Avalanche 4 - Blackhawks 3, Late Review Edition

It was a good start to the season last night and you can already get a glimpse at some promising -and some troubling - developments. I'm going to reel off some thoughts and forgo a more eloquent recap. But to make it seem like I did put thought into this, I'll group things into the "promising" and "troubling" categories.

Troubling
The Avs strategy without the puck still seems to be "chase the puck". It didn't work well last year and it doesn't look like it will do any better this year. Time to fix it.

Slow start, great middle, terrible end - this apparently hasn't changed from last year. It makes for nail-biting finishes but it's super stressful. Quit giving up the lead!

You remember during the MHH roundtable how a lot of us talked about how this team had toughness but nobody knew about it? Where the hell was that last night? They may not be the biggest team but they've got at least show they've got a pair. Anderson shouldn't have to defend himself, guys shouldn't be allowed to get close enough to bother him. And what was with Scott shoving Duchene around and getting away with it? I know he's a big guy but you can't let that precedent be set.

Where was Brandon Yip last night? Vacation? Did he stay at a Holiday Inn Express at least?

Promising
Johnny Liles is just 38 points away from hitting 40 on the season.

Paul Stastny owned that game~ He's always been the quiet guy who just GSD (got $#!^ done) but last night he was extremely noticeable. It looks like he's about to take a step forward in his development and possible become a dominant force.

Chris Stewart is a beast. A beast with silky soft hands. He is going to be so fun to watch this season.

Milan Hejduk is aging extremely well. If his knee can hold up, he should have a good year. It doesn't seem like he's lost much in terms of speed and he still has some of the best hands in the NHL.

Ryan O'Reilly is looking sharp early on. Can he have as good a start to this season as last season?

How about Matty Duchene taking control and setting up the game winning goal? Hell yeah!

Oh and how about the enthusiasm he showed after the goal? He was celebrating all the way to the locker room. That's going to be infectious for the team and it's clearly a good thing.


Final thought
Starting the season with a win on home ice is always nice. Against the defending champs makes it that much sweeter. Let's hope they can ride that momentum into...Monday?! Monday? Damn, that's a long wait.

To my Canadian friends, enjoy Thanksgiving weekend!

Avalanche 5 - Hurricanes 4; Game Highlights

A couple weeks back, I was covering a World Junior announcement regarding ticket packages at TCU Place in Saskatoon. While I was there, I decided to pick up a couple tickets to A Chorus Line. I'm not a big fan of musicals but it's a pretty famous one and I thought it would be a good way to score some points with the lady friend.

"What day?", the ticket agent asked. "How about Friday?", I said, thinking that way I could get it out of the way and enjoy the weekend. Of course, I forgot to check the Avs schedule and I was left taping the game for later viewing.

And view it I did. Most times when I record a game, I fast-forward through a lot, only checking out goals or big hits. This time, I skipped through commercial breaks and intermissions but didn't touch the remote while play was underway.

When you think about it, it's not hard to understand why I would be willing to sit through a whole game even though the outcome was already decided. This team is simply fun and exciting to watch. 2-0 deficit? No problem, I'll keep watching.

And as Peter Mcnab said, any fans at that game will be coming back to the next one. And hopefully they bring their friends because my goodness there were a lot of empty seats.

Game highlights

Did anybody have any doubt once the first Avalanche goal went in that this game was about to be tied real quick?

The Avalanche continue to have trouble clearing pucks. It was a bad decision on a clearing opportunity by David Jones that led to Carolina's third goal. They need to solve this problem.

With John-Michael Liles still injured, the Avs tried Milan Hejduk out on the point on the powerplay. The first shift, it did not go so well. But after that, things settled down and Hejduk ended up scoring a beauty of a goal after sneaking in from the left side. I'm still not a huge fan of putting a forward on the point but their options are limited with Liles out of the lineup.

After Darcy Tucker was injured - oh don't worry, I'll get to that - the lines were shuffled around a bit to fill in the gap. But the overall combos felt very solid tonight. Marek Svatos is not a first line talent but moving Milan Hejduk down to play with Matt Duchene was a solid move. Hejduk and Paul Stastny still have more chemistry than Duchene and Hejduk but it was nice to see Duchene with someone who can move the puck with him rather than seeing Duchene try to do it all himself.

Oh, and the Canes first two goals? From the left side D-men? Maybe somebody could cover that spot in the future, mkay?

Player Highlights

Paul Stastny had what could be his breakout game for this season. Two goals and one assist along with an excellent defensive showing has me hopeful that he's picked up the pace on what was a bit of a lackluster start for Staz.

Wojtek Wolski has appeared again now that the team is back on home ice. Maybe he gets lonely on the road but home ice advantage really seems to help out Wolski's game. He played on the third line with Ryan O'Reilly and Chris Stewart and I thought that was a solid combo.

