Avs Talk - A Colorado Avalanche Blog

That ending was so unexpected and yet so damn heartwarming. It was like a cheesy Hollywood movie but it's one I could get behind. After falling behind 2-0 and being absolutely dominated in the first two periods, the Avalanche came out in the third, tied it up, fell behind again, tied it up one more time and won it in the shootout.

Highlights

Cody Mcleod and Ryan O'Reilly are going to stick on a line for a while with the chemistry they showed tonight. Cody Mac had 2 goals + a fight against Brad May while Ryan O'Reilly had 2 assists including a sweet, sweet feed to Mcleod for the second tying goal.

There is no way O'Reilly is going back to juniors. Good news for Avalanche fans, bad news for Team Canada's junior squad.

TJ Galiardi was aching to make himself the next healthy scratch after a weak performance today. He turned it up a bit in the final two minutes but that's nowhere near good enough. His only saving grace will be that the entire team stunk it up in the first two periods.

Wojtek Wolski was planted on the bench in the 3rd period and only had four shifts in the 2nd. He is on a really short leash with Joe Sacco this year. While I'm all for sending messages, it's tough to send a message to just one player on a night like tonight.

Milan Hejduk still has some sick, sick hands. He was smooth as silk out there today and had some moves that made Detroit defenders look silly.

Craig Anderson made some stellar saves in the third period to keep the team in it and if it wasn't for him, the Avs would have been heading into the third down 10-0.

And finally, Matt Duchene got his first goal of the season. It was so quick that it took a second to register. He flew down what would be his off wing and sniped a wrist shot to the top corner, making Chris Osgood look silly, though not as silly as he looked in the shootout. Hopefully with that monkey off his back, Duchene will open up and start potting more of his opportunities. Lord knows he's had enough of them.

Suck it, Wings.

Avs 3 Stars

1) Cody Mcleod
2) Ryan O'Reilly
3) Matt Duchene

Highlight Video

Poll time

Related Links

NHL.com Game Summary
Paul Stastny - "We're just four lines playing with confidence"