Seven games into the season, and the Colorado Avalanche sit second from the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
The latest loss came to the Florida Panthers, not necessarily a powerhouse team at 13th in the East so far, by a 4-3 final in overtime on Tuesday. That dropped Colorado’s record to 1-4-2. Remember, this was a team that finished second in the conference with 112 points last season.
The way the Avalanche has competed early on has now been called into question by head coach Patrick Roy, who let go a clear shot at his team following the loss.
“Right now the way I look at, is we want an easy game,” Roy told The Denver Post. “Until we’re where we want to compete at the level we were last year, we’re going to struggle. We’re not sharp mentally.”
It was 11 days ago, following a season-opening 5-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild, that Roy said his team was playing “too fancy.”
Against the Panthers, the Avalanche fell behind by two goals in the first period, fought back to take the lead but then surrendered it all in the second period.
That eventually led to Panthers’ veteran Brad Boyes scoring on an overtime power play, for a tripping call on Brad Stuart that Colorado was non too pleased about afterward.
“I’m not going to say much about it (because) I’ll get myself in trouble,” Stuart said, as per The Denver Post. “But I don’t agree with it, I’ll say that much — especially after I got hauled down in the third, right in front of him and he doesn’t call it.”