Marek Svatos was the hero, tying the game in the final minute, but the Avalanche couldn't complete the comeback and were handed their first OT loss of the season.
Unfortunately I'm lacking the energy to do a full recap after a long week so I'm going to bow out gracefully tonight and hopefully be back in full force for Sunday's game against the Canucks.
I'll end on this note: Why did Turco pick tonight to start stopping pucks?
Friday, December 5, 2008
Avalanche Outshined by Stars, Lose 2-1
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Avalanche On a Roll, Down Stars 5-4
(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
The two teams came out with good energy to start the game but it was the Avs who had the upper hand after one period thanks to goals by Milan Hejduk and Darcy Tucker. On an overeall bad night for Turco, I thought he looked particuarly weak on the Tucker goal.
The second period went even better than the first. After an early goal by the Stars, the Avalanche fired back wiht three straight goals by Hejduk, John-Michael Liles and Tyler Arnason. Don't worry, Arnason's goal was a gimme. It's not like he's decided to try again.
But what looked a commanding 5-2 lead dwindled down quickly in the third period.
The Stars scored two goals within the first seven minutes and had many Avs fans firing up the torches and grabbing their pitchforks.
Luckily for Andrew Raycroft, the Stars then had a goal called off followed by Brendan Morrow taking a most untimely slashing penalty and the Avalanche skated away with a nail-biting win.
Sakic and Stastny lead the way
Joe Sakic nabbed two assists and Paul Stastny had three as those two continue to tear it up this season.
Has there been any player more under the radar than Stastny? He puts away three assists tonight, giving him 9 points in 5 games. That pace won't last but he certainly seems to be ramping up for a 100-point season.
If only we could get him to stop doing Lasik commercials...
Wolski winning over critics
Has Wojtek Wolski won over some critics with his play thus far? I'd like to think so.
He had two more assists tonight, one of them coming off a great effort against Trevor Daley. He outskated and outmuscled Daley to the puck, feeding it back to Tucker who banged it home. Tucker got the goal, but it was all Wolski on that one.
Powered up
The Avalanche converted on 2 of their 8 powerplays for a 25% success rate. That's enough to make me shut my trap about playing forwards on the point. For now.
Like the drunk girl at the bar
The Avalanche again took advantage of opposition turnovers and made the most of it. The forecheck and backcheck weren't as dominating as they were against the Flyers but it was enough to cause havoc with the Stars breakouts and neutral zone plays.
Paul Stastny's steal leading to Milan Hejduk's first goal was a perfect example of keeping your stick on the ice and in the passing line.
The McCody's plus one
The line of Cody Mcleod, Ian Laperierre and Cody McCormick have been as good a checking line as any this season.
As much as I like Guite, McCormick has outplayed him and with Granato using youngsters like Jones and Wolski on the PK, Guite's usefulness is limited.
All three player had fights tonight and they were decent bouts. Lappy's fight against Ott was particularly good and though Lappy was taken down three times, I still felt he landed more shots.
And no, let's not start calling this line The Punch Line. I've never been a believer in naming lines, particularly when they're forced.
Dry those eyes, Brendan
I love Brendan Morrow. I love his heart, his passion and his desire. But man does he look like a baby a lot of times.
Late in the game, he took an unsportsmanlike penalty followed by a slashing penalty where he broke his stick but still whined about the call. A captain shouldn't be taking those penalties at all, let along late in a game when your team is down by one goal.
You're better than that, Brendan. Or at least I thought so.
Poor Marty
What is it about the Avs and Marty Turco? It seems nearly every time they meet, the Avs have his number.
At least Turco can take solace in the fact that he's let in 4+ goals against most of his opponents this year. He's an equal opportunity goaltender.
Budaj will be in next game
Andrew Raycroft did not play well enough tonight to "earn" his third straight start. He actually regressed as the game went on. For the first 20 minutes, he looked decent. Not great, but decent. He was square to the shooters, he was gobbling up pucks and looking like he would help the team win.