And speaking of Chris Stewart, after being sent down to Lake Erie he was called right back up - notably skipping above T.J. Hensick - and put in a good showing on the night. I still wouldn't call it great, even though he did assist on two goals and had five shots. I still expect more out of Stewart and find he isn't strong on his skates and isn't throwing his body around with as much conviction as he can.

Matt Duchene has started firing the puck with a much more relaxed release. He got off eight shots on the night, four of which were on goal. While some are undoubtedly disappointed he only has one goal, it's not for lack of trying.

Ryan O'Reilly really doesn't even need explanation anymore. There is no doubt that he is the steal of the 2009 draft at this point. 10 games, two goals, seven assists. He played for 19 minutes tonight which is a new career high. It was nice to see him get some powerplay time as he's certainly earned it.

Ryan Wilson could be making Brett Clark expendable. Once John-Michael Liles is back, I wouldn't mind seeing Wilson stay up with the club and have Clark watch from the press box.

The Darcy Tucker injury

Cover your ears, kids as this one won't be pretty.

There is absolutely no f'n room in hockey for bullshit hits like the one Tuomo Ruutu put on Darcy Tucker tonight. I don't care that Ruutu is not a dirty or overly aggressive player or that he didn't mean to hurt him. I don't care if he was sainted by JC himself, it's a complete brainfart of a move and Ruutu deserves a suspension and fine to prevent his brain from farting again.

The concept is so braindead simple that I could teach it to a monkey in about 20 minutes. IF YOU SEE THE NUMBERS, YOU DO NOT HIT THAT PLAYER. No exceptions. No "Oh, he turned his back to me." No "I thought he was turning into it." No "The game is so fast it was just a 'bang-bang' play". Bullshit. Those are all excuses that players use because they couldn't pull their head out of their ass.

It happened to me once and I still feel the effects to this day and I'm one of the lucky ones. Others have suffered serious injuries including broken necks and paralysis due to completely avoidable hits. Are we really waiting for a poster child from the NHL to be paralyzed before people start raising hell about this problem? Won't somebody think of the children?

And I'm serious about the children. To get this completely out of the game, you have to start at the lowest level and drill it into their heads from day one. Coaches teach kids to "finish their man", which is great and I 100% agree with that, but it has to be tempered with the caution that you never finish a player who has their back to you.

If a player turns and gives up their back, you let up. I don't care what sort of insults you hurl at the player who pulled a coward move like that, but it can not be an excuse for delivering a hit from behind. Do you really want to be the person who injures someone because your coach will yell at you if you don't?

While watching Team Canada's U20 squad practice in Saskatoon over the summer, I noticed they all had "STOP" signs on the backs of their jerseys. Maybe that needs to be there from day one all the way through to the show.

Related Links

NHL.com Game Summary
Update on Tucker from AD
MHH Recap
Video and thoughts from Puck Daddy on Ruuto hit on Tucker

Game 1 Highlights: Avalanche 5 - Sharks 2

I'll try and get up an actual post tomorrow, but for now here are some quick hits.

Sakic ceremony had me pinch out a couple tears, particularly the locker stall enshrinement. Well done by the organization.

Matt Duchene is ffffffast, but he needs to strengthen up to fight in front of the net and along the boards better.

Wolski looks awake more so than in previous years. I'm liking it.

Who figured "crash the net" could be sound strategy? I was almost getting to like the cycle-but-don't-score strategy.

Galiardi was out a lot on the PK, the most of any forward by far. Sacco is showing confidence in the kids and I'm liking that, too.

Seeing Kyle Quincey play makes me feel much better about the Ryan Smyth trade. Dude was a beast! Ice-time is indicating #1 d-man status and he deserved it.

Was anybody else reminded of this goal on Cody Mac's goal off the rebound from Stewie?

Stastny pulled a Forsberg with his behind-the-back from behind the net out to Wolski. I was getting reminded of a lot of things tonight it seems.

Ryan O'Reilly got his first NHL point before Matt Duchene did. Oh snap!

And hey, Craig Anderson didn't let in any weak goals! Huzzah!

Check out the game highlights below from NHL.tv.

Avalanche Brass Make Right Choice Naming Foote Captain

A couple days ago, I posted this. Geo then tried to asplode my head in the comments and I responded by saying I thought that Paul Stastny would be named the captain.

That wasn't because I wanted Stastny to be the captain. It was simply because so many other NHL teams have recently put the C on players who have barely hit puberty, let alone figured out how to captain an NHL team.

The Avalanche decided to go a new/old route and named aging vet, Adam Foote, captain of the 2009/10 Colorado Avalanche. And it's 100% the correct choice.

We all know Foote can lead. We've seen it in the glory days many times and to stand out as a leader on stacked squads is quite a feat. If you were to go into battle, can you honestly tell me you wouldn't want Foote beside you?

