Avalanche's Calvin Pickard: Stops 40 in losing effort

Pickard made 40 saves in Thursday's 2-1 loss to the Senators.

Analysis:

Pickard wasn't to blame for this defeat, as the team in front of him was outshot 42-23. His 40 saves were the most in a game for Pickard since he stopped 41 of 43 shots in a Nov. 19 win over the Wild. Pickard's 1-6-1 over his past eight starts despite holding opponents to two or fewer goals in half of those games, and things are unlikely to get any better down the stretch, considering his team is averaging a league-low 1.97 goals per game.