EDMONTON — When you’ve had the the type of disastrous season the Avalanche has endured you have no choice but to look at the positives any way you can.
One of those positives is 24-year-old . The 2010 second-round pick of the Avs is finally getting his chance to be a No. 1 goaltender.
Sure, his opportunity came with the season-ending groin injury to . But in a lost season, the Avalanche can see what they have in Pickard — and he’s proving to be a steady presence in the crease.
“This is the most games he’s ever played. He will double his totals from previous years. He’s still a young guy, but he’s getting this opportunity and itap only going to help him moving forward,” said Avalanche coach .
“For his growth, this is a good thing for him. Even though he’s gone through some tough times in the year … he’s worked through it.”
Pickard will make his 43rd appearance between the pipes Saturday when the Avs wrap up a home-and-home series with the at Rogers Place. He entered Saturday with a 13-25-2 record and a .909 save percentage and two shutouts.
“Itap been a tough season for us. We’re dead last, but itap been a great learning experience for me, and I wouldn’t trade this opportunity for anything. I’ve had a lot of good games, and gone through some rough patches, but I know these are all things that will help me going forward,” said Pickard.
Sven settling in. It wasn’t the biggest trade on NHL trade deadline day, but the acquisition of Swiss forward Sven Adrighetto from the Montreal Canadiens has paid off nicely for Colorado.
After bouncing back and forth between the Habs and the American Hockey League, the 24-year-old is making the most of his opportunity.
In 10 games, Andrighetto has scored two goals and six points, showing strong chemistry with and .
“I’m getting the opportunity to play. I’ve been playing on the top two lines, I’ve been getting power-play opportunities. I’m playing more than 15 minutes a night. Itap a nice change,” said Andrighetto.
“In Montreal, they didn’t give me that opportunity. I averaged eight minutes a night, playing on the fourth line.
“It was tough mentally. Getting sent up and down. I got the sense they didn’t really believe in me, but they believe in me here. Now itap up to me to show them what I can do.”
MacKinnon likes his new linemate.
“I played against him in junior and he played with (Nikita) Kucherov and those guys were unbelievable together,” MacKinnon said. “He’s been a good pickup for us.”Turning the corner? Colorado only has one win to show for its efforts this month, but the team is showing signs of improvement.
“Over the last four or five games, we’ve played long stretches of good hockey,” said Bednar.
“Unfortunately, the third period for us, we’ve been fragile. Timely goals against or costly mistakes, they’re compounding and we’re giving up multiple goals against and itap costing us games.
“Our guys have gone through a lot this year. We’re a team that gains and loses confidence quickly and we need a couple of those good things to go well for us and make sure we’re not compounding those mistakes. We’re playing better hockey, but we have to find a way to get wins at the end of the day.”