In the second period, things got a bit worse. The early goal aside - I'll explain that in a second - he looked out of position and became over-aggressive.
In the third period, he looked like he wanted to take the game to overtime just to get more ice time. You could attribute a bit of his troubles to the Stars outplaying the Avalanche in the third period, but he just looked sloppy out there.
On the early goal in the second period, it seemed that he actually got stuck on the wet ice when trying to slide across, ending up wildly out of position. Or my brain is trying to shield me from the awful truth: Raycroft completely lost his net and had no idea where he was.
Either way, Peter Budaj should be back in net on Monday. Let's hope the Avs make it three wins in a row or the goalie carousel will really start to pick up.
Stats
Paul Stastny was the ice-time leader with Milan Hejduk and Joe Sakic close behind. Adam Foote led the defenders in ice-time with 21:28.
A lot of the other forwards ice-time is skewed due to the big three plus Ryan Smyth being out for an average of 8 minutes in powerplay time.
David Jones had a team low 7:22 in ice-time as he regressed from last game and didn't seem to have as much pop tonight.
Next game
The Avalanche are in Los Angeles on Monday to take on the Kings. The east coast fans aren't going to like this one as game time isn't until 10:30 ET, 8:30 MT.
It's time to measure Kopitar up to Stastny, because you know Stastny's agent will be.
Related Links
Avalanche @ Stars, Game 5 Preview
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
The Colorado Avalanche face off with the Dallas Stars at 2:00pm ET, 12:00pm MT at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
The Stars and Avalanche have struggled to start the season with both teams only having one win in their first four game.
The Avalanche got their win Thursday versus the slumping Philadelphia Flyers and looked good doing it. Playing against a turnover laden team will do that too you but don't let that take anything away from the Avalanche win. The team looked good while doing it.
Let's hope they keep it up this afternoon. Or morning for our Pacific coast friends.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Steve Ott Suspended for Three Games
This is indirectly related to the Avalanche and it bothers me a bit so before I go to bed...Steve Ott just got suspended for 3 games for a hit in which he left his feet slightly. The hit violated the letter of the rulebook and caused a player to sit out with a head injury. So fair enough, you need to teach the players to be accountable, especially when it comes to head hits. But what about all the other game where a player leaves his feet to finish a check or drives an elbow into an opponents grill? I've seen worse hits this year that ended up being the highlight of the night rather than a suspendable offense.
I'm all for cracking down on head hits. Intentional or unintentional, they need to be severely limited. If unintentional high-sticks are called, why not unintentional concussion-makers? The whole "He's 6'7 while he's 5'9" arguments are about all most people can come up with when defending the idea of not implementing new rules to protect players brains. And that's what any new rule targeting head hits would do. It would protect players brains. Is there really need to debate whether a rule preventing people's brains from being scrambled is a good idea?
But of course there's the macho-tough guy-warrior mentality that pervades all sports - and which I have a partial subscription to. I've played plenty of sports with various injuries ranging from torn tendons to twisted ribs and probably a hangnail or two. But if I ever took a wallop to the head, I made damn sure to give my brain ample time to recover. Surgeons can fix almost anything but if you scramble your brain, it's very tough to fix the signal.
So I'm fine with suspending Ott although 3 games for a first-timer is a bit excessive. But why can't the NHL implement consistent standards on disciplinary action? It can't be as hard as they make it seem. Is each incident viewed in a vacuum and not as part of a grander picture? Does Campbell really have a rotating dartboard that he blindly tosses darts at to determine suspension length?
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Avalanche Comeback Fizzles Stars
(AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
Thankfully the Avalanche found their energy midway through the game and were able to come away with a 3-1 comeback win against the Dallas Stars. Make no bones about it, the Stars are a great hockey team and the Avalanche were able to perform a third period comeback on them. Sure, the second goal came shortly after a missed high-stick from Ruslan Salei on Mike Modano but who's counting?
