The Avalanche's non-existent offense won't get any help from Matt Duchene on Tuesday against Los Angeles; he didn't feel well enough to skate Monday and won't play against the Kings at the Pepsi Center.
"He didn't feel he was ready to skate this morning with the group, so (the training staff) gave him the morning (off) to see what comes of it tomorrow," coach Jared Bednar said after practice.
Duchene has had concussion-like symptoms since absorbing an unpenalized hit from Winnipeg's Jacob Trouba on Friday. He'll skate Tuesday morning if he feels up to it but will be scratched regardless.
Blake Comeau practiced again and will play after missing four games with a groin injury, which is why A.J. Greer was reassigned to AHL San Antonio after playing Sunday in the Avalanche's 2-0 loss to Boston. Greer was up on an emergency recall.
"He played well for us and showed good signs of some things to come, but for now Comeau's activated, so he goes back," Bednar said of Greer, who had two shots in 16:34 of ice time and was one of the few forwards willing to drive to the net.
This has been a major problem for the Avalanche, who have scored 17 goals (that includes Winnipeg's own goal Friday) and been shut out four times in the past 12 games.
"We have to get guys right in the goalies' eyes," Comeau said. "We feel like we're there, but we're not there. We're making a stick screen a little too much rather than taking his (sight lines) away. Sometimes when you go through scoring slumps you start to maybe press a little more. I think it's going to take one game where everything's clicking, where we get some greasy goals, get the confidence back and go from there."
Semyon Varlamov, who stopped 43 of 44 shots against the Bruins while Tuukka Rask made 21 saves, none of them particularly dangerous, will start against the Kings.
Defenseman Patrick Wiercioch will return to the lineup, replacing Eric Gelinas.
Tyson Barrie, by the way, was minus-2 against Boston and already is minus-10 in 14 games. He has no goals and four assists since collecting a goal and an assist in the season opener.
"We're not getting enough shots through to the net is one issue from our blue line," Bednar said. "We can do a better job of finding some lanes and getting some playable pucks down to the net. A lot of it is some fancy plays, east-west plays, when we can be driving the net more. It's what teams are doing against us and having success.
"We've done it at times, but not consistently enough. It's repetition; the more pucks you get down to the net and in scoring areas, traffic you get in those areas, the more opportunities you're going to have. We have to find a way to get there more often."
Bednar said Sunday night that Greer, Andreas Martinsen and Rene Bourque were the handful of players willing to go into the hard areas trying to score.
"They won the one-on-one battles," Bourque said of the Bruins. "I think we were a little slow. Varly kept us in there, it could have been a lot more than 1-0 up to when we pulled the goalie. Our offense is not clicking, we need more goals, we need more guys stepping up. That starts with hard work and that's something you don't need skill to do. I think that was the difference."
Defensemen Erik Johnson and Nikita Zadorov have yet to score a goal; Mikhail Grigorenko doesn't have a goal and Joe Colborne hasn't scored since his hat trick opening night. Nathan MacKinnon has one goal in the past 13 games, Carl Soderberg has gone 10 games without a goal, Gabriel Landeskog has one goal in the past 12 games, and Jarome Iginla has gone six games without a point.
The power play is 3-for-25 in the past seven games, five of which resulted in losses.