We've seen little of what Stastny can do as far as leadership in his short time in the league and have no idea if a better leader will emerge in the near future.

There's no point putting the weight of a rebuilding team on a young players shoulders. Let a vet handle the load, ultimately passing off a lighter one to an older and wiser young star.

And naming a captain before training camp started? Aces all around.

It's a good start to the season from Avalanche brass. Let's hope they keep it up.

Paul Stastny on NHL Home Ice

I stumbled across NHL Home Ice blogs today and saw that they recently chatted with Paul Stastny during USA's Olympic orientation camp. I haven't listened to it yet, but I'll assume it's awesome b/c it's Stastny.

The link I gave goes directly to Stastny's interview which cuts out the rest of the site since they made the most excellent decision to frame their site. Sigh...

Check out the rest of their blog at http://nhlhomeice.com/blogs.php.

The Rebuild Begins

It was the trade heard 'round the world. The Ryan Smythtrade signaled the end of an era for the Avalanche. An era that included greatness, dominance and glory coupled with a steep fall from grace which included shame, ridicule and frustration.

Now, it's time for Paul Stastny. Time for Chris Stewart. Time for T.J. Galiardi. Time for Matt Duchene. Time for Kevin Shattenkirk. Not all this year of course, but these players will be the new face of the Avalanche.

But was it time to let Ian Laperriere walk after offering him less than he deserved? Was it time to trade Ryan Smyth for Kyle Quincey + two bags of pucks? Was it time to keep Darcy Tucker knowing they would be shedding salary so would have the cap space to eat his buyout. No.

And if it turns out Sakic told Sherman "I'm retiring" and he still got rid of Smyth, then heaven help the man because I think he might get beat down by a crazed fan.*

So prepare yourselfs, Avs fans because it's going to be a rough couple years in terms of standings. But the joy of watching these young kids grow and cheering them on is untouchable. New leaders will emerge, new stars will blossom, and the organization will have a new identity when all is said and done. And I (have to) believe that identity will be a good one.

But I've got concerns with Stan Kroenke's ownership recently. A rebuild is one thing, but cutting costs is another. And the cost-cutting isn't coming just in the player salary department, but throughout the organization. I'm a penny-pincher by nature but you can't let that blind you to your surroundings.

It appears Kroenke is being blinded and possibly distracted by his many other sporting endeavors. Given that he's pouring more money into Arsenal, the cost cutting can't be due to tanking Wal-Mart shares or real estate holdings. Something else is behind his apparent disregard for the Avs and it is concerning.

This rebuild could be spectacular. But it could be hamstrung by an owner not willing to open his pockets for his former favorite child while still expecting fans to open theirs. A rebuild is mutual, as is the partnership between a team and its fans.

Let's hope we can work this out together.

*I'm not implying I would do it. This was not a threat. Please stay away from me, FBI. I'm also not saying I wouldn't do it...

Stastny Breaks Another Bone

Paul Stastny could miss the rest of this train wreck season with a broken bone in his foot. Can somebody outfit this guy with Kevlar for next season? Or convince him to get the hell out of the way of any shots?

T.J. Galiardi Called Up; Joe Sakic Skates Before Practice

With Paul Stastny out due to another shot-blocking injury, the Avalanche have recalled T.J. Galiardi as they work diligently to complete the transformation to the Colorado Monsters.

I'm quite excited to see what Galiardi can do. So excited that I've cancelled my weekly trip to Vegas just to watch the game tonight. Ok, that would be plain silly if I did that but nonetheless, I'll be watching with intrigue.

Galiardi spent a year with Dartmouth before moving up to the WHL, amassing 70 points in 72 games with the Calgary Hitmen during the regular season. Then the playoffs began and Galiardi stepped it up, tallying 24 points in 16 games - though only notching five goals - to lead all playoff scorers as the Hitmen bowed out in the Eastern Conference finals.

And then it was off to Lake Erie where his play hasn't been quite as spectacular. I have yet to watch a Monsters game, but scoring doesn't seem to be their strong suit. So it's a bit early to start judging the heights to which Galiardi might climb with the big boys.

Oh, and in an unrelated, inconsequential tidbit, Joe Sakic skated this morning before the team practiced.

Related Links
The T.J. Galiardi Era begins - geez, AD, lay off the hype-pipe ;)
T.J. Galiardi Profile on Hockeys Future
Galiardi's Turn
Galiardi Recalled
Avs Sakic back on ice

Finally! Paul Stastny has come back...to the Avalanche

Paul Stastny will join the Avalanche on their upcoming six-game road trip. And there'd be no reason to bring him along unless he was going to play in at least one of those games.

He skated for a full practice today and centered a line with Ryan Smyth on the left and T.J. Hensick on the right.

