Avalanche @ Panthers Game Preview

The Avalanche are in Florida this afternoon to take on the Panthers and I'm feeling pretty good about this game.

The one thing that has me a bit leery is that the Avs have won 10 straight road games against the Panthers. That sounds like a streak that's just dying to end.

Budaj back in
And if it does end tonight, it will be with Peter Budaj between the pipes.

Tony Granato has gone back to Peter Budaj after Andrew Raycroft took down the Lightning and improved his record to 5-1-0 this season.

Raycroft's record speaks more than his play and it's the right call for TG to quell any whisperings of a goaltending controversy.

He never should have let it begin in the first place.

Welcome home, baby
My TV has finally made its way to my temporary dwellings.

Was it wrong to miss an object so much?

Probably. But its smile is just so damn pretty. Especially in HD.

Game time
The puck drops at 5:00 ET which means those West Coast folks will be rolling out of bed just in time to watch.

Related Links
An easy decision: Budaj will start
Bitter over the shootout

Avalanche Earn Second Straight Road Win

It was the 2nd game in less than 24 hours for both the Panthers and Avalanche but you wouldn't know it by the energy these teams brought this afternoon.

The Avalanche came away with a 4-3 shootout win after leading on 3 separate occasions in the game to gather their second straight road win in as many days.

It felt a bit like Carolina except in reverse. The Avalanche got ahead and though the Panthers were able to draw even each time, they were never able to leap ahead. Milan Hejduk's wrister in the shootout was then all that was needed to grab the extra point.

Offense
Marek Svatos continued his goal scoring ways as his 11th goal over the last 14 games tonight. It was another rebound he pounced on in the low slot. It should go to show everyone out there that good things happen when you go to the net. Of course the quick hands are beneficial as well.

Andrew Brunette may not have those quick hands but he certainly understands the concept of driving the net. He got his 7th and 8th of the season tonight and both were the result of some good hard work. On his first he basically outmuscled the Panthers D on a wraparound and then buried his own rebound. He then cleaned up some garbage in front of the net in a very Svatos-like way.

Yes, Svatos is my new man crush at the moment. What of it?

Fisticuffs
Along with all the goals tonight, there was a flurry of fights to go with them. They all happened in the first 13 minutes of the first period. I guess since nobody got their afternoon nap they were all a bit extra surly.

Cody McLeod started things off with Nathan Horton - yes Nathan Horton - in a contest that I'd give to Horton. Not too long after Ian Laperriere and Steve Montador then went at it in a wrestling contest with no real winner. And to round out the fight card, Brett Clark went at it with Olli Jokinen. Yes, Clark vs Jokinen. I think they were as surprised as we were.

Goaltending
Theodore was the surprise start as was Tomas Vokoun at the other end. Both had started the night before and everyone expected to see Budaj vs Anderson. The coaches decided to screw with everyone's mind and we had another right-hand catching showdown.

This was no showdown ala the Theo-DiPietro one though. Theodore gave up 3 goals, all of which I'd really like to see him stop. The Jokinen goal on the PP was another well-placed shot low-blocker but Theodore wasn't out challenging enough. The David Booth goal was another that went in under his armpit. Gotta tighten things up in that butterfly.

Will we see Theodore get his fifth straight start when the Avalanche visit the Lightning on Tuesday? I guarantee that at this point, not even Q knows that answer to that one.

Lines
Mcleod-Stastny-Hejduk
Wolski-Arnason-Svatos
McCormick-Guite-Laperriere
Brunette-Hlinka-Parker

Nothing too crazy here though the 3rd and 4th lines were shuffled around a bit as the game went on. Hlinka had some shifts centering McCormick and Laperriere while Stastny was sometimes double-shifted with Hlinka and Brunette.

I had a hard time following the lines too closely as I had to fend for myself this weekend and cooking is very time consuming. Especially when you burn things by say...paying attention to a hockey game instead of the food.

Related Links
ColoradoAvalanche.com Recap
In the Cheap Seats Game Notes

Post-game vs Florida - Feb 6, 2007

It's possible if you believe! The Avalanche had yet to win after being down headed into the 3rd period. Well tonight they ended that streak with a 5-4 OT win against the Panthers. Things looked bleak as the Panthers pulled out to a 3-1 lead early in the second. Tyler Arnason answered back but was trumped by Jozef Stumpel as Florida took a 4-2 lead into the third. The Avs came out flying and quickly chopped it down to a 1 goal game early in the third. It then took them 17 long minutes, until the 19:23 mark, to tie the game while on a 6-on-3 powerplay. Then OT had just begun and who other than Joe Sakic to streak in and seal the deal!

The Avs came straight from their afternoon nap it appeared as Florida managed to fire off 16 shots in the first period alone and followed that up with 12 shots in the 2nd. Florida was taking advantage of Colorado's turnovers, of which there were many, and had so many 2-on-1 chances it was almost unbelievable. The D appeared to be sleep-skating and felt it was not their responsibility to get the puck out of the zone. But Q must have pulled out his trump card, whatever that is, during the 2nd intermission because the Avalanche kept Florida to only 4 shots in the third and really put some pressure on Florida. Maybe he finally convinced them to give their goaltender a hand by not turning the puck over in their own zone every third play.

