Avs Talk - A Colorado Avalanche Blog

Deja vu anyone? I feel like I just wrote this...yesterday. So the Avs now roll into St. Louis to cap off a home-and-home with the lowly Blues. Those same lowly Blues who outchanced and outscored the Avalanche last night to drop the Avs out of a playoff position...again. Now the Avalanche look to battle back and avoid a 3-game losing streak. They'll have to get around Manny Legace to do it.

Legace improved his record against the Colorado Avalanche to 10-1. I don't think any other goalie has a winning percentage like that against the Avalanche. Unfortunately, I can't see why St. Louis wouldn't start him tonight. I know it's a home-and-home but you've got to go with what works and boy does he work.

Peter Budaj got the start last night and will likely get the start tonight. He didn't get the job done last night but it wasn't squarely on his shoulders. He also didn't get hung out to dry by the defense too much. It was just one of those games where the team lost. Yep, those kind of games happen where you can't blame someone. Shocking.

Joe Sakic scored the first goal of the night for the Avalanche and moved himself one point behind Paul Coffey for 10th place on the all-time scoring list. By the end of the night tonight, he could be in sole position of 10th. If he does play until the 2010 Olympics and averages 80 points per season, he'll find himself into the top 5 of all time. However, I've got my Sakic countdown meter set at 358. That's what it would take to move into 2nd all-time. How about that as a way to cap off an amazing career!

Kurt Sauer was in the lineup as Patrice Brisebois is out with a back injury. By some accounts, he played his best game with the Avs. He ended up with 11 minutes of ice-time and made some nice passes and broke up some possible scoring chances for the Blues. That being said, I'd still like to see Kyle Cumiskey in tonight to get a few shifts. Why call him up just to have him watch from the stands?

3 of the Avs former Hot players have moved into the Cold category. Turgeon, Arnason, and Hejduk have been absent from the scoresheet for the last 3 games. The Avs offense can only survive for so long without those 3 producing some points. Brunette, Wolski, Sakic, and Stastny are carrying the bulk of the workload and in case you hadn't noticed, half of those players are rookies. I'm not sure what is going on with Hejduk this season but he's on pace for 25 goals and 50 points. That's far off of his 50-goal Rocket Richard winning season and even less than what he got last season. Arnason, who has been a pleasant surprise, can be looked over for having a bad streak as can Turgeon who just came back from shoulder surgery. Nonetheless, they need to start producing.

Injuries
Leopold - groin, IR
Brisebois - back, day-to-day
Mclean - back, day-to-day

Drake - upper body, IR
Orszagh - knee, IR
Sanford - groin, IR

Hot
Wolski has 6 in 3, Sakic has 15 in 10, Brunette has 7 in 4, Stastny has 6 in 4.

Guerin has 5 in 3, Dvorak has 5 in 5, Weight has 6 in 5, Rucinksy has 3 in 2.

Cold
Laperriere has 0 in 8, Arnason has 0 in 4, Hejduk and Turgeon have 0 in 3.

Tkachuk has 1 in 6, Brewer has 0 in 5, Mayers has 0 in 3.

Goaltenders
Peter Budaj - 9-7-1, 2.52 GAA, .906 save pct
Manny Legace - 9-10-4, 2.97, .896 save pct

Standings
Colorado - 18-17-2, 5th in NW, 10th in West
St. Louis - 11-19-7, 5th in Central, 15th in West