Business Insider - 23 Best NHL Players Earning Less Than $1 Million

I sent this link off to our puck-link providing overlords and said "I didn't look at it yet b/c I'm supposed to be working!". But curiosity got the better of me and I sneaked a peek. If you're reading this boss, I swear I'll make up the time!

It turns out it was very worth it as an Avs fan. Let's move past the inclusion of Kyle Cumiskey on the list as it's a debatable point and I want to make this quick. Also, Jimmy Howard can suck it.

Instead, skip to the last entry in the list and let me know if it didn't tickle your emotion bone just a little bit.

And remember, Matt Duchene didn't make the list because he's not making less than a million.

Avalanche 5 - Red Wings 4 - Suck It Edition

The Avalanche marched into Joe Louise Arena tonight on the second night of back-to-back games and walked away with a 5-4 shootout win. Don't try and say that didn't sting, Wings fans.

In a back-and-forth game, the Avalanche got timely goals from Ryan O'Reilly and Daniel Winnick, book-ended by David Jones tallies to get this game into a shootout. From there, Peter Budaj locked it down and Brandon Yip drove in the winning goal to spoil the Red Wings season opener.

Long Thoughts
During last night's "recap" I said that if the Avalanche turned the puck over against the Wings the way they did against the Flyers, they'd be walking away with their asses in a bag. You know, after it was handed to them. Turns out they only needed to marginally improve their turnover rate (because the Flyers are clearly a superior team to the Red Wings) to still get the W.

The Avalance are still making small, silly plays that are really hampering the flow of their game. They are still having trouble chipping the puck out of the zone, a lot of passes seem to be getting intercepted and there's just a lot of running around. One thing that really struck me tonight was how little the Wings appeared to be moving while defending. They were just in the right position. On the other hand, the Avalanche were often racing across the ice to get in a lane or cover their man. The coaching staff needs to get them to settle down and do a better job at reading where the puck will go.

It looks like I spoke too soon in believing Joe Sacco wouldn't stray far from his "ride the Andy" strategy in goal. If this was last season, Anderson would have been in net for both back-to-back games. Instead, he put Peter Budaj in who more than held his own against the Red Wings attack. It's a good sign to get Budaj in early and show the team that it's not all about the Anderson this year.

Short Thoughts
J.M. Liles is just 35 points away from 40 on the season.

David Jones is now just 28 goals away from 30 on the season.

Did anybody else pee their pants - just a bit - every time Datsyuk and Zetterberg were on the ice?

Why were both two-goal scorers in this game on the bench during the first round of the shootout?

Why did David Jones not take a new stick before his shootout attempt?

Two games in a row with a short-handed goal against is something that needs to be addressed right away.

How about Daniel Winnik with not only a crucial goal, but a hard-working *and* skilled goal? Just for that goal alone, I'm counting his signing as the best of the offseason. For any team.

Philippe Dupuis won 100% (4-for-4) of his faceoffs tonight.

Ryan O'Reilly blasted off 7 shots tonight. Three missed, three were on net and one was in the net.

Speaking of shots, brace yourself: the Avalanche outshot their opponent 38 to 28 tonight.

Suck it, Wings fans.

Avalanche 4 - Leafs 1; Game Highlights

The Canadian Press

I've got to make this quick but I had to get out a few thoughts.

Cody Mcleod's penalty was not a weak call, it was a 100% illegal hit. See the numbers? Don't hit. Simple.

The hit that took out John-Michael Liles was a very similar play and is the reason the boarding penalty is in place. A push/hit at that distance from the boards is very dangerous and if anybody feels otherwise, ask Liles' separate shoulder and see what it tells you.

Jeff Marek nailed it on his twitter last night - Ian White starts in net Saturday for Ron Wilson.

And it was White who denied me going 2-for-2 on predictions last night. Matt Duchene had his first goal looking him in the face while family, friends and former coaches looked on but White made a huge save to put that milestone off for at least one more game.

When the Avalanche signed Darcy Tucker, I had very mixed feelings but mostly on the negative side. He's wiping a few of those away with his points but I still can't help myself...I'm just not a big fan of the guy.

David Jones keeps pushing for his 30-goal season. I was all over this guy as soon as he came in during 07/08 and it looks like this could be his season.

Adam Foote may be slow, but he's still one strong SOB.

The Avalanche will have two 18-year old centers on their roster for the full season.