Tyler Arnason had an incredible night. He started off by firing off 5 shots on goal through the first half of the first period and ended up with 9 on the night. He unfortunately coughed up the puck in the slot leading to the Panthers second goal but he made up for that by pulling the Avs within 1 in the 2nd and then contributing to the game-tying goal by firing a backhand on Belfour, who kicked a rebound straight out to Paul Stastny who buried it to tie up the game. I heard Arnason's name more times than I could count as he really seemed to have his wheels out there. He's been mired in a cold spot lately but wasn't playing terrible during that stretch, save for lazy backchecks, so it's good to see him break out of that in style.

Paul Stastny and Joe Sakic were the tandem that closed out the game tonight. It was well deserved as they both put in a good effort tonight. Sakic won a crucial draw to set up the game-tying goal of Stastny's and then Stastny was in on the game-winning goal by goal. A credit has to be given to Brett Clark as well who pulled the team within one and started the game-winning play and got an assist out of that deal. Clark has been putting up some big points out there lately.

The Avalanche went with 7 D tonight as Liles was placed in the lineup after the morning skate. Liles took it easy with only 14 minutes of ice-time which left the bulk of the ice-time to Clark and Leopold. Although it shifts a bit from game to game, it looks like Clark is providing #1 minutes on the back-end. That's both good for Clark and bad for the Avalanche. Brett Clark is not a #1 quality d-man, no matter how hard he works out there. I'm glad he's been playing well but the Avs are stuck with a group of top-four defenseman and no bonafide #1. But you have to give credit to Clark for trying!

Jose Theodore played a good game, even with 4 goals against. He was left to dry in the first period and first half of the second period but came up with saves when they were needed and the team found a way to get the win. Once I get a chance to watch the whole game I'll form better opinions on the goals, however 4 goals against doesn't scream "he's back!" but him being in net for a win is likely a huge confidence boost for him.

The biggest problem this game...well lots of games actually...is that the Avalanche gave away the puck 15 times. 15. Let that sink in. 15. Those are the "official" giveaways which didn't even count Arnason's cough up on the 2nd goal. If the Avalanche want to win games, they should really concentrate on having the puck more than the opposition does. The majority of the giveaways came in the first and second and seemed really to be just a lack of focus and intensity. Players seemed to not care that they had the puck on their stick. Maybe that's because they knew it would soon be taken away?

Let's not even mention the amount of 2-on-1s the Panthers had. It makes me sad to think about it and I want to stay happy with the win tonight!

The Good
- coming back for a big win
- Arnason looking like he had something to prove
- no PP goals against
- a couple PP goals for

The Bad
- having to come back for a big win
- forgetting about the whole "60 minutes" concept
- defense asleep at the wheel for

The Ugly
- the accidental high-stick from Vaananen (ouch!)

Pre-game vs Florida - Feb 6, 2007

The Florida Panthers head from balmy Florida into blustery Colorado to take on the Avalanche tonight. The Avalanche have won 5 of the last 6 games against the Panthers but are taking a 2-game losing streak into the building tonight. The Panthers are coming off a tough 7-0 shutout loss to the Kings on Saturday so it looks like both teams have something to prove tonight.

Jose Theodore also has something to prove as he gets the nod in net. Coach Q said that Theodore was slated to start tonight no matter the result of the Edmonton game. I guess that's why he said "I haven't decided on a starter for Tuesday" at the practice after the Edmonton game. Either way, I think it's the right decision (which is of course all that matters) as Budaj has slowed down a bit and I think it's simply fatigue brought on more by pressure than the schedule.

As for the Panthers starting goaltender, it's tough to tell. Auld and Belfour both got shellacked in the game against the Kings. Belfour gave up 3 on 6 and Auld gave up 4 on 17. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Auld gets the start tonight. If you want to know my reasons why, well I just can't give them to you. It might be that Auld comes before Belfour alphabetically. Who's to say.

Karlis Skrastins will play in his record-tying 486th consecutive game. That will tie Tim Horton for the iron-man streak for defensemen. Don't confuse Tim Horton of the donut fame with Tim Horton of iron-man fame. If the Versus announcers are credible...then those are two very different people. Ah, Versus. Where you never hear a second of play-by-play as it gets in the way of their witty banter.

John-Michael Liles and Brad May are both game-time decisions today. Liles being back would be a great benefit and Brad May could very well have a positive effect. The team has been lacking physicality and grit and, as much as people may dislike him, they can't say that May doesn't go out and give it his all. Sure, it leads to penalties from time to time but he wears his heart on his sleeve (whatever the heck that means) and the team can feed of of that energy.

Injuries
Brisebois - back, IR
Liles - foot, day-to-day
May - shoulder, day-to-day

Bertuzzi - back, IR
Mezei - shoulder, IR
Roberts - hip, day-to-day
Van Ryn - hand, day-to-day

Hot
Stastny has 13 in 14, Sakic has 11 in 10, Brunette has 10 in 10, Wolski has 5 in 5, Hejduk has 3 in 3.

Stumpel has 6 in 4, Gelinas has 5 in 5, Salei has 4 in 4, Kolnik and Bouwmeester have 2 in 2.

Cold
Laperriere has 0 in 4, Arnason has 1 in 6, Klee has 0 in 14.

Horton has 0 in 4, Jokinen has 1 in 4, Peltonen has 1 in 4.

Goaltenders
Jose Theodore - 9-11-1, 3.12 GAA, .899 save pct
Alex Auld - 7-13-5, 3.35, .888 save pct

Standings
Colorado - 25-23-4, 5th in NW, 10th in West
Florida - 20-24-10, 5th in SE, 14th in East