Paging Dr. Heimlich, Dr. Henry Heimlich. Please report to the Avalanche training room.
Granted, this is a football town. To some extent, everyone wants to be like the Broncos. But this is ridiculous.
It’s hard to beat starting 6-0 and finishing 2-8, as the local footballers did, but the Avs are giving it their best shot.
Well, not their best shot. Not until the third period, anyway.
“I think we came out in the third and put it all on the line,” goaltender Craig Anderson said after Friday night’s loss, the Avs’ fourth in a row and seventh in eight games.
So even their goaltender acknowledged that in a game they had to have to stop a historic late- season implosion, the Avs basically didn’t show up until the third period, when their panicked rush was too little, too late.
“That was Avalanche hockey in that third period,” said TJ Galiardi, who had Colorado’s only goal. “If we play like that from the start, we don’t have to worry about scoring a goal late to tie it up.”
Listening to the Avs talk is getting almost as frustrating as watching them play. Everyone knew this was the game that stood between them and full panic. Why wouldn’t they come out with their hair on fire from the start?
Is it coaching? Leadership in the locker room? Being too young to know any better?
Their listless first 40 minutes dropped them into a tie with Calgary for the eighth and final playoff spot in the NHL’s Western Conference. It was barely two weeks ago that they held a comfortable nine-point lead on their Northwest Division rivals.
The Flames have been buried so often they’re slated for a guest appearance on “True Blood” as soon as their season is over. That was supposed to be a week from tonight, when they finished up in Vancouver. Now, with the Avs gagging, Calgary is crawling from the grave.
As you might expect, it was a confused, dispirited Avs locker room afterward. With sweat dripping down his face, rookie Matt Duchene started his answer to almost every question with “I don’t know.”
“We just can’t buy any goals right now,” he said. “We’re not scoring enough. That’s the problem, so hopefully we can figure it out.”
To put the most sympathetic spin on it, you could say the Avs are just flat worn out. Many of their key guys have played more minutes this season than ever before, starting with Anderson, who had never started more than 27 games in his six previous NHL seasons. He started his 68th Friday. Duchene had never played more than 64. Friday was his 77th.
All of them, naturally, deny fatigue is a factor in their late-season slide.
“Speaking for myself, not at all,” Duchene said. “I feel really good right now. Energy-wise, I feel great every game. So I don’t think there’s anything there. I don’t know. It’s just tough right now. That was a tough loss tonight. I think we worked really hard and just didn’t get any bounces. It’s unfortunate.”
Veteran Adam Foote appears ready to play the “Us against the world” card, which he might as well. Nothing else seems to be working.
“You just can’t let what’s happening right now drain a young team,” he said. “This is the busiest it’s been in our locker room all season, the last two games. And we can’t let the negative drain us. We’ve got to believe in here and stay positive. We’ve got lots of games left.”
Five, to be exact. Although you wouldn’t know it after listening to the triumphant Flames, the Avs still have the mathematical advantage.
“We’re still in eighth,” Anderson pointed out. “Tied for points, (but) we’ve got a game in hand. So the ball’s still in our court. We’ve got to win our games. That’s the bottom line.”
It’s true. If they can right themselves just long enough to make that game in hand count, this season will be remembered for the Avs’ renaissance and not their struggle down the stretch.
But if they complete their disintegration by dropping out of the playoff bracket entirely, it will be remembered for the lack of a Heimlich maneuver when they really needed one.
Dave Krieger: 303-954-5297, dkrieger@denverpost.com or
