Patience with Mikko Rantanen could pay off down the road

With a tenuous hold on a playoff wildcard spot the Avalanche offense has sputtered and stalled. In the nine games since the All Star Break the Avalanche have scored three goals just three times (Averaging 2.11 goals per game), reached 30 shots just three times, and have been outshot by a margin of 310 to 235. On an undeniably top heavy team, there’s been little goal support from the Avs’ bottom six. In those nine games Matt Duchene (1G 3A -7), Nathan MacKinnon (3G 2A -6), Gabriel Landeskog (3G 1A +2) and Tyson Barrie (0G 4A -9) haven’t been good enough to win games on their own, while depth players like John Mitchell (0G 2 A in last 18 games), Jack Skille (0 points in 12 games), Cody McLeod (0 points in 17 games) and Andreas Martinsen (0 points in 17 games) have failed to pick up the slack.

…