Keep on truckin'
During the second intermission Jeff Finger was interviewed and said "We're not going to push, we'll just see what happens in the first 10 minutes" Well, two goals happened after just continuing to play their game; albeit with a little line juggling from Q.
Rubber match tomorrow
And you know what? I don't even have the energy to write a whole lot more. So I'll put up a few notes and bid you all adieu until tomorrow when the Avs look to sweep this home-and-home against the Stars.
Notes
- 6 in a row!
- Foote missed the game due to a hip injury (it doesn't sound severe at the moment)
- Leopold was in and looked a tad rusty
- McCormick is back from his chest injury
- Liles played his 300th game tonight
- Forbserg played his 700th
- does anyone create more space with the puck than Forsberg?
- Finger crunched Morrow into the bench divider ala the Smyth hit but was playing again a few minutes later
- how about Bruno's quick hands on the game winner
- Forsberg got his first and second points tonight
- Theodore played stellar again and Turco was flat out superb
- now I'm wondering if stellar is better than superb or vice-versa
- I was wondering why Richards wears #91 now and it's because Bill Masterton wore #19 with the North Stars and his jersey has obviously been retired
- I wonder if my uncle is going to read this post (he's a Stars fan)
- if you are reading this, Jim then I've got to say it..."Look at me!" (inside joke)
Related Links
NHL.com Event Summary
ColoradoAvalanche.com Recap
Friday, November 16, 2007
Stars Light Up Avalanche in 6-1 Win
Ouch. Double ouch. Triple ouch. That was brutal. The Avalanche were beaten by the far better team tonight as much as it pains me to say about Dallas. They beat the Avalanche to every loose puck there was tonight and imposed their will on a team that looked a bit befuddled after a 4-day layoff.
First Period
First thing to note, there are 3 Smi(y)ths in this game, Mike, Wyatt and Ryan. That was possibly the most exciting event of the night for me.
Scott Parker, in his first shift of the game, takes an interference penalty which I felt was a bit marginal. Nonetheless, the crazy bearded man ends up in the box and the Stars go to work on the PP. It didn't take long as Zubov fed a streaking Jokinen who made a nice hip fake, danced between the 2 D and fired a shot over Theodore's glove. Good start.
The Avalanche then got a powerplay of their own and off to work they went. Their version of "work" was a bit different than the Stars. By work, the idea was: try to dance across the blue line, lose the puck, retrieve puck in own zone, rinse, repeat. How about a little dump and chase? Some loose puck recovery? No? Ok, well maybe next time.
The Avalanche are still very poor at clearing the puck which leads to more Stars chances. I'm not sure why they are so set against really firing the puck out. They always try a short chip and half the time it doesn't get out. Are they worried about puck possession? Icing? Looking too strong? Scoring too many goals? Not letting enough goals in? I don't know what it is but I'd like to see it change.
Brett Clark makes a goal-saving block as Theodore was out of position due to a deflected shot. If only that could have been a "turn the tides" style play where the Avalanche saw it and thought "That's what we need, some gritty hockey! Let's go boys!" Instead they seemed to have said something like "Wanna go catch Beowulf after the game?"
Second Period
An early 3-on-1 for the Avalanche but Brunette couldn't sneak the puck through Mike Smith's five-hole. If that one had gone in...whole different hockey game. I'd like to hope so anyways. And since you can't prove me wrong...I'm sticking with it.
Jussi Jokinen then pots his second of the net from a terrible angle. I don't entirely blame Theodore for being surprised by the shot because who the hell shoots from there. But that one should not have gone in.
The Stars continue the bleeding as Modano blasts one from the top of the circle and Jeff Halpern expertly tips it past Theodore. This isn't Theodore's (or the team's) night and thought he should have been taken out after that one.
The Stars then got their second, and final, powerplay chance of the night and made good on it. Zubov fed Jokinen a gorgeous pass after faking a shot and Jokinen had a tap in goal to complete the hat trick. It was the first of his career and I'm glad it could come at the hands of the Avalanche. Sigh.
