get some much needed rest, but it certainly doesn’t look that way. I realize the defense needs to be better in front of him, but I think he looks tired and not as sharp as he did earlier in the season. This could be from a number of factors including the two and half week break or too much playing time throughout the season.

Overall, the team is playing mediocre hockey at best and if they want to the make the playoffs, they are going to need to step it up these last 10 games because other teams like Detroit and Calgary aren’t going away. I am not quite sure why the Avs’ level of play has decreased, but I certainly have some ideas.

1. Sacco is switching up the lines all the time as well as scratching different defensemen every night. There doesn’t seem
to be a lot of continuity, which I think is needed with such a young team.

2. The team is young and it is possible that they are tired and worn down from the long NHL season. I look at the season
as a marathon, but some of the young guys like Duchene and O’Reilly started the season like a sprint, and their
production has slowed down recently.

3. This is a team that kept on winning when nobody believed in them. Chris Stewart was quoted as saying, “We just don’t
know any better.” Well, maybe now the Avs have started thinking about it and have stopped believing in themselves. I
Initially, they took it one game at a time, but it’s quite possible that they are already looking to the playoffs, forgetting
that the regular season isn’t over yet.

At the beginning of the season, no one believed in this team, and no one ever imagined they would be in the playoff picture. Now, people do believe in the Avalanche, and maybe that has thrown them off their game. Maybe we should use a little reverse psychology and stop believing in them so the Avs can prove us wrong once again!