Avs Talk - A Colorado Avalanche Blog

A grueling October finally came to a close for the Avalanche and it could not have gone any better. Well, they could have done without all the injuries. And I suppose technically they did leave six of a possible 28 points on the table. But all things considered, this was a success beyond anyone's imaginations for a team pegged for dead last in the NHL.

The Avs kick off Movember with a stop in sunny Vancouver tonight to take on Andrew Raycroft and the Vancouver Canucks. It's the tail end of a four-game road trip that has seen them go 2-1 with wins against division foes Calgary and Edmonton. Wouldn't it be nice to grab a couple more points from the division tonight?

The Avalanche are having their depth tested early in the season. With Darcy Tucker, T.J. Galiardi, Matt Hendricks and Cody Mcleod out, we've seen a quick parade of AHL call-ups. And while the Avs are still holding firm in light of the injuries, they will start to catch up with them.

Thankfully, Craig Anderson has showed no signs of slowing down. When the defense fails, Neo has been there to bail them out. When the offense is lacking, Mr. Anderson to the rescue. When the team is firing on all cylinders, there he is. He is everyone, and he is no one.

Anderson leads the league with a .930 save percentage and 10 wins and is 3rd in GAA with 2.04. Combine that with being tied for #1 in the league in games played, I think we can all sleep easy with him in net.

And sleep easy tonight might be what many people will be doing even before this game starts at 10:00pm ET tonight. Thanks to daylight savings time and Saskatchewan's rebel ways, that means a 9:00pm start time for this guy. You lucky Coloradians (I didn't look that up, just took a stab at it) at least get it at 8:00pm. But given my computer science background, I'll still be up long after the game ends. bless flexible working hours!

I might even have a thought or two on the game before I hit the sack. Or I'll be busy playing Dungeons & Dragons while reading comic books and drinking Jolt cola.

Oh, and Marek Svatos will get goal #3 tonight (hey, it worked with Matt Duchene...)

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