From first to worst, that's the early season story for the Avalanche, who are last in the Central Division with a 3-5-5 record and 1-1-3 mark in the past five games heading into tonight's visit by Vancouver at the Pepsi Center.
Here are the game notes for tonight.
A goal here and there and the record would be so much better when you consider the Avalanche has one win in eight one-goal games (1-2-5) so far.
"We know we can be better and we need to be better," Jarome Iginla said after the morning skate. "We've gotten great goaltending, so that's given us a chance to be in all those one-goal games, but we've got to find ways to win those one-goal games and produce more. I know that. It's about winning games. Being close or not, we've got to win more.
"We look at the standings and we know where we're at. We need to start climbing, we need to start getting some wins back. This is an important game for us, we all know that."
Iginla has two goals in the first 13 games, and both came Oct. 24 when the Avalanche defeated the Canucks 7-3. But Vancouver played the second game of a back-to-back situation then and Eddie Lack was in goal.
That won't be the case tonight. Ryan Miller, who has won five consecutive starts while allowing eight goals, will start against the Avalanche. He has an 8-1-0 record with a 2.24 goals-against average and .918 save percentage.
"We've had spurts, good periods here and there, but not a full 60 minutes," Gabriel Landeskog said. "For whatever reason our game management hasn't been as good as it needs to be. It's usually us shooting ourselves in the foot. Certainly that's something we're aware of. We've talked about it and watched video."
The Avalanche were outshot 12-2 in the second period Sunday against Anaheim and emergency goalie Jason LaBarbera in their 3-2 loss. Avalanche coach Patrick Roy singled out Iginla after the game for being out of position when Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler waltzed into the slot to break a 2-2 tie.
"Every goal that's scored against us, there's always a breakdown," Iginla said this morning. "That one, I was part of it. I'm trying to get better. It definitely didn't look pretty and it was an important goal. I understand that. Unfortunately, I was a big part of that one. You never want to be contributing in a negative way."
At least Nathan MacKinnon has rediscovered his scoring touch. He has four goals and an assist in a three-game scoring streak after going the first 10 games without a goal.
"We're not going to play our best game every night," he said. "When we don't play our best, we can't play our worst. We're not playing very well. We need guys to play better, including myself. We have to be more consistent. We can't have good periods and bad periods. We have to play 60 minutes. I know that's a cliche, but it's true."
Semyon Varlamov will start in goal for the seventh game in a row.
Daniel Briere and Zach Redmond will be scratched again. Jesse Winchester (concussion) took part in the morning drills and wore a regular practice jersey, so he is getting closer to finally playing.
The Canucks will have defenseman Kevin Bieksa in the lineup following a scary incident Sunday against Nashville when he was struck in the right eye with a puck. He wore a visor in the morning skate.
The Canucks also will suit up rookie center Bo Horvat, who will make his NHL debut and skate on the fourth line. Horvat, 19, was Vancouver's first-round pick (No. 9) in the 2013 NHL Draft. He was recalled Sunday from the Utica Comets in the American Hockey League where he had no points and four penalty minutes in five games. Here's the Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog - Matt Duchene - Nathan MacKinnon Jamie McGinn - Ryan O'Reilly - Jarome Iginla Alex Tanguay - John Mitchell - Dennis Everberg Cody McLeod - Marc-Andre Cliche - Maxime Talbot
DEFENSEMEN Jan Hejda - Erik Johnson Nate Guenin - Tyson Barrie Brad Stuart - Nick Holden
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Reto Berra
***** Remember the good ol' days? You know, last season? Might make you feel better to check out Save by Roy, an in-depth look at the Avalanche's surprising 2013-14 season. It can be purchased on amazon.com and will be available wherever books are sold starting on Wednesday. It's written by Denver Post sports reporters Adrian Dater and Terry Frei.