The Avalanche then make a bad change which leads to a 2-on-1. Theodore makes the original save - a very nice save at that - but Jokinen gobbled up the rebound and buried it under Theodore's armpit. Finally, Theodore is out and Budaj is in.
Third Period
This one starts off with Kyle Cumiskey looking to step up and deliver a hit but instead gets flattened by Chris Conner. Can someone who isn't 5'2" on the Avs try to step up like that?
At this point, Dallas fell back into a defensive posture. And by that I mean they kept possession of the puck, even deep in the Avalanche zone, but seemed content to run down the clock. There was about a 9 minute stretch where there wasn't a whistle. Good in my mind as I wanted this one to be done.
Mike Ribeiro then pots his 8th of the season to make it a 6-0 lead. 6-0. My oh my that's hard to type, hard to read, hard to think about.
Jaroslav Hlinka broke Smith's shutout bid with just 3:45 left to go as he gobbled up a rebound for his second of the season. Hey, at least they didn't get shut out.
Odds and Ends
- Theodore is moving more smoothly with less panic in his stance
- I made that note before the whole "five goals on fifteen shots" thing
- Mike Smith looks like a giant in net (he's 6'3", 211lbs)
- Svatos keeps trying to dangle but it's not his thing, he's an opportunistic scorer not a highlight-reel scorer
- Wolski continues to finish his checks (as long as he does it, I'll keep saying it)
Stats
Tyler Arnason ends the night with 18:07 in ice-time and was a +1, the only plus player on the team. Did I fall asleep and wake up in bizarro-land?
Scott Hannan was the ice-time leader again with 21:23. He ended the night -2. Liles and Clark both put up just over 20 minutes and Liles ended at -1 while Clark was even on the night. I'm still liking what I see from Liles this year in the defensive end. At least compared to last year.
Wolski and Guite finished the night with 3 hits each to lead the Avs. It was mentioned at the start of the broadcast that the Avalanche are last in the league in hits per game with 9.9. Rock on.
Loui Eriksson, Phillipe Boucher and Trevor Daley ended the night at -1 for the Stars. How's that for bad timing
The Avs got off a grand total of 18 shots. That's 6 per period for those of you haven't played Brain Age on the Nintendo DS lately. You know what else it is? Sad.
They were also credited with more takeaways than giveaways which is a complete load of bullexcrement.
On a positive note, the Avalanche won 56% of their faceoffs tonight. It's the little victories that count, right? Right?
Related Links
NHL.com Event Sheet
In the Cheap Seats Recap (someone get DD a beer, stat!)
Jerseys and Hockey Love Recap
Mile High Hockey Recap
ColoradoAvalanche.com Recap
TSN Recap
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Game Review: Avalanche 4 - Stars 3
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
It was a nerve-wracking finish to the game as the Avalanche showed shades of their old selves after taking a 4-1 lead into the third period. Some stellar saves by Peter Budaj helped the Avalanche hang on to win at home in an exciting opening night matchup.
So let's jump into the action!
First Period
The Avalanche D, for the most part, looked solid in this period. Leopold in particular looked to have some excellent positioning and some solid physical play. Smyth almost cashed one in around the 10 minute mark off a great cross-ice feed but Turco was there with a spectacular save. Hlinka also had a glorious opportunity but caught the post and possibly a bit of Turco as well.
Colorado got running around in their own zone at about the 15 minute mark but did a good job of not taking a penalty while keeping the puck out of the net. Shortly after that, Paul Stastny broke in down the left side and buried a wrister underneath Turco's armpit. It wasn't the prettiest goal but they all count.
Brett Clark was involved in a nasty incident with Brendan Morrow. Morrow was racing in for the puck and Clark was pursuing. Just as Clark was about to connect, Morrow slipped up, hit the ice and caught the back of Brett Clark's leg right in the face. Clark immediately stopped to see if he was all right but Morrow was up and off the ice quite quickly. It could have been worse if Morrow caught a skate but he was lucky. Good on Clark for stopping to check on him.
