Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Berra expected to play vs Panthers; Roy says 'sense of urgency' needed

October 20, 2014, 4:44 PM ET [18 Comments]
Rick Sadowski
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Avalanche goalie Reto Berra practiced Monday, showed no ill-effects from the neck injury he sustained last week against Ottawa, and is expected to start Tuesday night against Florida at the Pepsi Center.

"I felt good today," said Berra, who was hurt Thursday 2:46 into the first period when Avalanche center John Mitchell checked Ottawa's Kyle Turris into him. "It happens. In my career a lot of times somebody has hit me, but this time it was pretty hard. At first when I was laying in the net it was like, 'serious injury.' But now, today, I felt good."

Rookie Calvin Pickard relieved Berra against the Senators in an eventual 5-3 loss and went the distance Saturday in the Avalanche's 3-2 loss in Montreal.

"When you're not on the ice for four days it's always a little bit different than when you're on the ice every day, but health-wise I felt good," Berra said. "We're going to see (Tuesday about starting). We didn't made the decision yet. If I feel the same way, yeah."

Goalie Semyon Varlamov also got in some work, as did Pickard and fellow rookie Sami Aittokallio. Pickard will back up Berra against the Panthers, assuming all goes well at the morning skate. Varlamov (groin) is eligible to come off injured reserve Wednesday and coach Patrick Roy said he'll start Friday against Vancouver.

In other injury-related news, center Jesse Winchester (concussion) practiced while wearing a red non-contact jersey. Still no timetable for his return. He stayed on the ice after practice to skate and shoot pucks with Ryan O'Reilly, Jamie McGinn and Zach Redmond.

Roy tweaked a couple of line combinations again, switching Alex Tanguay and McGinn. Tanguay was back on a line with Matt Duchene and Jarome Iginla, with McGinn moving to the third unit with Mitchell and Daniel Briere.

Roy said he believes the Avalanche, off to a 1-4-1 start, are close to getting to where they need to be to start winning games.

"We're not happy with our start, but at the same time we're in every game," he said. "The four games on the road trip, we had the lead somewhere in the game in every one of them. In every game they were all one-goal games. We have to find what could be the difference between losing by one goal and winning by one goal.

"One thing we did (Saturday), we were much better in the second half of the game in our own zone. What that does, we get the puck and we had 2-on-1's because of great defensive plays by our guys. We have to continue to do that, compete well in our own end and when we have a rush with a 2-on-1 or a 3-on-2 we need to capitalize on it."

The Avalanche will play four of the next five games and seven of nine at home after starting the season with five of six games on the road.

"The message we had today is we need to play with urgency tomorrow," Roy said. "It's important to have a good start and play a good game and try to build on that."

*****

Captain Gabriel Landeskog, who has one goal, nine shots on goal and no assists, suggested the Avalanche have been pressing in an attempt to duplicate last year's fast start.

"People always compare us to last year and we subconsciously compare us to last year," he said. "We were (12-1-0) and we probably shouldn't have been. A lot of the games we didn't play our best and deserve to win, but we still managed to squeeze out a win a lot thanks to Varly. Now this year seems a little more fair, if I should say so. The results are more fair, I guess.

"These games, where last year we would have won by one goal, we're losing by one goal. We have to take care of business at home if we're going to be a playoff team. It's not like we've lost 16 in a row, but certainly we have to change something. We have to squeeze out that last effort and spread the positive energy."

After posting a 1-5-2 preseason record in which they scored 10 goals, the Avalanche have nine goals in the first six games. Duchene and Tanguay each have two goals, while Briere, McGinn, Mitchell and O'Reilly have one. The Avalanche still haven't gotten a goal from Iginla, Nathan MacKinnon or any defensemen.

"We're getting ourselves in position to win games," Iginla said. "Probably the biggest thing is closing them out. We can find some more offense in here. Myself, I have to produce. We're probably pressing a little bit. We aren't sitting here and saying, 'Oh, we'll be fine' and not to change anything. We know we need to change some stuff. We know we need to win games, close third periods out and get some more offense.

"We believe we can do that here, and that'll switch losing the one-goal games to winning the one-goal games. We are confident, but we do know there is an urgency and desperation even though it is early in the season. We want this tough stretch to be done and to start getting on a good one."



Join the Discussion: » 18 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Rick Sadowski
» One-year deal for Johansson
» One more postseason disappointment
» Bednar cleared to coach tonight; MacKinnon Hart finalist
» Cale Makar a Norris Trophy finalist
» Jost: Do or die Game 5 tonight; Kadri suspension upheld