So The Duke will likely stick with Wolski and I wouldn't be surprised to see Chris Stewart on that line.

These line changes won't matter for tomorrow's game against the Ottawa Senators as Granato said Stastny is not scheduled to suit up.

But it will sure be nice to see Stastny back on the ice forming a 1-2 punch up the middle with Wolski.

Time to check out the future, folks.

Avalanche vs Red Wings, Game Preview

The holiday season has come and gone.

The presents are unwrapped. The chocolates have been eaten. The turkey has been stuffed and devoured.

But one thing hasn't changed.

Joe Sakic and Paul Stastny will be absent from the Avalanche lineup for the foreseeable future.

One man's loss is another man's gain
Oh, one more thing has changed.

Tyler Arnason is the new #1 center.

If that doesn't strike fear into the hearts and minds of Avalanche opponents, I don't know what will.

Did I say opponents? Sorry, I meant fans.

I didn't get much for Christmas. I didn't ask for much either. I must have suspected I would need a more important gift.

And now I want to cash it in.

Santa, if you're still around please help Tyler Arnason rise to the occasion and make us all not unproud.

Hensick also slides up
Along with the Arnason promotion, T.J. Hensick has moved up from a fourth-line winger position to become the second-line center.

Based on practice reports, he will center a line with David Jones and Wojtek Wolski.

Svatos and Salei slide back in
Marek Svatos and Ruslan Salei will make their returns tonight.

Svatos really needs to step up and provide some offensive support. It will be tough sledding as he will likely find himself on the third line tonight but he needs to find a way to get it done.

Third line pickle
Cody McCormick sat last game and may sit again while the Avs give Chris Stewart more time to showcase his skills.

If Stewart stays in he would likely play on a line with Ian Laperriere and the returning Marek Svatos which would leave Darcy Tucker on the fourth line with Ben Guite and Cody Mcleod.

If Stewart draws out, Granato would likely renew the McLappy line leaving a Tucker and Svatos to play on a line centered by Guite.

So no matter how you dice it, the third line will be quite the interesting mix.

UPDATE: AD informs us that McCormick is out.

Budaj back in net
Peter Budaj gets the start in goal and will presumably go up against Ty Conklin as Chris Osgood is still recovering from a busted vagina.

Lidstrom possibly out
Nik Lidstrom took a puck to the ankle last night and will be a gametime decision tonight.

The sweats have already started over there.

The Avs will need every advantage they can get tonight so pray to Vishnu that Lidstrom's foot is swollen bigger than [go ahead and finish this one off in your head while I keep things PG-13 ;)]

UPDATE: AD informs us that Nik Lidstrom is out for tonight's game.

Game time
The puck drops at 9:00 ET at the Pepsi Center. Denver natives, get down there and support your team!

Related Links
Avalanche report: Arnason, Hensick take center stage against Red Wings
Avs promote Arnason to first line with Sakic, Stastny out
Arnie the new #1 center
Scouting the Avs

Paul Stastny Fractures Right Forearm, Out Indefinitely

I don't swear often. Well, not on this blog anyways. But I'm sorry, I have to do it.

SHIT!

Paul Stastny fractured his right forearm late in the game against the Coyotes and is out indefinitely.

The Avs were already weak up the middle with the absence of Joe Sakic and now Tyler Arnason is atop the depth chart at center?

The Avs will slowly sink to the bottom of the standings during Stastny's absence which will hopefully be so short as to make everyone think Stastny is a self-replicating nano-bot.

Merry friggin' Christmas.

Avalanche Break Scoring Slump, Down Wild 6-5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But then the Avalanche really opened up.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Related Links
NHL.com Event Summary

Avalanche vs Blues, Game 21 Preview

Is it time for another game? So soon? Have the Avalanche had enough time to fix what ails them? Doubtful unless calling up Kyle Cumiskey and possibly playing him at forward counts as "fixing".

Joe Sakic is "probable" tonight, just as he was before the Ducks game. Let's hope he doesn't come down with rickets before game time.

If Sakic plays, Wojtek Wolski doesn't and Granato wants to play Cumiskey at forward...which player will sit out?

Brian Willsie drew in last game and frankly I didn't really notice he was there. Of course if you read my recap, you'll notice I wasn't really paying attention.

But was Granato going to play Willsie regardless of Sakic's status? If so, who had he originally planned on sitting? David Jones? Tyler Arnason?

Or will Cumiskey end up sitting in the press box his first game up?

Unfortuantely we won't find out until about five minutes before puck drop unless AD drops some inside knowledge on us.

In the meantime, we can be intrigued by the Stastny-vs-Stastny matchup tonight as Paul squares off against his older brother Yan. Maybe not as intrigued as DD but intrigued nonetheless.

Goaltending
It's Peter Budaj vs Manny Legace (courtesy of goaliepost.com).

