(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
If the Avalanche were to lose to the Wings, which they've a lot of experience with these days, then ok. They're a great team, albeit in a bit of a slump at the moment, while the Avalanche have been barely above mediocre all season. But to get destroyed by them is just too much.
Right foot
The game started off all right as the Avalanche looked to have some jump in their step after a tough loss yesterday. They managed to find some open ice, keep their feet moving, make some decent passes and even got a couple shots off. Then Lappy took out Nik Lidstrom and the game started changing.
Wrong foot
Next thing you know the Avalanche are falling back to their ways of not forechecking, not outmanning the other team, failing to clear the puck and being complete and utter failures on special teams. Oh, and they still aren't winning faceoffs. But that's the least of their concerns.
Honestly, how can you get only two shots off in the second period when you were down by two goals to start the frame? Maybe the team took the coaching staff too literally when they undoubtedly pulled this line out during intermission: "Two shots, two goals. That's all we need boys!"
Cody McLeod and Tony Granato Making Me Un-proud
Early in the third Lappy and Downey looked to square off a second time. Unfortunately Lappy's 10 foot run at Downey wasn't enough as Lappy bounced off him hard. And if that wasn't enough embarrassment, Cody McLeod started punching at Wings players on the bench. He then proceeded to jaw all the way off the ice after the refs decided to eject him rather than just a 10-minute unsportsmanlike.
There are two kinds of intensity in sports - the good kind and the idiotic kind. McLeod needs to learn the difference and learn it fast.
Oh and Granato, did you really start yelling at Babcock over that play? Lappy took the run at Downey and they both got the sticks up and you flip out? Geez, I never thought I'd be embarrassed watching an Avs game from the comfort of my own home but I was proved wrong tonight. The coaching staff is more upset over an altercation like that than by the awful play of their team. Unbelievable.
Goaltending
Because I know it's happening now and was probably happening after the second goal, I'll just say this: anyone who puts this loss at the feet of Jose Theodore has their head firmly embedded in their ass.
Super stat
The Avalanche have now gone just over 214 minutes without scoring a goal against the Wings. I believe that stat alone officially ends the "rivalry", don't you?
Fixing the team
This team can be fixed but it's very apparent that this coaching staff is not going to get it down. The team is heading towards the beginning of a non-playoff streak and as Jibble noted in his blog today, everything starts at the top.
The offseason game plan has to start with a shakeup in the coaching staff and I'm very anxious to see if Francois Giguere agrees with that line of thinking. Or if Pierre Lacroix or even Stan Kroenke take it up a notch and scrap Giguere - which I highly doubt.
Caption contest
I guess I should try and caption that Babcock picture. How about something like "Mike Babcock tries to figure out why Joel Quenneville is still coaching in the NHL" Ah, I was never great with cheeky captions.
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7 Comments:
Theodore did his best to keep the Avs in the game. How a 2 on 1 against turns into a 3 on 1 turns into a goal is beyond me, but there wasn't anything Theo could do about it. He can't will a team to backcheck, can he?
Photo Caption: "OK, what can I yell at the refs about next?"
Don't be too hard on yourself- that was a pretty good caption.
I'm really glad McLeod was on the ice in the 3rd. If not, Lappy was going to be in trouble, because Downey wasn't going to hold back even with Lappy sitting defenseless on the ice.
His actions after that, though, were lame.
tapeleg, yeah Babcock was yelling at the refs a bit too much given that this game was never even close.
mudshark, thanks. I think I felt it lame b/c really it was more what I was thinking than what Babcock was probably thinking :)
dd, that's a good point. Downey was being unclassy in both situations by continuing to try and wail away when Lappy was down.
Better Granato yell at Babcock, than Quenneville yell at the ref at the wrong time and pick up a completely absurd, and devastating, 2 minute minor to put the Avs on a full 2:00 3-vs-5
jib, yeah that was some terrible timing. Q might as well have just shot the puck into the Avs net himself.
If Granato was yelling at Babcock for Downey going after Lappy once he was down, it's not so bad I guess. I think I was embarrassed by the whole situation and Granato chirping just made the team look kind of lame.
And they did not need any help in that department.
I agree with you 100%!! Quenville is a f#&^ing dumbass who doesn't put enough trust in his players and his a sorry load of krap when it comes to developing young talent like Hensick, Jones, etc. I think that Jose Theodre has been playing like his salary suggests he should especiaally after allowing only 4 goals on 40 shots, if it wasn't for him, the score would have been much much higher.
As for the solution: Fire Quenville, Fire Granato, Keep Hackett, trade that sorry ass defensman liles, trade brunette, hejduk, etc and just start builing for the future, i am not normally this kind of fan but this team is mediocre at the limit.
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