Backstrom Rebounds with Shutout

Two short days after the Avalanche lit up Niklas Backstrom for six goals, he turns around and shuts out the St. Louis Blues 4-0.

I guess the Avs poked the bear and he got angry. Sorry, St. Louis.

Oh, and Andrew Brunette scored a goal. But who cares.

Avalanche @ Wild, Game 24 Thoughts

In the last two games, the Avalanche have scored 10 goals and it's due to two reasons.

Reason the first: The Avalanche are spreading out in the neutral zone.

This has been so critical to letting them break into the offensive zone with speed rather than playing a dump-and-chase.

And that is what a run-and-gun strategy should look like.

Reason the second: The Avalanche are driving hard to the net.

The second component of a run-and-gun offense is to be able to capitalize on the changes generated.

There's no better way to do it than by being in front of the net looking for rebounds.

Reason the third: The Avalanche are working hard in the corners

A bonus reason! The Avalanche have started to forecheck much better down low. And when they do get the puck, they don't endlessly cycle along the boards. Ok, they did it once in the third but it isn't a part of their gameplan the way it was last year.

Notes
If I could marry Milan Hejduk's shot, I would. Then I'd divorce it just so I could marry it again.

David Jones really seems to have benefitted from playing with McCormick and Mcleod. I'm loving his new nose for the net. It's what I expected out of him from game one.

Ian Laperriere has two goals and four assists in his last five games. If he would just get in a fight or two this week, he'll be fantasy gold for me!

And how about Marek Svatos' recent awakening? Granato may have found paydirt with his current line combos.

According to Versus, that a career-high in goals against for Nik Backstrom and it was also the most goals ever in an Avs-Wild contest.

On average, the Wild scored within 28 seconds on their three powerplay goals (6, 71, 7)

Cody Mcleod yipping at Derek Boogard was awesome. Sure, Boogard would destroy Mcleod in a fight, but you've got to love his moxie.

Avalanche Break Scoring Slump, Down Wild 6-5

My goodness that was an exciting game! I'm still a bit amped up and am having a hard time collecting my thoughts.

The Avalanche put down the Wild with an intense 6-5 win at the Xcel Energy Center.

Right from puck drop the Avs had their legs flying and they kept it up throughout most of the game. It's amazing how much free ice you have to skate when your teammates give you room to breathe.

The Wild drew first blood but the Avs didn't let that get them down. They kept applying the pressure and were rewarded with two quick goals.

Marek Svatos and David Jones answered back for the Avs and you started to get the feeling this one was going to escalate.

The Wild then got their first of three goals on the powerplay with Ryan Smyth in the box.

Smyth then promptly headed right back into the box after lipping off to the referee. It was a bold move. And by "bold", I mean "boneheaded". The Wild scored again with Smyth in the box to make it 3-2.

I suppose it's the Wild's fault really for scoring 6 seconds in to the first powerplay and not giving Smyth a chance to cool down in the box.

But then the Avalanche really opened up.

Paul Stastny, Milan Hejduk and T.J. Hensick put the Avs up 5-3. And then Stastny potted one more for good measure to make it 6-3.

Stastny's secong goal was due to some hard work down low by Ryan Smyth that helped make up for the two penalties he took earlier. But it was the equivalent of saying sorry after cheating on your girlfriend. The damage was already done and no amount of work could make it the same again. Once a cheater, always a cheater!

The Avs gave up another PP goal to close out the period after a weak, weak, weak, weak tripping call on David Jones. How weak was it? ...Dang, I thought I had a good joke there but I blanked after seeing a De La Hoya-Pacquiao promo.

Josh Harding replaced Backstrom for the third period and did an admirable job stopping all five shots that were sent his way.

Then, for the second game in a row, the Avs had their fans on edge after the opposition pulled within one goal.

It was a goal that never should have counted though. Brent Burns, playing as a winger, drove wide on Brett Clark and beat him to the goal. And then proceeded to push Budaj out of the way while the puck slowly slid into the net.

The goal was reviewed to see if Burns had kicked the puck in and during the review, the announcers stated "See, Budaj tried to make a play with his stick. That didn't work."

My response was "Because Burns skate was pushing his stick out of the way!"

I mean, my goodness. If that's not the definition of goaltender interference, I don't know what is. I'll watch the highlights again to make sure I'm not overreacting on that goal but I'm quite certain I'm not.