I'm a bit worried for Peter Budaj. If the team craps the bed again and needs him to bail them out, well it just might send the guy over the edge. He needs a rest at some point. You'd think resting him against a depleted Blues lineup would be an ideal time.

An alternative line of thinking is that this is an ideal game to play Budaj in as he likely won't face many shots and stands a solid chance of pulling out a win.

As for Legace, I think everyone is well aware of what he tends to do when facing off against the Avs.

Scouting
I caught the end of the Predators-Blues game last night as I was in disbelief that it was 0-0 with just five minutes left in the third. Chris Mason was playing superbly and more than making up for the Blues having little to no offensive support.

And that's key for the Avalanche tonight. The Blues only fired 17 shots on Dan Ellis last night and the ones I saw weren't very dangerous.

Now is not the time for mercy. Now is the time to take it to an injury-depleted team.

Video
Paul Stastny Pre-game comments
Ian Laperriere Pre-game comments
Tony Granato Pre-game comments

So even Lappy has to weigh in on the brother-vs-brother thing! But he's spot on with his comments of how to turn things around. Be hungry and win battles. At both ends.

Related Links
Avs lag behind in hit parade

Avalanche @ Ducks, Game 20 Preview

We're at approximately the quarter-way point of the season and the Avalanche sit just below .500 with a 9-10-0 record. That's good enough for 18 points, 13th in the Western Conference, 5th in the Northwest division and 10 points back of the division leading Vancouver Canucks. I won't even mention how far back they are of the Conference - and League - leading San Jose Sharks.

Identity schmidentity
So what's going on? Terry Frei thinks - as Tapeleg noted before the season began - that it's an identity crisis:

The word "identity" is overused and often misused in sports. But in this case, I think it applies. This still looks like a team trying to figure out how it wants to and can play, and still trying to forge a collective personality.

I don't think anyone can argue with that statement. When the defense tightens up, so does the offense. When the offense goes full-bore, the defense tails off. When the goaltending is there, the goals aren't. When the goaltending takes a night off, the lamp stays lit at both ends.

What will it take to get all three factions running at top speed? Coaching, that's what.

In that same article, Tony Granato conceded that attention to defensive detail "shouldn't take that much away from our offense."

Amen. Just because you tighten up on D doesn't mean you start hanging five guys back in the neutral zone. It means the players back to backcheck harder when the rush is broken up.

It also means the coach has to let the players know what their responsibilities are. I still get the feeling Granato hasn't done that well enough.

Injury updates
In some good news, the injuries that Adam Foote and Wojtek Wolski sustained in the Kings matchup on Saturday don't appear too serious. At least not as serious as they could have been.

Foote will miss the game tonight while he continues to be evaluated to determine the extent of any neck, back and/or head issues but he sounds fairly optimistic. Daniel Tjarnqvist will get his first taste of action this season in place of Foote.

Wolski's status will be decided after the morning skate. Adrian Dater reported that Wolski was walking and talking just fine after the Kings game. He rode a stationary bike yesterday which is usually a good sign for someone with a possible concussion.

And in the biggest news, Joe Sakic should be in the lineup for tonight's game.

It's time for a line change
Here's where things get a bit odd. Now, I'll give it to Granato that shaking up the lines seems necessary the way the offense is going. I don't feel the line combinations are the root of the problem but nonetheless, they will be changing.

The first change is that Paul Stastny was centering a line with Ryan Smyth and Marek Svatos. If Paul Stastny can come out of his funk and start making some plays, this line could work well. Smyth can create havoc in the crease while Svatos can pounce on rebounds. Of course, that relies on Stastny and the defense getting the puck to the front of the net.

Next, T.J. Hensick was centering a line with Brian Willsie and Darcy Tucker. The chemistry with Tucker and Hensick was undeniable as Hensick seems to find ways to get the puck to the net and Tucker has no problem charging in. But wouldn't it be nice if Hensick was setting up someone who has scored 30+ goals before? Just a thought.

And finally, Joe Sakic was centering a line with Milan Hejduk. Their partner? It will be either David Jones or Cody McCormick. Hmm. Cody McCormick on a line with Joe Sakic? Well, if anything McCormick will play the hardest he's ever played if he gets a chance to go with the big boys.

But if he does, that leaves a fourth line of Ian Laperriere, Cody Mcleod and either David Jones or Tyler Arnason. Jones is a much better fit for that line which would mean Arny would watch from the press box.

But is putting Arny in the press box worth having McCormick on a line with Sakic?

McCormick might put in the game of his career playing with Sakic but don't kid yourself, he's not a full-time first liner.

Scouting
To be honest with you, I haven't followed the Ducks much this season. They got off to an awful start but have turned it around and are looking like a solid club again.

J.S. Giguere's stats (3.13 GAA, .904 save %) are somewhat underwhelming but I'm not sure if that's due to his play or the team's play.