Second Period
A great start to the second period as Paul Stastny buried his second of the night off a beautiful behind-the-back feed from Andrew Brunette. This line is showing some amazing chemistry which should ease fans concerns after seeing the scheduled lines for the night. Many were questioning why Q would change the lines after the preseason lines had looked so impressive.
Andrew Brunette then got penalized for shooting the puck over the glass which is still the most ridiculous penalty in all of the sporting world. The Avalanche were able to kill off the penalty but about 15 seconds later, Trevor Daley blasted a puck which got by Budaj after being tipped by Jeff Halpern. There was bit of a review after the goal was scored though I'm not really sure what they needed to review.
But then Paul Stastny went and got the first hat-trick of his professional career as the second line again came through with an amazing play. Brunette gave a deft tap pass back to Hlinka who came in down the left side looking like he was going to shoot. But at the last second he rifled a pass across to a streaking Paul Stastny who made no mistake and buried it behind Turco. The hats were raining down on the ice as the fans showed their appreciation for this young phenom. "Sophomore slump" my "you-know-what".
Wojtek Wolski then continued the youth movement as he buried one short-side on Marty Turco. It was a bit of a weak goal by Turco but he remained in net as Tippet decided not to pull the trigger to quick on his #1. The third line is still looking to find its groove but if they can score while searching for it, I've got no complaints.
Peter Budaj was solid this period including making an amazing save on Niklas Hagman. He had some help from Scott Hannan towards the end of the first as well. Budaj was down and out but Hannan dove in and got his body between the puck and the net to keep it out.
Third Period
The third period started out with Brunette trying another behind-the-back pass to Stastny but the Stars are wise to that one. Marek Svatos then took a hooking penalty which led to trouble. With Hlinka and Laperriere on the PK for the Avs - and I only note that because I was surprised to see Hlinka out there - the Stars were able to capitalize and Jussi Jokinen put one past Budaj.
The Avalanche then sat back a bit and got too enamored with defending their lead. The Stars were able to put some pressure on them and nearly capitalized a couple times. An untimely too-many-men penalty then gave Dallas the chance they needed. It was a bizarre goal as Hannan whipped the puck behind the net, right onto Hagman's stick who whipped it in front of the net, right off Brett Clark's skate and through Budaj's legs. It took longer for the players to notice the puck in the net than it did for that sequence to happen.
Going into the final couple minutes, I was sweating a bit. The Avalanche were scrambling every which way and couldn't seem to clear the puck. But Peter Budaj came up huge with 2 big saves to maintain the win. He kicked out a blast from the point and then Paul Stastny helped him out by keeping the rebound out. He then flashed the leather and got just enough of the puck to keep it out with only about a dozen seconds left to play.
If Budaj can continue to come up big when it matters, I'll be a happy man.
Overall
The second line is looking amazing at the moment. Brunette and Stastny showed some real chemistry in terms of knowing where the other was without looking. Hlinka was exactly what he's been hyped to be so far.
Clark and Hannan got #1 pairing minutes tonight with 27:04 and 28:05 respectively. They both closed the night at +2. Jordan Leopold looked very solid tonight. He had excellent positioning, solid physical play and racked up 4 blocked shots in his 18:22 of ice-time.
Marek Svatos saw just over 8 minutes in ice-time tonight. Q was rolling the #1 and #2 lines heavy - for obvious reasons - which didn't leave much room for the 3rd and 4th lines.
The Avalanche gave the puck away 16 times to Dallas' 8. That's a stat that needs to be improved. As does their faceoff percentage which was a dreadful 39%. There were crucial times where faceoff wins were needed and the Avalanche just couldn't get it done.
Notables
- Wolski still seems a bit uncomfortable with himself but seemed to get better as the night went on.