Oh, and the Avs are first in the West. In case anyone was curious.

Avalanche vs Leafs, Game Preview

The Colorado Avalanche (3-1-1) head to the ACC for part three of their seven part road trip to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs (0-4-1) tonight at 7:30pm ET.

This season has been going better than most Avalanche fans expected and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting a win out of this game. I generally subscribe to the "the more things stay the same, the more likely they are to change" philosophy but I can't see the Leafs pulling it together after a blowout yesterday against the Rangers.

The opposition

The Leafs have yet to get one in the W column this season and I can't tell you how funny I find that. After Brian Burke was once again fellated by the media - or was that just TSN? - for his off-season signings and "toughening up" of the team, it appears the "Genius at work" sign outside Burke's office might need to be taken down.

It's all well and good to build a team that's tough to play against, but there's tough to play against and there's annoying to play against. The Leafs are simply an annoyance at the moment. The only credible threat they display is violence and it's frankly not all that credible.

They're like the bully who picks on people because they suck at everything else in life. It's not scary, it's just sad.

Backup duel?

Most people are expecting to see Peter Budaj's first appearance for the 09/10 season tonight and it would make sense. Back-to-back games heading into a weaker opponent is generally the equation for when to bring a backup in. But given how early it is in the season, Anderson getting the nod wouldn't be terribly shocking or anything to stir significant analysis.

On the Leafs side, they'll be starting Joey Macdonald after prize signing, Jonas Gustavsson, headed onto the IR and prized whipping boy, Vesa Toskala, taking the "do what he does" advice from goaltending coach Francoise Allaire to heart, ended up injuring himself as well.

But don't get too cocky as Joey Mac is the guy that helped hold the Islanders together after Rick Dipietro hurt himself...again. His stats belie the performances he put in with that squad last year.

David Jones returns, and it was good

David Jones made his return yesterday afternoon against the Bruins and Chris Stewart was the odd man out. It was a good, albeit obvious call, by coach Joe Sacco. Jones rewarded the move with a shorthanded goal plus an assist. That should easily put him on a pace to eclipse that 30-goal mark, eh?

Chris Stewart struggles

I'm not sure what is causing Stewart's early struggles but Sacco has a good comment in the latest DP column:

"We're OK; we'll work with him. He's a young player, and he kind of needs to find his niche again on our team. He'll be fine. We'll get him back in the lineup soon."

That's exactly the sort of comment a young player needs to hear. It's not heaped all on him to get better, the coaching staff is taking on the challenge as well. Who knew you couldn't just say "He needs to find his game" and hope it would magically get better?

Is tonight the night?

I think it's time for Matt Duchene to get his first goal and I think tonight is the night. The conditions are ripe for the picking and hopefully Duchene can get that monkey off his back. Hopefully I don't pull something when it happens.

Lineup

I can't see the lineup changing from last game. With Jones' display and the need for David Koci in the lineup, it would be hard to find a slot for Hensick or Stewart to slide in. Another big body like Stewart would be nice but his less-than-inspired play leaves me thinking he would subtract more than he would add.

And if anyone suggests pulling Marek Svatos out, well it's pretty tough to do that when he's scoring goals. He's not gelling with Matt Duchene well and that's unfortunate - as is thinking Darcy Tucker would work better on his LW - but there are other options to deal with that issue.

Ryan Wilson was called up due to Ruslan Salei being placed on the IR but I'm not holding my breath to see him in action. If he were to slot in for anyone, it would most likely be Brett Clark, though that would leave an under-experienced 3rd pairing of Kyle Cumiskey and Wilson, or the unnecessary shifting of Foote or Liles "down" to the 3rd line.

Game time

The puck drops at 7:38pm ET and there is a bit of confusion on where to watch the game. It's listed as being on RIS and Leafs TV but there is no mention of an Altitude feed. "Center Ice to the rescue!", right? Apparently not as nobody can find it in their listings. I see it in ExpressVu's listings down here on the farm but if anybody figures out what's happening on the US side, I'd be interested to hear it.

Game 5 Highlights: Avalanche vs Bruins

WTMF? Here I was relaxing at home, eating some sweet potato fries and turkey and while I was doing that, the Avalanche were busy beating the Boston Bruins.

I was able to tune in to the last five minutes on Center Ice and will likely check out most of the game via GameCenter Live. But first, a few thoughts in my limited viewing.

