What a roller-coaster ride that was! I laughed, I cried, I cheered, I cried some more, I jumped for joy, I had a heart attack (I'm ok now), and finally was able to exhale a sigh of relief. The Avalanche walk away with a huge 2 points against a team that they have had nothing but trouble with lately. It was no different tonight, except for the result.
The Flames jumped out to a 2-0 lead and had me hanging my head. Fortunately, I remembered I didn't have my hat on. So I shoved it on real tight and the Avalanche were able to feed off that and get within 1 before the period was out as Sakic scored his 599th goal. Early in the second, Brunette took a great feed from Sakic and tied the game up. As I stepped away from the tv for a brief moment, the Flames promptly took the lead again as Lombardi made Sauer look like a lumbering dinosaur. Then Tanguay and Iginla connected again and that spelled the end of Budaj's night. That, and me putting on my Avs jersey, was just the spark the team needed. Milan Hejduk had had enough and buried two goals in two minutes to tie the game up going into the third.
Then, a trickler headed towards the Calgary goal line and prompted my heart attack. I thought it didn't make it but on the replay it was clearly in and the Avs had their first lead of the night. It was short lived as Lombardi showed he not only has speed, but a hell of a shot. I guess if you have all the time in the world, you can really put some mustard on it. As I fumbled for some more Avalanche memorabilia, Milan Hejduk decided that he felt like getting a hat trick. So Ken Klee fed him a beautifl slap-pass and he redirected it past a shell-shocked Kiprusoff. Theodore decided to shut the door as he made a few key saves and Joe Sakic capped it all of with an empty-netter for his 600th career goal.
Joe Sakic had a 5-point night, which included 2 goals. So, I'll give myself a win for my prediction of 2 goals and 1 assist. I've got to. I'm never right on my point predictions...that's why I never do them. But it was great to see and, although I'm sure he didn't want it to be an empty-netter, it certainly was a great milestone for Joe. The entire team came out to congratulate him and to Sakic, it appeared to be just another day at the office. His calm, collected demeanor is one of the prime reasons he's one of the best leaders in the league.
As mentioned, Milan Hejduk grabbed himself a hat-trick tonight and has hopefully silenced the doubters. Night in and night out, Hejduk has been flying out there. Unfortunately, he just wasn't putting the points up so he looked to be underachieving. In any game I saw, I was still impressed with his play. He's got wheels, he's out there on the PP, he's out there on the PK and he's providing some leadership on the ice. For 3 1/2 million, I'll take him any day. Especially since he looks to be regaining his scoring touch with 5 goals in his last 3 games.
The Lappy-Arnason-Mclean line really showed some spark tonight and ended up with some great puck possession in the Calgary zone. Unfortunately, it resulted in no goals and that line was a collective -6 on the night. Wojtek Wolski joined those 3 in the minus category with a -2 on the night. Those results had him bumped down to the fourth-line for a while and he ended up with just 11 minutes in ice-time tonight.
John-Michael Liles and Ossi Vaananen ended up with very limited minutes tonight with 8:22 and 7:45 respectively. Now, I know Liles is struggling a bit at the moment and Ossi is a bit slow but...is he really slower than Kurt Sauer? The same Kurt Sauer who, after Lombardi blew by him, was back on the ice for the next shift? Does Sauer deserve special treatment for his mistakes or did Q feel the doghouse was full with Svatos, Liles and Wolski?
The Good
- comeback win
- 7 goals!
- 5-point night for Sakic
- hat-trick for Hejduk
The Bad
- 5 goals against
- another sleepy start
The Ugly
- another goaltender swap
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Post-game vs Calgary - Feb 15, 2007
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