Avalanche vs Flyers, Game 5 Thoughts - Colorado Avalanche Updates, News and Game Reviews at Avs Talk

Friday, October 17, 2008

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

0 Comments:

Post a Comment