The Avalanche still cannot clear the zone, even if death were on their tail. In the last five minutes of the game, the puck was in their zone for four and a half minutes. Of course, that was skewed by a terrible call on Paul Stastny for "interference", but still. I don't know why it's such a trouble spot for this team but hopefully Sacco turns that around real quick.

Chris Stewart sat today with David Jones' return and that was 100% the right call. Stewart has been less than mediocre this season after a great run to finish up last season.

Milan Lucic buys into his own hype just a little too much.

More to come. Or I'll grab a nap and miss the replay too.

Avalanche Roundtable HIts Tomorrow; David Jones Already Kills Prediction

Quick note that the Avalanche roundtable will be stopping by here tomorrow for a question on the season as a whole for the Avalanche and their fans.

But in news related to what I'll be saying in the windup of the roundtable on Wednesday...well, it's not good. I am predicting, once again, a 30-goal season for David Jones. Unfortunately he'll be sitting out an infinite, I mean indefinite, amount of games thanks to a bruised chest.

I might be jinxing the kid...

Denver Sports Radio Interview

My 10-minutes of radio fame is up! In case you missed it you can listen to the replay below. I'm big on data storage and don't like anything to vanish into the tubes, never to be seen again.

I'll have a follow-up post later tonight or tomorrow to finish off a few thoughts I had. The 10 minutes went by quick and I had more to say but wanted to make sure we covered all the topics they wanted to discuss.

Did anyone catch my two slip-ups? First was calling Budaj "boody" but there was another one in there that I kind of adjusted mid-sentence so it wasn't a total screw up. Just a partial one.

Blogger doesn't do audio uploads but it does do video (?!?!?) so I had to convert it before uploading. Enjoy staring at the Avs logos while listening to my babble on!

Avalanche vs Toronto Game Preview

I just got finished playing some parking lot hockey and boy did I feel old.

I'm still in Phase 1 of a recovery from a prolonged illness so I'll pretend that's the problem. It certainly has nothing to do with the big three-oh creeping up on me in a little over a year.

*waits for the 30+ crowd to throw some stones my way*

Big News!
The big news tonight is that David Jones is injured and Cody McCormick is back.

After sitting out a few games, Jones was injured in the first game back after a jarring check from Douglas Murray of the San Jose Sharks.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Douglas Murray hits hard and it's best to just stay out of his way.

Unfortunately Jones didn't heed my advice and is now listed as day-to day.

So much for the 30-goal season, eh? What idiot predicted that?

Injury updates
In other news, Adam Foote is still out with a triceps tear, Paul Stastny took a few laps after practice yesterday and Joe Sakic continues to avoid snowblowers.

Old teammates, old story
Oh, and Andrew Raycroft and Darcy Tucker are facing their former team for the first time since the Avs picked them up in the offseason.

But did anybody not know that?

Throw it in?
horbayj asked in the comments of my Minister of Defense post when it was time to throw in the towel.

I said if the Avs can't beat the Leafs at home, it might be time to call it a season.

I hope I don't have to hold myself to that.

Related Links
Practice Report: Rare visit by Toronto

Avalanche Drown Penguins, Win 5-3

(Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

What the hell is with the Rocky Mountain News byline in their game recap?

"Crosby, Malkin combine for 4 points"? Really?

Why not "Jones, Wolski combine for 5 points"? Doesn't that feel just a tad more appropriate for a Denver-based newspaper?

They did cover David Jones' and Wojtek Wolski's excellent games with this nice segue:

"But a couple of Avalanche youngsters had pretty good games, too..."

Sure, it was a bit tongue-in-cheek but when the home team hits a three-game winning streak on the backs of two of their young "stars", shouldn't you use that as the angle for the story?

I know, I know. "Sidney Crosby saved the NHL" as the Altidudes tried to convince us all game long.

No, he did not. It was the huge infusion of young talent - Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Ryan Getzlaf, Mike Richards, Dion Phaneuf, Shea Weber, Mike Green, Carey Price...need I continue? - that helped redefine the NHL post-lockout.

Crosby did not pick up the NHL, put it on his back and ride into town with guns blazing.

And now I've gone and made Crosby the focal point of my recap. Fudgsicles.

Wolski wunning with the ball
Why was Wolski not playing center since day one? Or to reword - since he did play center on day one - why did he not continue to play his natural position?

