The always candid and obviously frustrated Avalanche center Matt Duchene:
Running to it soon.
Avalanche loses 3-0 to Nashville in a wasted 33-save effort by rookie Calvin Pickard, who allowed just one goal. Colorado coach Patrick Roy lamented that his team didn’t have enough net presence in front of goalie Pekka Rinne, particularly from the top two lines, but added that he’s going to “live and die” with the existing top six and not mixed it up by moving Max Talbot or Cody McLeod into a top-six role.
Which means wingers Alex Tanguay and Ryan O’Reilly will continue to play with center Matt Duchene (or Nathan MacKinnon) and MacKinnon will continue to center Gabe Landeskog and Jarome Iginla (or the two aforementioned wingers). MacKinnon had seven shots — mostly from long range, if I remember — and Landeskog had four (plus a post). O’Reilly had two and Tanguay and Iginla combined for none.
Roy said those lines are trying to make too many pretty plays, and not putting enough shots on net with support.
“Sometimes the best play is to put it on net and let them drive the net,” Roy said. “Sometimes you want to do too much and give (linemates) more chances.”
Patrick Roy:
Roy said putting grinders in the top six earlier in the season didn’t work. “I don’t think it was the solution. I’m going to stick with this,” he said. “I’m going to live and die with these guys. I’m going to trust them and I believe that eventually the puck will go in and they’re going to find a way to play the game maybe a different way.”
Rookie goalie Calvin Pickard was excellent, but lamented that he went down too early on Filip Forsberg’s game-winning goal, a breakaway top-cheese snipe 2:23 into the game.
