General manager Chris MacFarland managed to plug the giant hole that existed in the crease for the Avalanche, but another one has appeared at the other end of the ice, at least temporarily.

Colorado’s offense isn’t generating nearly as much as it was to start the season.

While the Avalanche weren’t perfect the first month of the season, it was clear their goaltending was letting them down. In their 11 games in October, Colorado won the expected goalsfor battle at even strength, something coach Jared Bednar often references, in nine of those matchups. This was with a lineup missing the likes of Artturi Lehkonen, Jonathan Drouin, and Valeri Nichushkin for that entire month.

Why did they only go 5-6 in October? Well goaltending was a major issue, but they also weren’t dressing the kind of high-end talent they normally would when healthy. They might have been generating the chances necessary, but the finish wasn’t there. Their expected goals-for per-60 was 2.78 through October, good for ninth best in the NHL.

Since the start of November, that has completely flip-flopped. While their expected goals-against per-60 sits at 2.38, good for 15th in the league, the chances they’re creating has dried up a bit. Colorado sits all the way down at 22nd in the league since October ended, generating just 2.33 expected goals-for per-60. So yes, they’re allowing more expected goals against than for, usually not somewhere a contender wants to be. High-danger chances per-60 sit down at 21st in the league.

Not great, Bob.

There’s always a give and take with numbers like this. While the Avalanche aren’t generating as much offense, they’re doing a better job at finishing the opportunities they do create. That’s what happens when it’s guys like Lehkonen and Nichushkin shooting the puck as opposed to rookies like Nikolai Kovalenko and Ivan Ivan.

This team still has the high-end talent to stay in games, as evidenced by their win in Pittsburgh last week where they scored on 25% of the shots, they took at even strength. Actual goals are what win games, but there’s a reason why Bednar and his staff take some of these numbers seriously. You might be able to overcome these issues in the regular season when you’re not always playing the best competition. In a seven game playoff series against a good team, it probably won’t be that easy.

A team dressing the likes of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar, just to name a few, shouldn’t be generating less offense at even strength than the Anaheim Ducks or the Philadelphia Flyers. This is ignoring the fact that the power play, which started the season red-hot, has gone ice-cold with just 5 goals in their last 48 attempts. Yikes.

What are potential reasons for the decline? Depth, or lack thereof, for one.

The majority of the scoring chances created by the Avalanche are coming from their big guns. The top line of MacKinnon, Rantanen, and Lehkonen is holding up their end of the bargain when it comes to offense, although they’re also giving up quite a bit at the other end. Casey Mittelstadt’s numbers have cratered since October and so has his overall game. He’ll need to turn it around for this team to find another gear. While Nichushkin is finishing his scoring chances, his underlying numbers don’t look great. There’s a lot of room for improvement there, and if the Avalanche want to contend, it almost has to improve.

Colorado also just isn’t getting much offense out of their bottom six. The trio of Joel Kiviranta, Logan O’Connor, and Parker Kelly isn’t giving up much in their end, but they don’t create much in terms of offense. All three of them are on pace for about 17 points this season.

For a fourth line, that would be just fine, and in a perfect world, they’d probably be Colorado’s fourth line. Not many teams can go far in the playoffs getting that level of production from their third line, which is what they are now. Colorado’s current fourth line doesn’t play a whole lot and isn’t doing much when they do get out there. Even Ivan has hit a wall offensively with no points in his last 11 games.

The absence of Drouin doesn’t help, and his return would certainly fix some of the depth issues this team currently has, but there’s a decent argument to be made that this team is dressing a stronger lineup now than it was in October. He’s really the only forward missing that is anywhere close to a return, so for the most part, what you see is what you’re going to get up front unless a player is added via trade.

The benefit of a long regular season is that there’s plenty of time to work out the kinks, and the Avalanche certainly have some they need to work out. They currently sit 10th in the Western Conference when looking at points percentage. Given their numbers over the last month and a half, that sounds about right.

Colorado’s goaltending has stabilized with the arrivals of Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood. Now it’s up to the 18 skaters in front of them to find some consistency.