Losing Francois Beauchemin won't help but when you've got Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermyer as your top two, you can't complain too much.

The key to beating the Ducks seems to be to contain their big three: Ryan Getzlaf, Cory Perry, and Teemu Selanne. Doesn't it sound easy?

I'm not sure if they all play on the same line but they are 1-2-3 in scoring on the team and, looking at the stats, the Ducks don't have much forward scoring depth behind them.

Starting Goaltenders
Peter Budaj is in for the Avalanche and will likely square off against Giguere. (goaliepost.com)

Game time
The puck drops at 10:00 PM ET which is just friggin ridiculous. It's only two games in and I'm already sick of West coast games. No offense, jib.

Paul Stastny Signs Five-Year Extension

Adrian Dater just reported that Paul Stastny has signed a five-year contract extension. This is huge and somewhat unexpected news. Not unexpected that he would re-sign, but unexpected that it would be so early in the season.

Maybe Francois Giguere seized on a downturn in Stastny's production - 4 assists in his last 9 games -to drive the cost down a bit.

And that cost? $33M over five years for a hit of $6.6M/year. I think those are excellent numbers when compared to similar contracts.

As DD noted when Kopitar signed, that set the bar and Giguere managed to limbo under it but not by an amount that would be insulting.

Does it mean Stastny won't be an Avalanche for life? No, it just means he'll get a raise for the 2014/15 season.

An excellent signing IMHO.

Related Links

Avs sign Stastny to long-term deal

Avs give Stastny five-year contract extension

Stastny signs five-year extension

60-seconds with Paul Stastny (unrelated to extension)

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 Keep Streak Alive; Crush Oilers 4-1

Recap

After dropping their first three games, the Colorado Avalanche have now won four straight games after a 4-1 win over a listless Edmonton Oilers club.

Although both teams came out with some energy, the Oilers appeared to settle into a groove while the Avalanche were settling back on their heels.

The Oil managed on more than one occasion to hem the Avs deep in their zone but it took them a lucky bounce on a second period powerplay to finally get on the board.

Adam Foote tried to clear a ricocheting puck out of the zone but the puck caught the heel of his stick and ended up being a perfect feather pass to Shawn Horcoff who slid it underneath a helpless Peter Budaj.

10 minutes later, the Avs teamed up with the linesman to answer back. As Ian Laperriere broke into the zone, the puck was knocked off his stick. However the linesman inadvertently - or so it seemed - held the puck in at the line while watching for an offside call. Ben Guite quickly grabbed the puck and fired it towards the net. It ended up bouncing to a net-crashing Lappy who slid it under Mathieu Garon.

What's the lesson there? Crash the net and good things happen. And every now and again, lucky bounces go your way. And sometimes the linesmen are on the take.

The Avalanche then deflated the Oilers with two quick goals to end the period.

Paul Stastny kept his seven game point streak alive with his second goal of the season. Marek Svatos tried to cut in, got off a weak backhand which ended up banking off Tom Gilbert right onto Paul Stastny's stick and he had a wide open net to bury it.

A minute and a half later, Cody Mcleod got his third of the season. Mcleod took a chip pass from Lappy, cut hard to the net, tried to shift the puck from backhand to forehand but ended up sliding the puck under a surprised Mathieu Garon. It was an odd goal and likely one that Garon would want back. Either way, the Avs took a 3-1 lead into the third period as the Oilers started breaking down.

The third period started off with a bang as Joe Sakic ended a play that he started. Sakic broke out of the zone and fired a cross-ice pass to Wojtek Wolski. Wolski then made a nice saucer pass up to Darcy Tucker as they crossed the blue line. Tucker then waited to draw the defense and flipped a saucer pass of his own to Joe Sakic who ripped a wrister past a sliding Garon. As flexible as Garon is, there was nothing he could do on that one. Short of installing Go-Go-Gadget Legs.

A bit of rough stuff broke out as Jason Strudwick tried to spark the Oilers with a fight against Cody McCormick. I'd give Strudwich the win but as he took an extra roughing penalty, it didn't build much momentum.

Shortly after that, Craig MacTavish showed some class and tossed out a line including Zach Stortini and Steve MacIntyre, their two heavyweights. Granato warned the refs as Stortini lined up with MacIntyre and sure enough, Stortini dropped them with the always obliging Laperriere. It was over quickly as the two hugged to the ice. Lappy then mocked Stortini, suggesting all Stortini wanted to do was hug and not fight. Pretty funny stuff. They both ended up with a 10-minute misconduct and were done for the night.

The fighting was not enough to spark the tired Oilers team and the Avalanche easily closed out the game to take their fourth win of the season.

Budaj settling in

Peter Budaj looked much more comfortable in goal tonight. He was much more confident moving side to side and was finding the puck all night long. 

