Homestand A Missed Opportunity

You don't have to tell the Colorado Avalanche players that their longest homestand of the season was full of missed opportunities. They're well aware of it and are doing what they can dig out of the hole they're in.
"We all want to make a difference, but right now we're not getting it done," said veteran Jarome Iginla. "It's tough, especially at home. This is a tough stretch not to be able to win some games at home in front of our fans and climb back and take advantage of it. We all know what we let get away. Guys want to work, and you want that, but it's also wanting rhythm and having that confidence to go with the work. The only way to get out of this is to stay with it and keep working for a break. It's tough right now, and it's all on us as players."

Colorado lost its fifth in a row on Saturday night, falling 3-0 to the Dallas Stars at Pepsi Center. The difference came down to capitalizing on opportunities, which the Stars did while the Avs did not.
"We had our moments, but we're creating some chances and we're not capitalizing on them and when other teams are getting them, they are," said head coach Jared Bednar. "For 60 minutes, our group has got to be better. We had opportunities on the power play to get back in the game, and I didn't feel that's good enough on the power play. We're not creating enough chances on that. We're not making a difference on the power play, and that's how other teams are hurting us."

The Avalanche couldn't score on four man-advantage chances, while the Stars went 1-for-4 with the extra player on the ice.
Dallas' only power-play goal came on the second of back-to-back Avs penalties early in the middle period. Tyler Seguin took a cross-ice pass from Jamie Benn and beat Semyon Varlamov with a shot before the goalie could get across the crease.
"If you look at their goal, we make a mistake on the power play off a rebound and we stay on the puck and they seam it and it's in the back of the net," Bednar said.
Colorado had only four shots on goal during its eight minutes of power-play time.
"I think the biggest thing is their power play outplayed us and our power play was really bad tonight," said Nathan MacKinnon. "Didn't get anything going, made some bad plays, bad reads and just our work ethic wasn't there. I think that was a big thing. They get a power-play goal. If we capitalize on one in the second, it's a 2-1 game going into the third period and it's different. I thought we had a good third, but we didn't generate enough."

The Stars did get an early break to open the scoring at 5:08 of the first period as a Curtis McKenzie shot rebounded off Varlamov and two Avalanche players before sliding across the goal line.
Those are the kind of breaks opposing teams are getting against Colorado.
"We're not getting those bounces right. I believe we'll get them, but it goes back off our goalie and off us and into the back of the net," Bednar said. "[It] seems like the first goal of the game is so crucial and so important, and we haven't found a way to get it in a long time. We'll look to try and change things up at the beginning of the game. I felt like our guys were focused and ready to go, but our execution kind of slowed us down a little bit early."
Constantly getting down 1-0 early has taken a bit of the air out of the Avs.
"You get a lead in the first period… you start to feel good about yourself, but when you're down every game, you feel like you're chasing," MacKinnon said. "Every game is a fresh start, there are so many in this league. There is a lot of time left, but we can't wait."
The Avalanche made a push in the third period, but the Stars sealed their victory with an empty-net goal in the final minutes.

Colorado now heads on the road for a four-game trip, and it could be a blessing in disguise. The Avs are 5-5-0 away from Pepsi Center this season and went 2-1 on their last roadie. The only loss on that trip was against the Stars when the Avalanche held a 36-22 shot advantage and nearly came back from a three-goal deficit.
"It's big. We've been playing pretty well on the road," MacKinnon said. "Got to find that energy on the road like we had before."
The trip begins on Tuesday at the Nashville Predators.

JOHNSON HURT IN SECOND PERIOD

Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson suffered a serious leg injury midway through the second period and will be out for the foreseeable future.
Johnson broke his fibula while blocking a shot from Tyler Seguin and will be out 6-8 weeks, according to head coach Jared Bednar. That timetable would put his return from mid-January to after the All-Star Break.
The Bloomington, Minnesota, native is tied for the team lead in scoring by a defensemen with 11 points, and he is tied for the top spot on the entire squad with 10 assists.

LANDESKOG INJURY UPDATE

Injured Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog skated briefly Saturday morning and could be on the team's upcoming four-game road trip.
Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said Landeskog is progressing from his lower-body injury and wouldn't come on the road with the club if he couldn't take the ice.
"If he wasn't able to join our group and skate and get him to practice then he wouldn't come," Bednar said. "So we're hopeful that is what it's going to progress. We'll check and see tomorrow."
Landeskog has missed the Avs' last eight contests and hasn't played since Nov. 15 against the Los Angeles Kings. He had last skated on Nov. 25 and even took part in a portion of the team's practice, but he hadn't taken the ice since than.
"He's been working in the gym the last couple of days," Bednar said. "He's been progressing, so he feels better again today. He skated lightly on his own for just a few minutes, and that seemed to go well."
Landeskog was placed retroactively on the team's injured-reserve list on Wednesday and can be activated at any time.

LINEUP NOTES

Forward Joe Colborne and defenseman Eric Gelinas made their returns to the Colorado lineup versus Dallas.
Colborne was scratched for Thursday's contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets, while Gelinas had been a healthy scratch for seven of the last eight outings.
Bednar wanted to see more from Colborne, who started the game on the fourth line with Carl Soderberg and Andreas Martinsen.
"He's looking for opportunity to move up our lineup, and we talked the other day that those opportunities have to be earned, so we're looking for him to come out and play a real solid game," Bednar said of Colborne after the team's morning skate.
Gelinas replaced Fedor Tyutin, who missed Saturday's contest with a lower-body injury.
After the game, the Avalanche announced it had reassigned forward Rocco Grimaldi to the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League.