Avs Talk - A Colorado Avalanche Blog

Oh boy. That's all I can say right now. The Avs are in a precarious position in which they could respond in one of two ways. They will have a fire lit under their ass and come out flying to put it out...or they could have a fire lit under their ass and decide to stop, drop, and roll to put it out. Right now, I sense a S,D,R coming. I don't know if the Avs have enough inner strength to rebound in a huge way. They may make some improvements, but it could be slow going. Here's to hoping I'm wrong though!

Jose Theodore makes his return after recovering from a hip flexor injury suffered in Saturday's loss to Vancouver (it pains me to write "loss to Vancouver"). This should completely end any trade rumours that flared up that night when both he and Forsberg were "injured". Foppa's not coming back folks, face facts. He's got a no-trade clause and has said that he will override any trade request b/c he doesn't want to go anywhere. I guess he likes playing on a losing team...

The Sharks, once they decide on a goalie, will have one of the hottest goalies in the league in net. That's right, no matter who they choose, it's a great choice. Nabokov and Toskala are on fire this year and show no signs of letting up. Nabokov is 7-6-0 with a 2.12 GAA and .923 save pct. Toskala is 13-2-0 (holy crap!) with a 1.98 GAA and .929 save pct. That's ridiculous. If they stay true to their rotation, then Toskala will get the nod tonight.

The healthy scratch on D tonight is unannounced. So far Brisebois and Klee have sat. If Q wasn't lying, someone new should sit tonight and the only person I could see it being is Vaanenan. However, if you're actively shopping a D, you don't sit him. So I could see Klee or Brisebois sitting again actually.

Injuries
May and Turgeon are still out with shoulder injuries but I've heard unconfirmed reports that Turgeon is off the IR.

Mark Smith is the only injury of note for the Sharks.

Hot
Liles - 4pts in last 3
Svatos - 3pts in last 3

Bernier - 12pts in last 12
Pavlevski - 3pts in last 4

Cold
Where to start! The Avs and Sharks have a wave of cold hitting them.

Lappy - 0pts in last 5
Wolski - 0pts in last 3
Brunette - 1pt in last 6

Thornton - 0pts in last 4
Marleau - 1pt in last 5
Hannan - 0pts in last 5

Goaltenders
Jose Theodore - 7-7-1 - 3.00 GAA, .903 save pct
Vesa Toskala - 13-2-0 - 1.98 GAA, .929 save pct

Standings
Colorado - 12-13-2 - 5th in NW, 10th in the West
San Jose - 20-8-0 - 2nd in Pacific, 4th in the West (pointwise though, they're 2nd in the West)