- the 3rd line is not clicking at all yet
- defensive play by the team was solid but they got caught running around in their own zone a few times
- Budaj was solid overall and came up huge when it was needed
- Hlinka is an excellent skater and a superb playmaker
- Hannan is very uncomfortable with the puck on his stick
The Good
- getting the win at home on opening night
- Stastny showing the "sophomore slump" folks where to put it
- Brunette contributing on all 3 of those goals
- Hlinka showing himself to be a potential runaway candidate for steal of the year
The Bad
- blowing a lead again ala the 2006/2007 Avalanche team
- Sakic not tying Espo on opening night
- an abysmal 39% faceoff percentage
The Ugly
- Brendan Morrow eating the back of Clark's leg
Related Links
NHL.com Scoresheet
CBS Sports Recap
TSN Recap
In The Cheap Seats Recap
Mile High Hockey Recap
Jibblescribbits Recap
ESPN Recap
ColoradoAvalanche.com Recap
Denver Post Recap
Game Preview: Colorado Avalanche vs Dallas Stars
(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
And if Hannan and Smyth weren't enough to get the fans into it, we were treated to some excellent preseason action which saw the Avalanche go 4-0-2 while showcasing superb youngster T.J. Hensick and the excellent pickup of Jaroslav Hlinka. Hensick was sent down to the AHL due to depth at center, but Jaroslav Hlinka stuck around after impressing everyone with his skills, including Mr. Sakic himself. At $600,000, he could be the steal of the year in the NHL.
They line up against the Dallas Stars on the Avalanches home turf, the Pepsi Center. Last year saw Dallas come out on top in the season opener with a 3-2 overtime win. And with coach Q's season-opener curse, that might scare some people. However if there's one thing in life that's certain - besides death and taxes - it's that the more things stay the same, the more likely they are to change. At least in the sporting world that is.
The lines tonight see Hejduk re-joining Sakic along with Smyth on the first line. Jaroslav Hlinka slots in with Stastny and Brunette on the 2nd line. Wolski slides down to the third pairing with Arnason and Lappy (who should teach Wolski something about work ethic) and Svatos starts out the year on the 4th line with Scott Parker and Wyatt Smith. The one name I wanted to see there was Ben Guite but I guess he lost out to Wyatt Smith. They could have always slotted Guite in on the wing instead of Parker but such is life.
The defensive pairings get even more interesting. I'll hold judgment until I see how they play together but it's completely changed from what I, and most people, expected to see. Hannan and Clark are the top pair, Liles joins Skrastins on the second pairing and Jordan Leopold and Kurt Sauer round out the lineup. And again, a name I wanted to see isn't on there as Jeff Finger is the healthy scratch on D tonight. It's not a shock but it is disappointing.
Tyler Weiman backs up Peter Budaj tonight as we all knew heading into the game. Theodore is back on the ice practicing but they want to take their time to make sure he's 100% ready to go before inserting him into the lineup.
Watch for Joe Sakic to move into an eighth-place tie with Phil Esposito on the all-time points list. He is a mere point away from tying and with 7 points in 4 games against the Stars last year, it just might happen tonight. Because what happened last year totally matters to this season. It does.
The Avalanche are heavy favorites in the betting world and I'm predicting they will break Q's goose egg opening-night record tonight. The game begins at 9:30 ET so to pass the time away, check out a slew of season previews, team previews and game previews from around the sports world.
TSN.ca Avalanche Preview
ESPN.com Avalanche Preview
ESPN.com Northwest Division Preview
John Buggicross Season Preview (1-10)
TSN.ca Power Rankings
ESPN.com Power Rankings
Other Previews
Avalanche.nhl.com Preview
TSN.ca Preview
Rocky Mountain News Preview
In The Cheap Seats Preview
Mile High Hockey Preview
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Game Review: Avalanche 4 - Stars 5 (OT)
(AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
John-Michael Liles had a 2-goal night to bring his preseason point count to 6 (2g/4a). Wojtek Wolski and Jordan Leopold also found the back of the net. Joe Sakic rifled off 3 assists and Jaroslav Hlinka kept the points coming with one assist.