Having Sakic, Stastny and Wolski down the middle would have given the Avs one of the best best trios in the league.

Had Sakic and Stastny not gone down with injuries, Wolski would still be stuck at left wing with his maddenly inconsistent play. I don't want to say those injuries "happened for a reason" but at least some good came of it.

On the flip side, if Wolski hadn't stepped up to the #1 center role, Tyler Arnason might have been shipped out of town by now.

Though Francois Giguere would probably have needed to package up Wolski in any deal with a reasonably sane GM.

The great balance of life, eh?

Jones swimming to shore
Jones has been impressing me on a consistent basis with his intensity and it paid off big tonight with two goals and one assist.

Both goals came on rebounds in front of the net, proving once again that good things happen when you head to the net.

With his deceptive speed and power, I'm looking for Jones to become a real force on this squad. As I have been since the start of the season, proving once that you can't win 'em all.

Hannan shuts down Malkin
Saying a player got "shut down" when they notched a goal and an assist might make me sound like an idiot.

But if you saw the frustration that Scott Hannan caused Malkin today, you'd realize that I'm less of an idiot than you think I am.

Hannan was in Malkin's face all game long and if there's one knock on Malkin, it's that he can get frustrated easily.

Of course he'll still score 10 goals on you while frustrated, but imagine what he would do if he was happy?

That ought to restore the idiot level nicely.

Raycroft wins again
Andrew Raycroft is now 9-1-0 on the season with seven straight wins.

Is there anything this man can't do?

Raycroft actually presents a striking resemblance to Jose Theodore.

Ostracized by his former team (or the fans at least), won an award many years ago which their reputation is still based upon, pseudo-restored by Jeff Hackett, patchy facial hair, Canadian.

Of course Theodore catches with his right hand, is French, allegedly hooked up with Paris Hilton and has way more money.

But still...

Playoff bound!
The Avs are back in the playoff picture! And if the playoffs started today they would face the Detroit Red Wings.

But they don't so they won't. The playoffs are a long ways off and a lot can happen over the next 615 games.

For the trivia lovers, today's game was the exact halfway point of the 1230 game season.

I don't recall where I read that this afternoon but a glove tap goes out to someone on the ol' Interweb.

Game Highlights


Related Links
Avs beat Penguins, push win streak to three
Jones, Raycroft lead Avs to win
Raycroft, Top line leading the way
MHH Recap

Avalanche Dump Canucks in Shootout, Win 5-4

I'm currently in a temporary apartment and without my TV/PVR/Center Ice trifecta. And though I have a Slingbox, the wifi I'm pilfering has been hit-and-miss.

So what does that mean? It means I only saw bits and pieces of the game so I'll do this recap in point form.

See, individual points have less chance of making me look like an ass than if I pontificate on a "trend" based on one observation.

And here...we...go!

Notes
Daniel Tjarnqvist is making his case for staying in the lineup. Could he be making another defender expendable?

Milan Hejduk lived up to his "Canuck killer" moniker as he potted one goal, assisted on two others and sealed the Canucks fate with a goal in the shootout.

David Jones found the twine tonight as he continues to improve from earlier this season. He's got a ways to go to hit 30 goals though.

What was with Steve Bernier tonight? He potted two goals and only the post kept him from ending the game in overtime.

Wojtek Wolski is the new Jussi Jokinen. But his moves are even sweeter.

Could Wolski, Marek Svatos and Hejduk be one of the most potent shootout lineups this year? Seriously, I'm asking.

Related Links
NHL.com Boxscore

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

Cumiskey up, Hannan out, Tjarnqvist double out

Kyle Cumiskey is on his way up along with T.J. Hensick. Why? Scott Hannan has flu-like symptoms (ie. a broken leg) and Daniel Tjarnqvist can't sub in as he has a foot injury (ie. a concussion).

To make room on the roster, David Jones has been "loaned" to Lake Erie (ie. demoted)

Have the injury floodgates started to buckle?

Finally some vindication for David Jones

The Dallas Stars are the talk of the town today. In a post by the Forechecker, he takes another look at the penalty +/- stat with regard to Brendan Morrow.

In the one game between the Avs and Stars, I noted Morrow was not acting like a captain should and the numbers are certainly backing that up.

But what does this have to do with David Jones?

Well the youngster finds himself near the top of the list with a +4 rating after drawing five penalties and committing just one.

