There’s not much to say about the way the Colorado Avalanche performed last night against the Phoenix Coyotes at the Pepsi Center. “It was a very blah game out there,” second-year star Matt Duchene tells The Denver Post of the team’s 2-0 loss in front of just 12,000 fans. The Post agrees, saying the game “had all the passion of a term life insurance seminar.” Ouch. Duchene, usually reliable in helping establish the team’s offensive spark, took just one shot, and Paul Stastny took only three. The Associated Press points out that the Avs had power-play opportunities but couldn’t convert, a trend that has them at 3-28 with a man advantage over the last eight games.

Home ice usually helps, but after last night, the Avs have lost four of their last five at the Pepsi Center. As the Post notes, the game will be one the Avs come to rue if they miss the playoffs by just a point or two. The NHL’s Western Conference is incredibly tight, with 12 points separating the top 12 teams (only the top eight make the playoffs at the end of the year). The loss puts the Avs at sixth place in the conference and a distant second in the Northwest Division, 10 points behind the Vancouver Canucks.