Wednesday’s practice report — Brad Stuart injury update, Reto Berra to start in net against Maple Leafs — is .
Thursday’s advance package for the game against Toronto at the Pepsi Center focus on the struggles of Ryan O’Reilly, who is tied for the worst plus-minus in the NHL, minus-11, which is lowest among the league’s forwards. O’Reilly remains a takeaway specialist, as his 16 are tied for first in the league with Calgary rookie Johnny Gaudreau, but O’Reilly has scored just once at even strength in 14 games, and just twice overall. The Avs have three of the NHL’s worst plus-minus players, with Gabe Landeskog and Tyson Barrie also in that group.
I’ve been meaning to catch up with Daniel Briere and post his thoughts about being a healthy scratch early in what likely will be his final season in the NHL. And as I expected, the 37-year-old Briere was pure class. He understood the question but began to respond based on the team’s situation.
“Everybody is pressing, I’ve been in this situation before, and it seems you have to stop digging to get out of the hole. We have to find a way to create our own luck, our own bounces, when it seems everything is going against us,” Briere said. “Me personally, all I can do is stay ready, stay positive. As players we always want more, we’re never satisfied. I’d be playing first line, 22 minutes a night and I’d still want more. That’s the way we all are, the reason why we’re in the NHL. Being scratched is not easy, it’s not fun. But at the same time I keep believing that at some point they’ll need me and I have to be ready for that. That’s all I can do.”
Avs coach Patrick Roy made adjustments to his D-zone coverage in Wednesday’s practice and was very vocal about it. He wants tighter support for the defender on the puck-carrier, particularly when the opponent is cycling the puck in the corner. It’s a little less man-on-man, with the support coming off his man to double-team the puck carrier.
“We want to make it a lot tougher for them to cycle the puck and by doing this hopefully we will spend less time in our end,” Roy said.
The Avs are allowing 35.5 shots against, 28th in the league. Even so, Colorado’s goal-differential is just minus-10 (33-43). In comparison, Buffalo — the only other NHL team without four wins as of Wednesday — is minus-27.