Ok, three of the five likely came from just one game but I'm trying to use a little cognitive dissonance here.

I predicted a 30-goal season for Jones and so far he's got a grand total of one goal which puts him on pace for an amazing eight goal season. 

At least it would be a career high...

Avalanche Slide Past Sabres in Shootout, Win 2-1

(AP Photo)

Let me get this straight. Two of the highest scoring teams in the league combine to score a grand total of *2* goals? 

I was wrong on taking the over, I was wrong on either teams streak ending but at least I was right on one thing - it was an exciting game!

The first period was one of the best periods of hockey I've watched this year. There was nothing that will make the highlight reel but it was all around good hockey. There were good scoring chances, solid hits and some good defensive play. It was everything hockey should be.

The Sabres got on the board first off a Daniel Paille deflection that went into the goal at a speed of approximately 1mm/sec. I waffled all game long on its stoppability. At the time of this writing, I'm giving it a 0.65 (more stoppable than unstoppable).

The Avalanche started turning up the heat in the third and were rewarded at the 13:36 mark as Jordan Leopold fired a shot from the point which bounced off two Sabres defenders and past Ryan Miller to tie the game.

Ryan Smyth was wreaking havoc in front of the net, causing Jaroslav Spacek to interfere with Miller just as the shot was released. Miller complained to the refs but I don't think a player can get called for interfering with their own goaltender.

Neither team could muster up another goal so it was off to overtime for the first time in the Avalanche's season.

And what an OT it was! The Avalanche dominated from start to finish and looked to make a case for moving exclusively to 4-on-4 hockey.

The Avalanche were very aggressive in the Sabres end and had no trouble clearing the puck out of their own. They had some great end-to-end rushes and were moving the puck around very well in the Sabres end.

However they only managed two shots on goal in that time and Ryan Miller was up to the task on both of them so it was off to the shootout.

Peter Budaj's shootout non-heroics were going through my mind but I was at peace with it. The Avs had just won four straight and had just grabbed their 9th straight point against one of the league's top teams. But Budaj and the Avs were making no such concessions.

Milan Hejduk came out first and made a silky smooth deke around Miller to take the lead. I've often given the "best hands in the NHL" title to Alexei Kovalev, but Hejduk has some soft, soft hands too.

After Kotalik evened it up, Miller and Budaj then made their next two stops on Joe Sakic and Drew Stafford respectively. Sakic needs to find a new shootout move.

Then up stepped Wojtek Goalski. Wolski made Hejduk's goal look like your out of shape neighbour grabbing their paper at 6am in their skivvies. I won't even describe it, just watch the game highlights and you'll see what I mean. I want to marry that move.

Derek Roy extended the shootout and then Marek Svatos and Tomas Vanek were both foiled. Budaj made a great second effort to keep the Vanek attempt out of the net.

Ryan Smyth then went straight in and fired a shot under Miller's armpit and all eyes turned to Budaj. Clarke Macarthur came in, tried to go high glove but even though Budaj had dropped his shoulder, he was able to bring his glove up quick enough to make the save.

And so continues the streak.

Stastny scoreless
One streak did end tonight and that was Paul Stastny's seven game point streak. Why do they even keep that guy around?

Jones graduates

David Jones improved as the game went on and found himself playing alongside Sakic during the third period. 

He was driving the net hard, drawing penalties and making some slick moves. He keeps teasing me with near-breakout performances but this could be the one.

Hit me baby, one more time

Ryan Miller is a good goalie, no doubt. But tonight the Avs padded his stats by tossing at least a dozen of their 29 shots directly into the Buffaslug.

Of course, good positioning has a part to play, but not that big a part.

Don't hit me! Don't hit me!
What was with the Sabres dodging fights all night long? In the first period, Lapperiere had his gloves off but Patrik Kaleta backed away. Then late in the third, Adam Mair popped Adam Foote square in the jaw and then skated away after Foote dropped his gloves.

Man up, guys!

Lines

Cody McCormick watched from the press box tonight as Jones drew into the lineup and Ben Guite stayed in.

The lines still have stayed very faithful since the beginning of the year which is a testament to TG not panicking when the team is struggling.