Maybe the extra time on the bench helped calm him down and he's about to break out the Buddha we all know and love.

Know your role

There is still far too much confusion when the Avs are deep in their own zone. They need to figure this out quick, fast and in a hurry. You can see the hesitation in movement as defenders look to each other, unsure who is going to cover what area of the ice. There's no time for thinking when you're playing the game, that's what practice is for.

Don't think! Do!

Here a hook, there a hook

The referees tonight were hook happy calling nine straight hooking penalties until the rough stuff at the end of the game. Some of them were very weak calls and did nothing but interrupt the flow of the game.

Guite rocks the fu

Ben Guite was in the lineup after sitting for two straight games. And he was rocking the fu. He was also rocking the score sheet with 2 assists and a +2 rating in 10:53 of ice time. Chalk up a win for Jib on that one. 

Fantasy fun

Laperriere was gold tonight for my fantasy team. A goal, an assist, a +2 rating and 17 minutes in penalties. It doesn't get more productive than that.

Mats Sundin sighting

Mats Sundin was spotted tonight...doing a commercial for Pokerstars.net. Has he run out of money already? Or was he concerned that people weren't talking about him anymore? 

Related Links

ColoradoAvalanche.com Recap

ITCS Recap

NHL.com Event Summary

Avalanche report: Budaj catches fire

Colorado makes it four in a row

Putting the clamps on

Play of the Week Returns

The official Colorado Avalanche site has resumed its "Play of the Week" feature. Each week you get to vote on one of three nominees for the best play of the week.

This week has Joe Sakic's first goal of the year pitted against the Paul Stastny-Ryan Smyth beauty of a PP goal against Calgary and Cody McCormick'ss workhorse goal from yesterday.

I'm torn between the Smyth and McCormick goals but I think I'll give the edge to Cody Mac because he doesn't score often and it was a hell of an effort. And it involved David Jones.

Avalanche Get First Win, Down Flyers 5-2

You move your feet, you win the game. It's an old adage and it works 95% of the time, every time. The Avalanche tried it tonight and scored their first win of the season on a fast-paced, skate flying adventure.

The Avs scored first, they scored often and they drew tons of penalties along the way. The Cody Macs were great, David Jones was pressing hard, Ryan Smyth was a beast down low, Milan Hejduk was a flat out beast and I could just go on and on. Even Tyler Arnason seemed to find his game legs again.

And the defense didn't take a backseat to the offense tonight as the skates kept moving on the backcheck as well as the forecheck. Flyers breakouts sometimes didn't even last beyond their own blueline before they were stripped of the puck. It was lovely to watch.

Andrew Raycroft needed to make just 16 saves in his regular season debut and, aside from his puck handling inabilities, looked half decent out there.

Unfortunately, I had company for a good portion of the night but I'll check out some of the taped action later tonight and will put up a few more thoughts in the morning.

In the meantime, Joe Sakic is still a god amongst men. And Paul Stastny is like his little Heracles.

Avalanche Still Winless, Fall 5-4 to Flames

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Larry MacDougal)

Three games in and the frustration is starting to mount. Once again the Avalanche found themselves in a hole early, battled back hard but ended up just short of the still elusive "W" as the Flames downed them by a double-checked score of 5-4.

Brace yourselves, there's a lot of talking below.

1st Period

The Avalanche started the game off solid. Milan Hejduk nearly snuck one past Kiprusoff early, Paul Stastny showed what it means to cover the middle of the ice on defense, and Liles and Jones teamed up on Bertuzzi with a knock-em-over-elbow-em-in-the-head move.

But just over three minutes in the Flames got on the board with their first of three powerplay goals. Peter Budaj made the initial save - a very nice save - but the rebound hung around in the slot and Dustin Boyd got a handle on it before anybody else. 

While everybody was still reeling from the Avalanche giving up the early lead again, Peter Budaj tried to snag a tipped puck that went about 50 feet in the air...and it bounced out of his glove right to Todd friggin Bertuzzi's stick. And just like that, the Flames had a 2-0 lead on back-to-back powerplay goals.

Cody Mcleod calmed everybody's fears though as he brought the Avs within one. Ryan Smyth worked hard down low but the Flames still got it out of the zone. However they were confused by the brilliance of Smyth's work down low and ended up running into each other in the neutral zone. Cody McCormick, in for the benched Marek Svatos, then stole the puck, fired a shot on Kipper and Mcleod banged home the rebound. The best part of that goal? Phaneuf lost coverage and ended up falling into the net just as the puck was going in. Norris trophy my ass, Phaneuf.

Craig "Crazy Eyes" Conroy restored the two goal lead on a goal that Budaj certainly would like back. Hell, I'd like it back. Conroy broke down the wing and whipped a backhand on net that went right through Budaj's five hole. A backhand fired from close to the hashmarks with a defender draped on the shooter should never make its way into the back of the net. Unless the net was empty.

