Like the Avalanche, the Calgary Flames are struggling heading into Tuesday night's meeting at the Pepsi Center.
The Flames (3-8-1) made the playoffs last season after missing five years in a row and were expected to continue progressing under coach Bob Hartley, who's in his fourth season with the team.
“Right now, there’s a doubt in our game, and we have to get that doubt out of our system," Hartley, who guided the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup in 2001, told Calgary reporters.
The Avalanche (3-7-1) know all about that. They've gone 1-5-1 in the past seven games -- 0-3-1 in the past four on home ice -- and are three points behind last season's pace (3-4-4) through the first 11 games.
They continue to make mental and/or physical errors at crucial times, as they did Sunday in the 4-3 loss to San Jose -- and are a miserable 1-5-1 in one-goal games.
The Avalanche have been outscored 14-8 in the third period or overtime, having dropped a 1-0 decision to Carolina in the extra period.
They didn't practice Monday, a previously scheduled off day because of the four-games-in-six days schedule. Haven't gotten the official word yet, but I assume they'll have a morning skate Tuesday; probably coincidence, but the Avalanche's only win in the past seven games came last Thursday in Tampa following their first mandatory skate of the season.
The Avalanche announced late Monday that they've called up forward Ben Street from San Antonio of the AHL. Street, 28, has three goals and nine assists in six games with the Rampage.
"When you're playing close games, every mental mistake costs you and that's exactly what happened," coach Patrick Roy said Sunday after Sharks defenseman Brent Burns took advantage of a bad line change and blown defensive coverage to snap a 2-2 tie with 1:39 to play in regulation. "It's the time of the game where you have to be perfect."
Roy was asked how to end this disturbing trend.
"We address it, we show them, and eventually it will kick in," he said.
Eventually? It's obviously been addressed several times, and the Avalanche already are eight points behind Winnipeg (7-4-1, 15 points) for the second wild card playoff position in the Western Conference.
"No doubt these one-goal games have to stop, they have to start swinging the other way," captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "We have to start coming out on top. There's no time to sit back and feel sorry for ourselves.
"At the end of the day we don't get away with any points, and that's what really matters. It's the business of winning, and you have to win or you're not doing your job."
Aside from blown defensive coverages and getting hemmed in the defensive zone, passing the puck around ad nauseam once the Avalanche find their way into the offensive end has to be driving Roy crazy. He talks and talks and talks all the time about putting pucks on net, driving to the net. Does anybody listen?
Again, guys like Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson should be firing away a lot more than they have been. Barrie, who hasn't been very good defensively, took one shot Sunday and has 16 in eight games (and no goals). Johnson took one shot, has 23 in 11 games and has gone nine games without a point.
The Avalanche still haven't gotten an even-strength goal from a defenseman, Blake Comeau or Matt Duchene. Carl Soderberg's only goal came with 32.8 seconds left in Friday's loss to Carolina, but I think he's been playing pretty well lately after being invisible in the beginning.
The power play finally produced Sunday with two goals after going 1-for-24 in the previous five games. Of course, they just had to give up a shorthanded goal to Burns in the second period, the second one they allowed in a four-game stretch.
Eight of nine games will be played on the road after Tuesday, including that monster seven-game trip. This season is already slipping away. Things need to change, and fast.