Avs Talk - A Colorado Avalanche Blog

It's deja vu time as the Avalanche and Flames are set to do battle again. This time, it'll be on Hockey Night in Canada. Ah, how I love the soothing sounds of the HNIC theme song. It will be the second of three meetings over a 6 day span as they are due to battle it out in Colorado this coming Tuesday as well. Obviously the Avs are happy with the outcome so far but they really need to pick up the remaining 4 points between these teams if they want to remain in the playoff hunt until the bitter end.

Joe Sakic scored his 600th goal on Thursday in unceremonious fashion. But empty net or not, it was still a remarkable feat that only 17 other players have done. I wonder how many of them did it while putting on a 5-point performance, carrying their team to a much needed win. Throughout his entire career he has put up consistent numbers, no matter who the supporting cast is. No Forsberg? No problem. No Tanguay? Who cares. He saddles up, sticks the team on his back and gets it done.

And how about Milan Hejduk getting it done. A hat-trick on Thursday and 5 points in his last 2 games. He is now on pace for a 30-goal season which would go a fair ways to deflecting critiscism of him being nothing without Forsberg setting him up. Not that having Forsberg isn't a huge benefit, but it appears he's starting to show he can get it done without him.

Unfortunately, Marek Svatos hasn't been able to get it done without Pierre Turgeon this year. At least, that's how I'd like to see it. I'd hate to think that Svatos is simply too tiny and fragile to put up a 30+ goal season anymore. Maybe a two (possibly three) game streak of being a healthy scratch will give him a little incentive to get out there and prove some folks wrong as well. I like to think there is nothing as motivating as proving everyone wrong about your capabilities.

Peter Budaj gets the call in goal tonight after a shaky start which saw him yanked after 4 goals. Jose Theodore stepped in for the win and will likely start tomorrow against Vancouver. It appears lately that both goaltenders have leveled out in terms of performance. Budaj is still the better of the two, but not by much. This week, I have have a dream. And in that dream, I see two straight games where an Avalanche goaltender won't have to be pulled. Can that dream be achieved?

Injuries
Brisebois - back, LTI
Turgeon - calf, IR

McCarty - hip, IR
Richie Regehr - concussion, IR

Hot
Sakic has 6 in 2, Hejduk has 5 in 2, Brunette has 4 in 2, Stastny has 7 in 5, May has 3 in 3.

Tanguay, Iginla, and Conroy have 5 in 2, Hamrlik has 6 in 4, Huselius has 18 in 15.

Cold
Clark has 1 in 4.

Amonte has 0 in 7, Yelle has 0 in 4.

Goaltenders
Peter Budaj - 17-13-3, 2.75 GAA, .907 save pct
Miikka Kiprusoff - 28-17-0, 2.35 GAA, .920 save pct

Standings
Colorado - 28-25-4, 5th in NW, 10th in West
Calgary - 30-20-8, 2nd in NW, 7th in West