With the exception of Jones moving up to Sakic's wing late in the game, the lines were:

Wolski-Sakic-Tucker

Smyth-Stastny-Hejduk

Jones-Arnason-Svatos

Mcleod-Guite-Laperriere

The fourth line wasn't a factor in this game and aside from the first period, I barely remember seeing Mcleod on the ice.

Stats

Sakic was the ice-time leader for the Avs with 24:45, followed closely by Clark and Hannan with 24:31 and 24:29 respectively.

John-Michael Liles wasn't far behind at 23:37 and had his most physical game of the year with four registered hits, a couple of those being solid shots including a nice stiff arm late in the game.

The Avalanche outhit the Sabres by a 31-15 margin led by Liles, Tucker (5) and Mcleod (4).

The RTSS guys had itchy trigger fingers tonight on giveaways and takeaways. The Avalanche had 21 giveaways and 24 takeaways while the Sabres registered 8 and 17. 

Tucker kisses the glass

This is just a hilarious photo.

Next game

The Avalanche are in Cowtown on Tuesday to play the Flames at 9:30 ET, 7:30 MT.

Offtopic

Did anyone catch the Silva-Cote fight after the game? Cote blew his knee in the third round after going longer than anyone in the UFC had against Silva. Tough luck.

Related Links

NHL.com Event Summary

ColoradoAvalanche.com Recap

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

Joe Sakic pre-game comments

Jordan Leopold pre-game comments

Related Links

Sabres-Avalanche Preview

Buffalo's Miller presents lanky obstacle in net for Avs

Avalanche report: Deep scoring

Sabres goalies keep smiling

Avalanche Streak Past Kings; Win 4-3

(Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

The Colorado Avalanche held on for a 4-3 win against the Los Angeles Kings to bring their win streak to three games.

The game started off on a sour note as Peter Budaj let in a brutal goal 6:19 into the game. Couple that with the Avs being outshot 7-1 in the first 10 minutes and it could have been a brutal night.

But being outshot is easily countered by outscoring and that's exactly what the Avs did. 

Ryan Smyth got the Avalanche going with an unexpected goal. Stastny fired a pass to Hejduk who whiffed on the shot but the puck went straight to Smyth's stick, much to Labarbera's chagrin.

Patrick O'Sullivan put the Kings up again early in the second but that only made Milan Hejduk angry. And you won't like Milan when he's angry. Less than a minute after O'Sullivan's goal, Hejduk stole the puck, swept down the wing and fired a wrist shot over Labarbera. Classic Hejduk.

David Jones then gave the Avs the lead with a slapshot from the top of the circle after a steal in the Kings end. I think he was angry I had just dropped him from my fantasy team.

Add in Smyth's beauty goal at the end of the second and the Avs looked to be cruising for a victory.

Drew Doughty made it close early in the third but the Avs survived a late flurry to get the win. Wojtek Wolski had a key forecheck in the waning seconds to keep the puck deep in the Kings zone.

Ryan Smyth scores a beauty

Once the highlights clips are out, I'll post up Smyth's second goal. It was beautiful. Smyth dipsy-doodled past Drew Doughty, then shelved the puck on a backhand as he went sprawing over Jason Labarbera. But words don't to it justice.

Clear the net people!

The Avalanche had a tough time clearing the puck from the front of their net today. The Kings second goal came on a third chance as Cody McCormick and Ruslan Salei watched Jordan Leopold try to clear the puck with three Kings jerseys less than a foot from Budaj. 

Jones gets his first of 30
As mentioned, Jones got his first goal of the season after I dropped him from my fantasy team. Sorry for jinxing him this long, folks! One down, 29 to go.

Sakic's streak ends, Stastny still going strong

Joe Sakic failed to get a point for the first time this season, ending his streak with 1 goal and 7 assists over the first five game.

Paul Stastny kept rolling as he had 2 assists on the night, bringing his streak to 1 goal and 9 assists in six games.

That puts him at #3 in the NHL's scoring race. (He's #16 as of this writing but will climb up there once the stats of the game are finalized)

Team Canada done proud

The Kings have two players in their lineup from the 2008 World Junior team for Canada. Wayne Simmonds and Drew Doughty were part of the Gold medal winning squad this past Christmas and look to be doing fine in their first NHL seasons. Good job, boys!

Did I mention that was the team who won Canada their fourth consecutive World Junior Gold?

That's about all I can get out of my brain at this hour! I might toss up a few more thoughts tomorrow morning. Or I'll go to work and do something productive. It's a toss up.

