Most Avalanche practices usually are over by the one-hour mark. At Family Sports Center on Sunday, that was the point when the day’s hardest skating began, and it didn’t stop for nearly a half hour.
The Avs were put through a grueling, end-line-to-end-line “bag skate” by coach Joe Sacco. It was the second such punishing skate in the past month, but this one was much longer and much tougher than the blue-line- to-blue-line one before.
“It’s nothing unusual,” Avalanche captain Milan Hejduk said. “Sometimes it brings a team together. We won three in a row, now we’ve lost three in a row. There are ups and downs in a season, and now we have to bounce back.”
Most every player finished the nearly half-hour “bag skate” hunched over their sticks, gasping for air. It was the latest show of displeasure by Sacco, this one coming after one of the Avs’ worst showings of the season — a 4-1 loss at Edmonton that saw little in the way of battle or grit.
“The message was sent. It was pretty clear today,” winger Daniel Winnik said. “It’s up to us to respond to that.”
Winnik is one of several Avs forwards slumping. He has not scored a goal since Nov. 4 at Dallas.
“Very,” said Winnik, when asked if he’s frustrated. “But I think we’re getting chances. Have to bear down more and bury them — we all do.”
At the end of practice, the team gathered at center ice for a talk, without any coaches present. Veteran goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere did a lot of the talking, with Hejduk chiming in as well.
“We’re capable of putting wins together, there’s no question about it. We’ve done it before,” Hejduk said. “We have to bounce back.”
Footnote.
Avs center Paul Stastny did not practice Sunday. He remains on injured reserve with a torso injury. Stastny did skate on his own before the team practice. He will be eligible to come off injured reserve and play Tuesday against San Jose, but that seems unlikely at this point.
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