Peter Budaj played the whole game with Tyler Weiman backing him up. Coach Q had indicated that Budaj would get the whole game tonight and that he hopes to give Theodore some action on Saturday.
Media Reviews
Avalanche.nhl.com
TSN.ca
Sports.yahoo.com
DenverPost.com
Game Preview: Avalanche vs Stars
The Avalanche host the Dallas Stars tonight as they near the end of their preseason schedule. They close out the preseason against the Phoenix Coyotes Saturday in Denver and will then wait anxiously for October 3rd. What is October 3rd you say? Ok, nobody said that because everybody knows it's the start of the regular season for the Avalanche. Joy of joys!
Heading in to tonight, the Avalanche sit atop the Northwest division for the preseason (3-0-1) and Paul Stastny sits atop all goal scorers with 5 and he and T.J. Hensick lead the preseason scoring race. Unfortunately none of this matters for the regular season but it sure does pump you up.
Tonight and Saturday will be the defining points for the Avalanche roster. After paring themselves down to 31, they now need to look at bringing themselves down to 23 (excluding injured players) before the opening night puck drop. With Richardson, Svatos, Hejduk and Theodore on the shelf for the moment, it will give extra time for players such as Hensick and Weiman to impress the club. However, once Theodore is ready Weiman will be headed to the Monsters.
To take your mind off the long wait for the game to begin, why not check out some of these interesting articles from the Denver Post and Avalanche.nhl.com websites.
Weiman Showing Promise in Goal
Top Line Searches for Chemical Bond
Stastny, Arnason Provide Scoring Punch
Media Previews
Avalanche.nhl.com Preview
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Post-game vs Dallas - Feb 11, 2007
Well that was a ridiculous game. If you weren't a fan of the Avalanche and weren't watching them slowly let the playoffs slip out of reach...then you might have actually enjoyed watching this one. As it stands, I was left to comment, on more than one occasion: "What the hell is going on in this game?". It was a wild affair that saw Dallas survive with a 7-5 win after nearly giving up the lead on 2 separate occasions.
The Stars flew out to a 3-0 lead before the Avalanche tied it up with under a minute left in the first. You'd think that would be the kind of play to send you to the dressing room and come out firing in the 2nd. Not if you're the Avalanche. Just over 3 minutes in to the second they went up 4-1 and that ended Peter Budaj's night as Quenneville tried to shake up the team. It worked as the Avs scored 2 goals in under a minute shortly after. Unfortunately Dallas answered back about 20 seconds later. So it was 6-3 going into the 3rd. In typical fashion, the Avalanche decided to show up for the third and played a bit better and were able to pull within 2 again. But Jeff Halpern dashed any hope as he put the Stars up by 2 with just 2 1/2 minutes left. And you can only pull a Florida-style win so many times.
Joe Sakic, Paul Stastny, Wojtek Wolski, Milan Hejduk, Brad May, and Ken Klee should be commended for actually showing up tonight to play. Everybody else should be ashamed of themselves for the effort they put in. That doesn't include either goaltender who really must have felt as though the team hated them tonight. I'm not sure how many more times this team can not show up for either goaltender before one of them snaps on the team and screams "Why!!!" at the top of their lungs.
It wasn't just the Avalanche goaltenders tonight who were having troubles. The Avs chased Turco, again, after 3 goals and promptly decided that Mike Smith was worthy of a few soft short-side goals. Unfortunately, Smith was able to pull off a game-turning save when he made a huge glove save to deny an Avalanche 2-on-1 opportunity. If that had gone in, the Avs would have tied the game and got a point, I have no doubt. And why would I? It's a hypothetical so I can feel whatever I want!
