The road trip continues as the Avalanche are in Nashville tonight to play the Predators. Coming off a loss against Columbus last night, I can only hope the team is fired up enough to put in a solid performance and grind out just their 5th road win of the year.
Not that last night was a terrible performance by the team. It was actually a fun game to watch with some good end-to-end rushes and some solid defensive play. Unfortunately Theodore let in some softies that changed the tide of the game in the wrong way.
I'd expect Peter Budaj to start tonight though I haven't seen any official mention of it. DD has a good open letter to Joel Quenneville as part of his recap from last night. I think it's safe to say he speaks for 100% of true Avalanche fans at this point.
Joe Sakic didn't make the trip but is still expected to hit the ice this week. Ian Laperriere and Jordan Leopold are both probables to be in the lineup tonight. Sakic was moved to the IR list to make way for Leopold's return so I'd say there's a really good chance of seeing him play tonight.
I'm curious to see who Quenneville picks as the scratches tonight if both those players are in. If I had my way I'd go with Skrastins and Arnason. Of course it wouldn't surprise me to see Hensick sit out as his ice-time has been pretty low lately.
With a Vancouver win last night against Anaheim, the Avalanche have 33 points and are now 4 points back of 1st in the NW with one game in hand. However they are currently out of a playoff position, though only by 1 point. There are actually four teams at 34 points right now so things are pretty clogged up in the West.
I remember running into Tim Cheveldae at a Blades game early in the season and I asked him what his thoughts were on the Avalanche. The response was "They'll make the playoffs with consistent goaltending."
Not spectacular or superb. Just consistent. This season reminds me so much of last season that I wonder if it won't end in disappointment this year as well.
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Thursday, December 13, 2007
Gameday: Avalanche @ Predators
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4 Comments:
You know, if the goalies and coaching staff of the Avs put in HALF as much effort in game prep as ANY of the bloggers in our little circle do (especially the previews and recaps), this team would be up 5 or 6 points on everybody else in the division.
That's just my opinion, but I might be wrong.
Thanks Mike. I think you're right on that one :)
I just heard that Arnason and Hensick are scratched tonight. So 7 D will be in and I get my wish of Arnason sitting a game.
Good stuff!
7 D?
for crying out loud...
Maybe Q doesn't know you should only have 2 on the ice at a time?
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