Avalanche vs Sabres, Game 8 Preview - Colorado Avalanche Updates, News and Game Reviews at Avs Talk

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Avalanche vs Sabres, Game 8 Preview

It's a battle of offensive juggernauts when the Buffaslugs make their way to Denver to face the Avalanche as part of the NHL's Super Saturday.

If you're a betting person, you might want to line up to place some cash on the over for this game. Colorado and Buffalo are two of the highest scoring teams in the league with 28 and 26 goals respectively in their first seven games.

A crucial difference is that while Colorado given up 23  goals so far, Buffalo has only allowed 13. With a 1.74 GAA and .935 save percentage, it appears Ryan Miller isn't suffering from any post-contract performance issues while Patrick Lalime is being all the backup he can be with a 1.44 GAA and .953 save percentage. Lalime is the likely candidate in the Sabres goal tonight according to the Buffalo News.

Peter Budaj will be the man at the other end of the rink as he gets his second straight start. After giving up just one goal - a rather lucky powerplay goal no less - against Edmonton, it appears Budaj may be hitting his stride after a shaky start to the season. 


If the defense can apply pressure down low while utilizing a newfound ability to clear the puck, it will go a long way to helping Budaj's cause. Which is to vindicate the faithful while disproving the pundits. If he wins hockey games along the way, so be it.

David Jones is ready to go but it's questionable whether Granato will insert him into the lineup. Ben Guite took his spot on Thursday and played a whale of a game, making it hard to argue for sitting Guite.

Though Jones finally got his first goal of the season against the Kings - the game after I dropped him from my fantasy lineup - he might find himself watching from afar as not many coaches want to tinker with a winning lineup.

Watch for Paul Stastny to extend his current 7-game, 11-point scoring streak which has him in 5th place in the early scoring race. Also watch for how many times his lineage is mentioned more often than his mad skillz. It's a good thing he doesn't have an ego.

Buffalo is undefeated in regulation after 7 games while the Avalanche have reeled off four straight wins. One of those is likely to give tonight and it just might be in highlight-reel fashion.

I'm not sure yet if I'll be getting the Altitude or MSG feed but either way there will be some excitable announcers calling this one.

The puck drops at 9:00 ET, 7:00 MT. Don't wear yourself out on the 12 games that start before this one!

Gameday Video

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3 Comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the sakic fight. I haven't seen that in a long time, but I'll always remember it. the one thing I want to know is what gilmour said to him? Did he call his wife a lesbian? (gratuitous slap slot reference)

Shane Giroux said...

And if his wife's a lesbian, what does that make him?

Evelyn said...

I wish they would try Guite in Arnason's spot. What's to lose? Sit Arnason. Yes.

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