Pierre Turgeon made his return to the lineup tonight and was on the ice for an outstanding 3:41. What made Q think putting a slow, soft Turgeon in would be better than having a speedy Richardson or gritty Rycroft? I suppose maybe he hoped some veteran leadership and craftiness could help out the team. Instead Turgeon had rusty legs and had 4 shifts in total in the 2nd and 3rd periods. I'll say that putting Turgeon in the lineup was a flat out mistake by Q.
Jordan Leopold had a terrible, terrible night. He took 3 minor penalties and was a -3 on the night. He looked lost out there on the ice. That was fairly evident when he closed his hand on the puck at one point rather than just batting it out of the air. And since Q went with 6 D tonight, scratching Ossi Vaananen, there wasn't much he could do to tune back his ice-time. He was still the least of all d-men but tallied 16:47 altogether which is pretty high for someone crapping the bed.
Unfortunately, I have a lot of work to do tonight or I could actually go on for quite a while about this game. There was a lot of interesting things, good and bad. More bad than good. But hey, the youngsters were looking good so the future is bright! Too bad the playoffs are a dimming light for this season's future.
The Good
- 5 goals for
- chasing Turco is always good
The Bad
- 7 goals against
- 2 horrid games in a row
- apparently not wanting to make the playoffs
The Ugly
- Skrastins effort on the first goal
Pre-game vs Dallas - Feb 11, 2007
It's an afternoon game on NBC as Colorado rolls into Dallas for the last meeting of the year between these two teams. So far, Colorado is 0-2-1 in the series and will be looking to remedy that situation. After a tough 6-3 against the Thrashers on Thursday, I hope the Avalanche come out p*ssed right off. If they don't, Dallas is going to toss them around and walk away with a win. The Avalanche buckle against physical teams and Dallas has some grinders out there who are always willing to finish their checks.
The overwhelming response from the Avalanche locker room was that the team came out absolutely flat and couldn't recover, even after a decent third period. Giving up a 4-0 lead pretty much counts you out of the game even in the "new" NHL. The players had nobody to blame but themselves and realize that they simply need to buckle down and fight out there. There's no point to team meetings or calling anybody out. They just need to gather up as a team and get it done on the ice or they'll be getting it done on the greens very soon.
The odds are that Peter Budaj gets the start after back-to-back starts for Jose Theodore. It's now official according to the Denver Post. I wrote most of this up last night and get a gold star for predicting the goaltender ;) As I've said before, I don't think Theodore played terrible lately, but he did nothing to earn the #1 job back. Hopefully Budaj has rested up and is ready for the stretch run b/c if this team doesn't get some solid-to-stellar goaltending, they're not going to make it. No pressure Peter!
It should be interesting to see if Q keeps running with 7 defensemen or decides to prune it back to 6 and have a D be a healthy scratch instead of 3 forwards. Turgeon, Richardson, and Rycroft were the scratches last game. I can't see Turgeon making his way back into the lineup so it's between Rycroft and Richardson. If it were me, I'd go with Rycroft. He's second on the team in hits and is the only other player to have a fighting major this year. He brings more grit than Richardson and I thought he and Guite played well together.
Injuries
Brisebois - back, LTI
Morrow - wrist, IR
Barnaby - concussion, IR
Ott - ankle, IR
Hot
Stastny and Sakic have 4 in 2, Arnason and Mclean have 3 in 2, Hejduk has 5 in 5.
Jokinen has 3 in 2, Miettinen, Hagman, and Zubov have 2 in 2.
Cold
Svatos has 0 in 3, Klee has 0 in 18.
Lindros, Ribeiro, and Lehtenin have 0 in 3, Sydor has 0 in 9.
Goaltenders
Peter Budaj - 16-13-3, 2.67 GAA, .908 save pct
Marty Turco - 26-17-2, 2.33 GAA, .908 save pct
Standings
Colorado - 26-24-4, 5th in NW, 10th in West
Dallas - 33-20-2, 2nd in Pacific, 6th in West
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