The Colorado Avalanche are floundering at home this season. Roughly a quarter of the way into their 2016-17 season, the Avalanche are tied with the Buffalo Sabres for the second-fewest home points in the NHL with nine.
Tuesday night's 5-3 loss to the Nashville Predators was the latest beating Colorado took at the Pepsi Center. The Avalanche's problems were familiar ones: Inconsistency, shaky goaltending and slow starts to certain periods.
The Predators' Viktor Ardisson scored just seven seconds into the second period Tuesday. He collected a long pass from P.K. Subban and buried it past Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard to give Nashville a 2-1 lead. Then to start the third period, Nashville got two goals in the first 2:42 — one from Ryan Johansen, the other from Austin Watson — to all but put the game out of reach.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar didn't sound pleased with his group after the game.
“The timing of the goals, I didn’t love. But the lack of focus or a lack of intensity, we’re giving other teams easy goals,” Bednar said, according to the Denver Post. “I didn’t feel like they had to work for their goals.
"Too many guys wading into the game, seeing how the game goes. We need more passion. We need more intensity for 60 minutes. It’s that simple for me."
The loss dropped the Avalanche to 9-11-1 overall. They are 4-6-1 at the Pepsi Center and 5-5-0 away from it. Only the Calgary Flames have amassed fewer points at their home arena.
If Colorado wants to make a push for the playoffs — or simply climb out of the cellar in the Western Conference's Central Division — it's going to have to be better at the Pepsi Center.
The Avalanche have two more games left of this five-game homestand, Thursday vs. the Blue Jackets and Saturday vs. the Stars. They're 0-2-1 on this extended stay at the Pepsi Center as it stands.
Subscribe to Denverite's weekly sports newsletter here.