Either way, the Wild ended up shooting themselves in the foot as Bergeron ended up tripping Milan Hejduk with just 54 seconds to go.

Phew, that was a mouthful. I'll come back tomorrow with some overall thoughts on the game.

Related Links
NHL.com Event Summary

Avalanche @ Wild, Game 24 Preview

After my Hockey Talk Day post, combined with a bunch of technical and process documentation writing at work, I'm near all writ out. I don't know if there's a word I haven't used today. Maybe discombobulate. Ok, now that's all of them.

But I'll soldier on so I don't get jaded. And because I'm kind of bored after work.

Preview
After hanging on for a 4-3 win against the Lightning, the Avs are now in the hockey hotbed of St. Paul, Minnesota. And no, that wasn't facetious. Minnesota loves their hockey and I love them for it.

The Avs are on a five-game road losing streak in the regular season to the Wild and I think it's high time they put an end to it.

But a win against the Wild won't come as easy as a win against the Lightning.

The Wild are 14-7-1 this season and are only in 2nd place in the Northwest because Vancouver has played two more games.

They give up a stingy 2.14 goals per game which is second only to the surprising Boston Bruins (by 0.02 g/g)

Couple that with Colorado's 2nd-last goal scoring pace of 2.41 goals per game, and this could have disaster written all over.

But I remain confident in the Avs ability to overcome this. Why? Because it's Hockey Talk Day where nary a bad thing should be said about hockey.

Goaltending
After a day off for both team's starters, it will be Peter Budaj vs Niklas Backstromg tonight. And remember, Peter Budaj has already out-dueled on elite goaltender this year. And I bet he's just itching to do it again.

Injuries
Nothing new here. Joe Sakic and Adam Foote have not made the trip. And of course Darcy Tucker and Ben Guite remain on the IR.

Scouting
The Wild's no-name line - and again, I don't mean that in a derogatory way - of Andrew Brunette-Mikko Koivu-Antti Miettinen have combined for 58 points on the season. Stop them and you have a good shot at taking out the Wild. Ok, a better shot.

And Andrew Brunette is scoring on over 25% of his shots so it's imperative to keep an eye out for the crafty vet. I think we all know what he can do around the net.

Game time
Puck drops at 8:00 ET. And if you aren't local to Minnesota or Colorado, you might want to check out MyP2P. For no reason. Just to browse.

Related Links
Tjarnqvist gets inside scoop on Wild

Game Preview: Avalanche vs Wild

(Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

I just finished watching UFC 77 and have volleyball from 9:00 until 12:30 tomorrow morning so this will be short and sweet. I ramble on too often anyways.

The Avalanche head to Minnesota for game 2 of their 4 game roadtrip and it's not going to be easy. The Minnesota Wild are the leagues only unbeaten team in regulation (6-0-1) and they've been winning in style. Defensive style.

Nik Backstrom and Josh Harding are the best goaltending duo on the league at the moment as they have given up only 8 goals in their 7 games which is tops in the league. On the flip side, the Wild have only scored 14 goals in those 7 games. But if you give up less goals then you score, the odds are pretty good that you're going to win. Almost 100% as a matter of fact.

Colorado, on the other hand, has scored 23 goals with their high-octane offense. Unfortunately their solar-powered defense/goaltending combination has been playing under a cloud as of late, giving up the same amount of goals as the team has scored.

If the Avalanche have any hope of winning, it lies in getting the jump on the Wild early and never letting off the gas. The Wild have given up over half their goals in the first period and have only let in 1 goal in the third. It sounds like the opposite of how the Avalanche like to play.

Lineup
Though I didn't go looking for anything official, as I should be getting my beauty sleep, Peter Budaj should be back between the pipes tonight which should set most peoples minds at east. Most reasonable peoples minds anyways. Milan Hejduk is questionable after leaving Chicago's game with a sore back. It's the same injury that kept him out of the Calgary game.

I wouldn't expect to see any line changes except on the fourth line. I hope they sit Wyatt Smith and dress Parker. That way Parker can beat the snot out of Boogard and Guite will stay in the lineup. So far Guite > Smith IMHO.

Well, that wasn't too short. Sweet enough for you though?

Related Links
NHL.com Preview
NHLDigest Interviews John Bugicross
Terry Frei Interviews Jordan Leopold