On a team with a much-touted core of young forwards, the Avalanche’s leading scorers on the verge of the all-star break are Alex Tanguay, 35, and Jarome Iginla, 37. The veteran wingers both have 13 goals, and Tanguay’s 31 points are one more than Iginla’s total.
“If somebody would say to me at the start of the season that they’d be one and two, probably you and I would never believe that,” Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said Tuesday. “But it is the case right now, and they’re giving us good hockey.”
So is the water bottle half full or half empty? Does that highlight a relative lack of production from Matt Duchene, Ryan O’Reilly, Gabe Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon?
“Our expectations of these four guys were a little bit higher,” Roy said. “At the same time, I think it’s part of a process. I don’t try to defend them. … I think they’re learning, maybe the hard way right now. I’m sure they know deep inside that they need to produce a little more.”
Iginla, tied for 20th on the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring list with Mike Bossy at 573, is coming off a 30-goal season with the Boston Bruins — the Avalanche’s opponent Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center — so his numbers aren’t surprising. Tanguay, though, had an injury-plagued season a year ago in the start of his second stint with Colorado, playing only 16 games.
Duchene has been centering them since early in the recent five-game road trip, and O’Reilly was between them before that.
“I felt good last year, I just got hurt,” Tanguay said. “I thought in Calgary, I played well in the time I was there, so I don’t think it ever went away.”
He said he and Iginla often were linemates with Calgary, where Tanguay played five seasons in two stints from 2006-13.
“Jarome and I know each other very well on the ice,” he said. “I know where he’s going to be. It’s like an old pair of shoes you feel comfortable with.”
Tanguay, a natural center, occasionally looks more like the playmaker for Iginla. “I like to pass the puck and move it quickly, and he’s a guy that gets open quickly and knows how to find that open spot to get that big shot of his away,” Tanguay said.
Said Iginla: “He’s a guy I really benefit from playing with, enjoy playing with. You start to do some plays that just come from repetition. But you read off him too.”
Iginla smiled.
“I really enjoy shooting,” he said. “He really seems to enjoy passing, so it’s a nice combo. He’s a great playmaker. He holds it until he beats just one more guy, or he looks a guy off. He’ll come through the middle holding, holding and people think he’s going to give it away, but he gives everyone playing with him a chance to get open. There are a lot of passing lanes for us, between our skates, our sticks, and it’s definitely a skill and a talent to find that. I know that I just have to try to find a stick length or an angle or between the legs or something, and he’ll find you. As a shooter, you love that opportunity to get those little consistent shots over time.”
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or TFrei@denverpost.com
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Spotlight on Brad Marchand: Marchand served the second game of his two-game suspension at Dallas on Tuesday and will be available to play against the Avalanche. He was suspended for slew-footing Derick Brassard of the New York Rangers last week.
NOTEBOOK
Bruins: Boston won 3-1 at Dallas on Tuesday on the first stop of a quick two-game trip before the all-star break. … The Bruins had won five in a row before a 3-1 loss to Columbus at home Saturday. … The Bruins are lamenting that salary cap reasons all but ruled out keeping Jarome Iginla, who was a veteran catalyst on Boston’s top line with David Krejci and Milan Lucic. Iginla signed a $16 million, three-year contract with the Avs.
Avalanche: Avalanche coach Patrick Roy reconfirmed Semyon Varlamov will be in net again against the Bruins. … The Avalanche’s practice Tuesday coincided with the Broncos’ news conference down the street to introduce Gary Kubiak. Like Kubiak, Roy — who also carries a vice president title — is working for a former teammate/team executive, in Roy’s case with Joe Sakic. “I think they’re going to do just fine,” Roy said of the John Elway-Kubiak relationship. “Friendship is one thing, but at the same time, they know why they’re there, and they’re there to win the Super Bowl. Same thing for us. We are here to one day (win) the Stanley Cup and try to prepare this team for the next level.”
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
