(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
I won't break down every goal as I'm not feeling well today and need to get back to watching TV on the couch. Howevere there is one word to sum up a lot of the Bruins goals: flukey.
The Bruins were catching a lot of odd bounces including their third goal which was a shot from the point that appeared to bounce off Ian Laperierre, Adam Foote and Marc Savard within the span of 10 microseconds.
The Avs lived up to Granato's promise of a more up-tempo style of play. In fact they dominated the play for stretches at a time. The only times they looked confused was defensively in their own zone and on the few occasions they reverted to dump-and-chase hockey.
Peter Budaj didn't have a great game but it's certainly not time to throw him under the bus, though a .750 save percentage might say otherwise. He'll settle into the starting role but it looks like it might take him a game or two. He looked a bit too tight out there tonight and needs some time to loosen up.
Joe Sakic looked like a new man last night. During the offseason, I mentioned to a co-worker that I was concerned he had lost a bit off his shot. Well, last night he proved me completely wrong as he fired off six shots and everyone of them was a lightning quick release.
Zdeno Chara boarded David Jones early in the second, immediately causing me to curse myself for jinxing him. Thankfully Jones only sat out a shift or two and was back on the ice looking no worse for the wear. Jones had a relatively strong game even though he was working against the giant tree for most of the night.
I'm hoping for good things from the defensive pairing of Ruslan Salei and Jordan Leopold, but tonight they looked a bit awkward with each other. They hugged too close to each other early in the game and then appeared to get a bit too far away as the game wore on, leaving too much space for the Bruins in both cases.
The new rule tweaks look like they are going to take a second to kick in to the players heads. With just over two minutes left in the game, John-Michael Liles was tripped coming out of the Avs zone and the refs arm immediately went up. Liles held on to the puck, tried breaking into the Bruins zone and finally just dumped it into the corner, allowing the Bruins to touch up. What he should have done was give the puck to the Bruins right away as all penalties are followed by a faceoff in the penalized teams zone. The Avs lost 20 seconds of powerplay time right there.
I'd say more but I'm nodding off as I type this. The Avalanche's next game isn't until Sunday at 8:00pm ET against the Oilers. It should be an exciting game as the Oil should be a high-flying team this year as well.
And who figured the Canucks would score six goals in their home opener?
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5 Comments:
Wasn't the score 5-4?
I have one way to sum up what this year holds. Poor offense and no goal tending what so ever. Some of those shots last night My 6 year old could have stopped. We need goal tending above and beyond anything else. Peter last year allowed an average of 5 goals a game. Thats horrible.
Yes the score was 5-4 but we knew in the last minute Budaj would let one squeek through.
Whoops! I'll blame it on the flu. Or maybe I thought 5-4 was just too high of a score ;)
The offense last night was the main redeeming point of the team. 4 goals is nothing to sneeze at. Unfortunately the defense and goaltending let in 5.
It's only the first game of the season and we have to give Budaj at least a couple games before we start the hand wringing.
I won't break down every goal as I'm not feeling well today and need to get back to watching TV on the couch.
Hmm... caught something from the masseuse huh?
Peter last year allowed an average of 5 goals a game.
Divide that number by 2. Last season he gave up an average of 2.57 Goals per game.. which is what his 2.57GAA last season represents.
It also ranked 20 in the league, in front of such goalie stalwarts like Khabibulin, Vokoun, Ryan Miller, Mike Smith and Mikka Kipersouff.
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