Flames Power Past Avalanche 4-1 - Colorado Avalanche Updates, News and Game Reviews at Avs Talk

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Flames Power Past Avalanche 4-1

Well, the Avs got the first goal this game. Unfortunately Calgary got the next 4. Yep, another road loss where the team manages to score one whole goal. This team is eerily reminiscent of the Calgary Flames from a couple years back where they were completely dominant at home but sucked on the road.

It was a PPV game which means I shelled out $12.95 to watch another crappy game on a ridiculously crappy feed. If people pay money for this, you'd think they'd at least have some decent video equipment in there. It looked like a bloody YouTube video blown up on a 50" screen. That ain't pretty. I can't believe they show this same feed in movie theatres.

So it's on to Edmonton now to try and salvage at least one point on this brutal road trip. Oh, and that's the cover album for Motley Crue's Theatre of Pain album. The one which had the song "Home Sweet Home". Get it?

First Period
I was recording the Centre Ice feed for about 5 minutes before realizing it was on PPV. Totally glad I paid money to watch this game. Not bitter at all. I missed an Avs PP but obviously they got nothing done.

The Avalanche got another powerplay chance and, while not generating much, it did give Sakic the opportunity to play chase with Matthew Lombardi. As fast as Lombo is, Sakic matched him stride for stride and took the puck away from him on a near breakaway. Millions excused Lombardi by saying it was the end of a shift. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Roger.

Eric Godard and Cody McCormick then faced off. Millions said Godard was mad McCormick got the jump on him. I think Cody could be mad that Godard got a couple shots in after the linesmen were breaking it up. Call it even, m'kay?

A couple more powerplays for the Avs, a couple more easy kills for the Flames. The tripping penalty on Phaneuf, that was a bad call. He definitely got the puck first and Hannan after.

Second Period
Early in, Paul Stastny and Marek Svatos head in on a 2-on-1 with Phaneuf the only D back. Stastny keeps the puck just out of Phaneuf's reach and then feeds a beauty pass to Svatos who buries it. Kiprusoff had no chance.

And just as I was writing notes on that play, Owen Nolan gets the puck past Sauer and fires a shot that virtually went right through Theodore's glove. Tie game. Awesome.

A few minutes after killing off a Skrastins holding penalty, Matthew Lombardi made Sauer and Clark look like fools. He blew past Sauer so fast that Sauer didn't have time to find his jock after. He then out-waited Brett Clark who you just knew was going to sprawl and call it "defence". When he did, he fed a pass to Iginla who buried. Similar to the Stastny-Svatos goal. Except nicer. Iginla had 3 other Avs defenders around him and still had all the time in the world. Ugh.

The teams then traded too many men penalties with no action coming about. Unless you count Smyth getting his nose broken on a hit from behind by Anders Eriksson as "action". Ok, that play may have been after those penalties but whatever. It still involved Eriksson plowing Smyth's face into the glass.

Third Period
It was this period that you realized Smyth's nose was broken. He was on the ice with a chunk of gauze shoved up his left nostril. Possibly to hold it in place. He and Lappy are going to have a contest soon about who's nose looks the worst.

Midway through the period Craig Conroy took what is labelled as a cross-checking penalty in the game summary but was indicated as interference by the ref. The refs were likely confused as Conroy laid a cross-check and Phaneuf was the one interfering.

As a side note, the reffing in this game was pretty bad. A lot of missed calls on both teams and some lame calls like the Phaneuf one.

I then quickly switched to watch the Oilers-Canucks shootout. Glad I did because I missed the game-clinching goal by David Moss. It was a great tip off a great pass from Huselius. Oh, did I mention the Oilers and Canucks went to a shootout? Good to see the other NW teams racking up the points.

Theodore was pulled with about 1:34 left to play but the Avs still couldn't get another one past Kiprusoff. Nolan got his second of the net into the yawning cage and my head started hurting.

Lines
Richardson-Sakic-Brunette
Wolski-Stastny-Svatos
Smyth-Arnason-Hejduk
McCormick-Guite-Smith

Sauer-Clark
Hannan-Cumiskey
Finger-Skrastins

Odds and Ends
- McCormick was in playing mostly on the fourth line
- Richardson found himself on the first line and did well
- Liles was watching from the press box
- Hannan has been pinching a lot lately
- Regehr was a physical force on D tonight
- Roger Millions is still in my bottom 5 for commentators
- Tanguay has the weirdest bald spot on top of his head
- Man do I want Lombardi on the Avs
- Phaneuf is still a dick

Stats
Brett Clark was a -3 while Kurt Sauer was a -2. Smyth, Stastny and Svatos were -2 as well. That was the line which scored the Avs only goal.

Scott Hannan played 25:53 tonight and Joe Sakic was close behind at 24:05 thanks to nearly 6 1/2 minutes on the PP. Wojtek Wolski was on for just over 11 minutes.

Another night of the Avalanche winning the faceoff game. Frankly I prefer when they lose the face game but win the actual game but maybe that's just me. They were 51% in the circle with Stastny going 8 for 12 to negate Sakic going 4 for 12.

Shots were 21-15 in favor of the Avalanche. That's a low shootin' game to have 5 goals in it. Glad the Avalanche could be a part of it.

Related Links
NHL.com Event Summary
ColoradoAvalanche.com Recap
TSN Recap

2 Comments:

Draft Dodger said...

Every time we play the Flames, Lombardi looks like he's got a jet engine strapped to his back. I know he's fast, but somehow the Avalanche D make him look downright supersonic.

Shane Giroux said...

That's what happens when the defensive strategy is one of the following:
- stand perfectly still and brush the ice with your stick, thereby clearing a path to the net

- flop on the ice like a fish, brush ice with hands, feet and stick, thereby clearing a path to the net

I'm not sure when "lay down" became a defensive strategy but it's used far too often. I find Clark the worst offender but Skrastins isn't much better.

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