EDIT: Productivity wins the day. The Avs don't play again until Thursday against the Oilers at 9:30 ET, 7:30 MT. The game is broadcast on TSN for us Canadians, eh. For folks south of the border, you'll get Haynes and McNab in Altitude HD.

Related Links

NHL.com Event Summary

ColoradoAvalanche.com Recap

RMN Game Recap

DP Game Recap

ITCS Game Recap

Avalanche @ Kings - Game 6 Preview

Game preview

Budaj is in. A two-game win streak has begun. A three-game win streak will be had by the end of the night.

Will Sakic and Stastny keep up their 5-game point streaks? I'd like to think so.

Lineup

There shouldn't be any changes to the lineup from the last two games so the lines should be:
Wolski-Sakic-Tucker

Smyth-Stastny-Hejduk

Jones-Arnason-Svatos

Mcleod-McCormick-Laperierre

Foote-Clark

Hannan-Liles

Salei-Leopold

With Jones' limited ice-time last game, it's not out of the question to see him sit for a game or two at some point unless he picks it up. In the meantime, he'll continue to find himself down on the third line rather than skating with Super Joe. That might hurt as much as watching from the press box.

Game time

The puck drops at 10:30 ET, 8:30 MT on Altitude and FSN-W.

Related Links

Avalanche-Kings Preview

Avalanche-Kings Game Notes

Avalanche vs Flyers, Game 5 Thoughts

(Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Cody Mcleod is making me eat my words. He has looked great in the first four games. He's got two goals on the season and has only taken one penalty, the fighting major as he defended Ryan Smyth's honor against Steve Staios.

Ryan Smyth has been absolutely rocking on the forecheck in the first four games. He's got one goal and two assists in those four games but that doesn't do justice to the energy he's brought in the offensive zone.

David Jones is on the cusp of breaking out. Again. He was driving the net hard and has deceptive speed and strength. On one drive, he got past the Flyers D and then gave a little shrug to knock him down along the way. It was exactly what you want to see from a power forward. He got his first assist of the night and I think his first goal is only a couple games away. And that first assist was a beauty threaded through two Flyers defenders.

Ruslan Salei led the squad in ice-time and a large part of that is due to the extra PP time. He manned the point on the second unit - and at least once on the first unit for a total of 4:05 on the PP. He seems to be settling into a groove and could still make me look like a genious after predicting he would be the Avs best defenseman.

Joe Sakic's post ringer in the second period woke up sleeping polar bears in the Arctic. He made up for that miss with three assists as he keeps inching closer to #10 on the all-time list.

The penalty shot call made on Liles on the Gagne break was the worst penalty shot call I can remember. It didn't look like much on the initial rush but on the replay, it looked like Liles maybe sneezed on him. His stick hardly made contact with Gagne and Gagne seemed to have no problem getting a shot off. Not getting a shot off isn't the only determining factor in awarding a penalty shot but I think an actual penalty has to occur first. I'm pretty sure.

The Avs were 3-for-11 on the PP (27%) while only allowing the one PK goal on seven shorthanded situations (85%). Putting Wojtek Wolski on the point in place of Sakic a couple times paid dividends. Wolsk did a great job at feeding the puck to open players and came away with one powerplay assist. Of course, as soon as Wolski gives up a shortie, I'll be preaching from the rafters that forwards should not play the point on the powerplay. Ah hell, I'll keep doing it anyways.

The big question coming out of tonight is whether the lineup stays the same, leaving Ben Guite in the press box. It was surprising to see Cody McCormick still in the lineup but he made a hell of a case for himself against Calgary as well as tonight.

The only goals against Raycroft, playing in his 200th game, were on a penalty shot and on a 5-on-3. Not too shabby. But we'll see the Buddah back in net on Saturday against the Stars. This is not the goalie controversy you're looking for.

Oh, and Brett Clark was representing Saskatchewan tonight with a nice goal. Good job, Brett.

Related Links

Power Play Propels Avs Past Flyers

NHL.com Event Summary

Raycroft secures Avs first win (makes it sound like Raycroft stood on his head, eh? yeesh)

Andrew Raycroft Post-game Video

Milan Hejduk Post-game Video

Avalanche Fall 5-4 to Bruins in Season Opener

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

The Avalanche were downed 5-4 by the Boston Bruins last night as the 2008/09 season kicked off.

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?