They met at neutral ice, surrounded by fellow coaches and teammates during “playtime” after a tough practice Monday. With small games forming at both ends of the rink, Avalanche center Matt Duchene called for the informal meeting with coach Joe Sacco in front of the scorer’s table.

Sacco was eager to listen and ultimately explain why he demoted his young star to the fourth line in Colorado’s last game.

“I just went up to him and apologized. I also apologized to my teammates,” Duchene said from his locker room stall after the meeting. “I’m still young, and I make a lot of mistakes and I’m not playing to my capability right now.”

Duchene, 20, played a season-low 11:35 in Saturday’s 5-4 shootout victory at Chicago, mostly centering the fourth line with wingers Jay McClement and Cody McLeod. Duchene has only one goal and three assists in eight games after leading the Avs with 67 points last season (27 goals) as a second-year pro.

“I’ve been notorious for slow starts, and I’ve tried everything to avoid that, but all I can do is continue to work hard,” said Duchene, who had only two goals in his first 20 games last season. “I get into a habit of overthinking things instead of going out and just playing, having fun and doing what got me here. I think that’s the basic problem for me.

“Good news is, we’re just eight games in. The better news is, we’re 6-2.”

Sacco was not made available to the media Monday. Duchene said he didn’t hesitate to reach out to the third-year Avs coach whose tenure with the organization coincides with his.

“Joe, he’s a guy who is constantly talking to us about stuff, one-on-one, so why can’t it be the other way around, right?” Duchene said. “So I saw him this morning and told him I wanted to talk after practice. We got things out in the open. It’s nothing bad. We’re 6-2. It’s not like we’re 2-6 and I’ve been brutal.

“We’ll be OK, I’ll be OK. The offensive production is a byproduct of everything else and I think I’ve been skipping some little steps to get me there. I’m not worried about it.

“Do I have some work to do? Yeah. But I’ve been on the fourth line four or five times in my three years here. It’s something I’ve always worked my way out of, and I’ll do it again.”

Footnotes. Goalie Semyon Varlamov and four others did not practice Monday. Varlamov and forwards Milan Hejduk and David Jones were taking days off, the team said, and defenseman Kyle Quincey was attending the funeral of his grandfather.

Winger Peter Mueller remains unavailable with a head injury. It is unusual for a young player such as the 23-year-old Varlamov to skip a practice, but he is coming off back-to-back starts and is expected to play in Wednesday night’s game at Calgary.

Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com