Too Many Passengers In Loss To Predators

Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar didn't hide his displeasure with his team's performance on Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators.
Usually a man that can take positives out of losses, Bednar quickly laid out his disgust on having "too many passengers" and inconsistent play following the Avs' 5-3 loss at Pepsi Center. It was the club's third defeat in a row, and each as come during the current season-long five-game homestand.

"It's not good enough," Bednar said. "It's too many guys wading into the game and seeing how the game goes. We need more passion and we need more intensity for 60 minutes. It's that simple for me."
The Avalanche received a solid performance from its top line, with Rene Bourque and Mikko Rantanen tallying goals on the Nathan MacKinnon-centered group, but not many other combos could produce.
"You can't have passengers and try to win," Bednar explained. "One passenger on one line will ruin that line for the night, so you work as a group of five on the ice. You can't have guys that are wading in and just seeing how it goes, you have to compete.
"We've been positive with guys for long enough, and for me that's a fact. The guys have to step up. It's us as a group coming together. We're working through it in practice and now we have to do it in the game."

Colorado went chance for change in the first period against Nashville. The contest was tied 1-1 after 20 minutes, and the Avs held a slight 15-14 advantage in shots on goal. But it was the Predators that grabbed the momentum in the second stanza.
Viktor Arvidsson scored after receiving a long pass seven seconds into the frame and Kevin Fiala quickly extended the lead to 3-2 less than three minutes later.
The Avs only have themselves to blame for not being ready to go at the opening faceoff.
"We're beating ourselves," Bourque said. "We give up a goal in the first seven seconds in the second period. I think it's being mentally focused for puck drop. That's a set play, but it can't happen. We're losing 1-on-1 battles, and it's kind of been the same story all season so that's why we've been up and down."

Rantanen said the team has had trouble translating the focus from the locker room to the ice for the start of periods.
"The locker room looks ready every time we go, but I don't know what happens in the first shift," Rantanen said. "We let goals go in our own net. I don't know, it can't be like that. We have to learn about it and try and do something about it. It's the only way we're going to win games."
While Bednar wasn't pleased with his team giving up five goals, it's how Nashville scored them that really rubbed him the wrong way.
"I didn't feel that they had to work for their goals tonight. We get beat 1-on-1 twice, and it's in the back of our net," the bench manager said. "You just can't do it. We have time on a controlled breakout, we turn it over early, it ends up in the back of our net. The mistakes we're making we have to correct as a team."
Colorado finished with more shots on goal (40-33) and attempts (63-61), but most of that pressure came with the team pressing late to get back in the game.
"We play our best hockey and play hard when we get down, and that's not acceptable. Early on (we said) we got to grow and we got to grow, but it's unacceptable later on," Bednar said. "Like now we're at the quarter-season mark, we've got to cure it. They've got to cure it in the room. They've got to be ready to go as individuals. Some guys brought it, some guys didn't. You can't have passengers in this league if you're going to win."
So where does the Avalanche go from here?
Colorado will get back to the practice ice Wednesday and will continue to look for ways to replicate its good performance from training into games.
Bednar knows it is up to his troops to do it.
"For some reason in games, we have to get fired up before it starts," Bednar said. "That's not me going in and giving a speech. That's the mindset of our players, our guys getting ready to compete at a high level because that's what it takes in this business. I believe we're capable of doing that. You see when we do it, we can be a good team, a dangerous team. We can be a hard defending team, but it's got to be 60 minutes every night."

IGINLA TIES HOUSLEY

Jarome Iginla continues to move up in the NHL annals for games played as he appeared in his 1,495th career contest on Tuesday night, tying him for 17th place on all-time list with Phil Housley.
Housley happened to witness the milestone in person, as he is in his fourth season as an assistant coach for the Nashville Predators.
Next up on the list for Iginla is Mike Modano, who is 16th all time after appearing in 1,499 contests.

MACKINNON FIRING AWAY

Nathan MacKinnon set the Avalanche record for shots in the month on Tuesday, registering seven against the Predators to bring his total for November to 61. Claude Lemieux (1995) and Rob Blake (2003) were the previous record holders with 57 shots in the 11th month of the year.
The Avalanche center's 61 shots are the most by an NHL player this month, surpassing the totals of the Boston Bruins' Patrice Bergeron (57) and the Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin (54).
MacKinnon leads the team with 81 shots on goal this season, which ranks sixth in the league.

LANDESKOG INJURY UPDATE

Gabriel Landeksog missed his sixth consecutive game with a lower-body injury and was absent from the day's skate for the fourth straight day.
"We really don't have anything else to report on except for the fact that we have to wait and see every day how he feels and start progressing as he feels better," head coach Jared Bednar said of Landeskog's status prior to the contest. "If he doesn't feel better, then we're leaving him out. It's too early in the season, and something we don't want to play with. He's not 100 percent, so he's basically on his own timetable with the trainers. They let me know if he is good to go and how much we can push him on the ice."
The Avalanche captain last played on Nov. 15 against the Los Angeles Kings. He last participated in a team practice on Friday.