Postgame: Avalanche Deliver Another Disgraceful Road Performance, Get Trounced 6-2 in Nashville

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectIt’s hard to pinpoint the worst part of the Colorado Avalanche’s 6-2 loss to the Nashville Predators on Sunday at Bridgestone Arena. It could be the power play, which did absolutely nothing with six minutes on the man advantage. Or it could be the penalty kill, which gave up a goal on each of its first three attempts and four overall, allowing the Predators to completely control special teams play.Perhaps it’s the team’s overall defensive play, as the Avs continue to get beaten to loose pucks, lose puck battles, and get hemmed in their own end for minutes at a time.Or maybe it’s that they’ve now had three of these types of road games in a row. The kind of performances that are usually few and far between, the ones you flush and move on from, knowing you’ll get back on track the next night. The fact that it’s happening again is a problem. It’s not a blip on the schedule; it’s becoming a bad habit. And some of those habits are even bleeding into games that Colorado wins.The Avs got their only goals from Artturi Lehkonen and Devon Toews after falling behind by five. Goaltender Scott Wedgewood made 29 saves on 35 shots and was hung out to dry on nearly every Nashville goal. At the other end, the Avs managed just 21 shots on Justus Annunen and were outshot in every period.Meanwhile, former Avs center Ryan O’Reilly finished with two power-play goals and two assists and won 11 of 12 faceoffs. Jack Drury scored a beauty in his first game against Colorado in years, while Steven Stamkos, Roman Josi and usual Avalanche killer Filip Forsberg each finished with three points.The Predators absolutely dominated the Avs.It took just 4:01 for Forsberg to put Nashville ahead, capitalizing on an early power play that put the Avs behind the eight ball. Just like in their previous two road games, the Avalanche struggled to recover after giving up the first goal. Nashville kept pressing, eventually getting a tally from Stamkos that narrowly crossed the goal line as Cale Makar tried to bat the puck out of the air.The Predators took a two-goal lead into the first intermission and didn’t let up. Before Lehkonen could score his 10th goal of the season, Nashville got a power-play goal from O’Reilly, a tally from Drury and another goal on the man advantage. Toews’ goal was followed by Nashville’s fourth power-play goal of the night.The Avalanche finished 3-for-7 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play. An embarrassing performance at five-on-five was somehow even worse on special teams.Bad: Everything.This isn’t a cop-out or an exaggeration. The Avalanche looked bad in every facet of the game. They looked uninterested, uninspired, and frustrated. They didn’t have their usual urgency. They continue to take far too long to find their game, especially on the road. This was the worst performance of the bunch, but there are several bad habits they can’t seem to shake. It’s something that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.Not only can you identify everything the team isn’t doing well collectively, but you can also single out individual players and examine how certain guys are falling short in their roles. I’ll get into that at a later time, but it’s a long list.Good: The former Avs showed upThat goal had to feel good for Drury. The primary assist came from Ross Colton. Those two were among the players with the most reason to want a strong performance against Colorado, and they delivered.O’Reilly has put together plenty of great regular-season performances against the Avs in the 10 years since leaving the team. This was probably one of his best.Annunen didn’t have to do much, as he faced just 21 shots and wasn’t tested with many high-danger chances. But you have to imagine he’s happy with how this one played out.Related HeadlinesPostgame: Six Different Goal Scorers Propel Avalanche to 6-3 Win Over LightningPostgame: Avalanche’s Late Goals Can’t Hide Another Poor EffortPostgame: Avalanche Lay an Egg Against Flyers, Fall 3-2Read more at Colorado Hockey Now