Avs Talk - A Colorado Avalanche Blog

Well that really sucked. And that's putting it very mildly. I don't know who the Avalanche thought they were playing tonight but I've got a quick news flash...it was the Calgary Flames. No, not the Ridge Meadow Flames, although even they would have given the Avs a run for the money tonight. The amount of 2-on-1 chances was shocking and the fact that they gave up 2 shorthanded goals is mind numbing.

So let's break down the Flames goals:

1 - Flames play along the boards for a while until they can feed Hamrlik in the high slot. Hamrlik then orders a latte, waits, drinks it, then decides he better fire it in since all the Avs defenders are getting impatient as they wait in line at the coffee shop.

2 - The Avs break in 5 wide on the powerplay and shockingly give up a breakaway chance. As Wolski, Sakic and Svatos try and catch up - and all fans do a double-take to ensure that really is the last 3 players back - Huselius makes a nice move and gets a lucky bounce off his skate.

3 - David Moss takes a stroll down the center of the ice and waits for Tanguay, who was behind the net chatting on his cell phone, to notice, make the pass to him, and bury it.

4 - Daymond Langkow thinks to himself "When was the last time we got 2 shorties in a game? Must have been a while ago." He promptly decides to change the Flames bad luck on shorthanded goals and the Avs figure "Well, they have had a bad run so why not".

5 - Langkow decides that he isn't going to settle for one goal. He promptly flies down the wing, drills it off Budaj's face and then pots his own rebound as Budaj tries to figure out if his head is still attached to his body.

6 - Ossi Vaananen decides that the best way to defend Amonte is to get as close as possible to him while still not taking the puck away. Then for good measure, he figures he better screen Theodore and give the puck a bit of a deflection. Who can blame him? Isn't that what defensemen are for?

7 - Marcus Nilson decides that Kris Huselius deserves more. So he swoops in, steals the puck and feeds a wide open Huselius while our D stand behind the net wondering who's man it was.

Just so I don't look like I'm completely negative, the Avalanche did manage to get 3 powerplay goals. Of course, the powerplay gave up 2 goals so it pretty much evens out. Whoops, there goes that pessimism again!

Also to their credit, they did come out in the third and make a period out of it. Well, the first half of it. They had some sustained pressure at the start of the third but unfortunately had lost their confidence and were holding onto the puck too long before shooting. You can't let Kiprusoff get set or he'll stop it. All three goals were in tight off of rebounds. I hope they at least carry that forward to the next game. Grinder goals are where it's at in my books.

To be honest, I could go on for a while analyzing where the shortcomings were but I'm not in the mood to write it and I'm sure most of you aren't in the mood to read it. So I'll save us all the pain and implore all fans to do two things: 1) breathe deeply and 2) remember it's just a hockey game.

The Good
- 3 powerplay goals

The Bad
- 2 shorthanded goals
- being humiliated in your own building
- throwing about half a dozen hits in the game
- getting hit 20+ times in the game
- giving the puck away nearly 20 times

The Ugly
- Budaj taking one right on the chin