Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen say Avalanche missing “chemistry”

The Avs need more cowbell. The 2022 Stanley Cup champs right now look like a gold-record rock band without a drummer. The songs are still killer, but the tempo’s all over the dang map.

“It’s the chemistry,” forward Mikko Rantanen said as he leaned back in his locker stall at Family Sports Center Monday. “It’s the little details that we’re lacking a little bit. Execution hasn’t been good (the) last four games — power play, 5-on-5, whatever. So I think we just got to execute the game plan better.”

Some nights, they blow the flippin’ roof off the building. Others, you’re reaching for ear plugs. Nasty Nate McKinnon & The Nightriders (7-3-0) host Eastern bully New Jersey (7-3-1) on Tuesday night, and nobody is 100% sure how the set’s gonna fly.

Will Burgundy & Blue faithful get the troupe that’s won its last three home games by a combined score of 14-5? Or the band of oh-brothers who went oh-fer their last three on the road, where they just got dusted 7-0 at Vegas and have been outscored 15-0 away from Ball Arena?

“I think there’s still a little bit of disconnect there,” star defenseman Cale Makar said of the Avs’ Jekyll-and-Hyde ways. “I think whether it’s just us throwing a lot of pucks away into areas that we don’t have guys. But … I watched the (Vegas) game back … it didn’t seem like we played as bad as kind of the score.

“It’s easy to say that now, but I think we just have to find a way to lower some Grade-A chances. We’re giving up a lot of Grade-A chances and we’re not getting them. So when that’s happening, obviously, it’s going to be a lopsided game. We need to find a way to minimize good teams like that and capitalize.”

They need louder voices, stronger voices, enforcing standards and boundaries. Gabe Landeskog was — and is — a master time-keeper, but with the captain rehabbing, somebody else has to be the bad cop behind the drum kit. Especially on the road.

A little less tinkering wouldn’t hurt, either. With five new forwards mixed in among the top nine, we all knew the Avs probably weren’t gonna find a groove before Thanksgiving. But is coach Jared Bednar’s constant line-tweaking helping or hurting?

Per DobberSports.com, the Avs have already utilized 11 different forward combos this season for at least 3% of the team’s total ice time at even strength. For context: Last season, Bednar only trotted out seven different lines at even strength that went on to receive 3% or more of that ice time.

More context: The other 15 teams in the West have averaged 7.5 different forward combos for at least 3% of even-strength time. Only Seattle and St. Louis have tried out as many different lines as the Avs.

“I don’t know — it just feels like we’re a little hesitant,” Rantanen said. “We’re a little bit, maybe, pressuring the stick too much — squeezing it.

“I think it’s gonna go away, eventually. But we’ve just kind of got to relax a little bit and maybe simplify the game … (when) everything’s going well, it’s easier to play a little more skilled hockey. But now we’ve just got to put our foot down and play a little more like playoff hockey. Just dump it in and go get it.”

It’s still early. The ’22 Avs were 4-5-1 after 10 games with three road losses in their first five away from Chopper Circle. The ’23 Avs were 5-4-1 over their first 10 with three road defeats in six tries.

So 7-3 with a 4-3 road record looks like a step forward. It’s the 15-zip goal differential over the last three tilts that sets off fire alarms.

“If we weren’t getting any looks, then we’d really be searching for some answers,” offered center Ryan Johansen, one of the key newcomers in question. “I think the main thing is just a quick reset.”

Chemistry’s an organic thing. Can’t be forced. Can’t be manufactured. In a battle of the bands this past Saturday, Vegas made the Avs look like a bunch of yacht-rocking balladeers. The Golden Knights forced 11 takeaways and blocked 26 Colorado shots. It was one of those throwbacks to the spring of 2021, in all the wrong ways.