The Avalanche capped off a wild first period with a powerplay goal of their own. Mark Giordano crunched Milan Hejduk along the boards, completely wiping himself out of the play in the neutral zone. Smyth grabbed the puck, fed it to Stastny - and took a hit from Rene Bourque in the process. Stastny got Phaneuf to bite on covering the cross ice pass and ended up dropping it back to Liles who had the entire ice surface to himself and made no mistake. Meanwhile, Phaneuf was left standing idly by Kiprusoff while Mathew Lombardi's speedy backcheck left him helpless behind the goal line. 

And then the rough stuff began. At the end of the period, Phaneuf put a late hit on Mcleod and Mcleod shoved him over. McCormick then deflected Jarome Iginla and Daymond Langkow away from Mcleod, leaving Mcleod to jaw with Phaneuf. Iggy got a little feisty, McCormick popped him one, knocking him down, and then it was on.

McCormick gave Iginla time to take his visored helmet off but Iginla left it on and lost a bit of street cred in my book. The two tossed some punches and Iginla ended up taking McCormick down to the ice.  But I still give the win to McCormick because that's how I roll.

2nd Period

I spent the first five minutes of the second period watching election results, making a quiche, and twittering. Luckily I didn't miss any excitement.

Nine minutes in, the Avalanche tied it up on an absolutely gorgeous powerplay goal. Joe Sakic took a hard hit along the boards from Robyn Regeher but maintained control of the puck. He then fired a pass across to Paul Stastny who held the puck long enough to draw a defender to him. He then whipped a pass across to Ryan Smyth who was uncovered behind Kiprusoff. Smyth cooly buried the puck and hopes were restored.

The Flames surged hard at the end of the second but Budaj made a couple nice saves to maintain the tie going into the third period.

3rd Period

The Avalanche were getting outshot 27-15 going into the third and you know Tony Granato brought that up during the intermission pep talk. 

Unfortunately, the Flames got off the first two goals of the third period. Iginla scored the Flames third PP goal as David Jones failed to clear the puck, leading to a wide open Iginla firing a rocket shot top corner past Budaj. 

Iginla then capped off his Gordie Howe hat trick as his initial shot was kicked out by Budaj directly onto Todd friggin Bertuzzi's stick for his second of the game. It was a big rebound by Budaj but Adam Foote left Bertuzzi alone to gobble it up so they share equal blame.

I was ready to call it a game at that point. Then lady luck smiled on the Avalanche.

18 seconds after the Flames fifth goal, Ben Guite wristed a shot in from the blueline which took a bounce about eight feet away from Kiprusoff which carried it over his shoulder and into the back of the net. Now the Avs can't claim this game was due to bad bounces!

But that was all she wrote for the Avs as they couldn't capitalize on a Phaneuf penalty or once Budaj was yanked for the extra attacker.

An 0-3 start to the season and not only has the handwringing begun, there are some broken fingers starting to pop up.

Line

Granato shook up the lines a bit tonight starting with bringing in Cody McCormick and sitting Marek Svatos. Svatos had been pretty silent in the first two games but I didn't think he was silent enough for a benching. But McCormick played a good game tonight and I can't say that Svatos would have made a difference.

The new lines were (for the most part):

Smyth-Sakic-Tucker

Wolski-Stastny-Hejduk

Mcleod-Arnason-Jones

McCormick-Guite-Laperierre

The defensive pairings were unchanged with Clark-Foote, Liles-Hannan and Leopold-Salei.

Stats

Ryan Smyth was the ice-time leader with 23:59 and for good reason. He was a demon on the forecheck all game long.

The Avalanche were credited with 15 hits on the night, three of them coming from Wojtek Wolski. Again the RTSS stats show their subjectivity as Jones only had one credited hit but I personally had a note of three obvious hits for Jones.

Hejduk and Smyth fired off five shots on goal while Sakic managed a mere four shots on goal. He must be feeling his age. 

The Avalanche were outshot for the first time in the season. They managed a respectable 29 shots on goal to the Flames 35.

The Avalanche lost out in the faceoff circle thanks to Tyler Arnason's stellar 2-for-11 outing. Ray Ferraro commented that "It looks like Arnason is scared to rip the tape on his stick in the faceoff circle." Yep, that's our Arny.

Odds and Ends

I'll lead off with the greatest note. It's so great I'm actually going to take a video of it and put it on YouTube once I find my camera. Around the four minute mark of the third period, Dion Phaneuf fell off the bench on a line change. I'm not 100% positive it was Phaneuf but he was on the ice on the ensuing whistle, the fallen player was definitely a defenseman and it appeared to be the right side D-man. That's a conviction in my books!

The Avs PP looked brilliant at times and utterly atrocious at other times. The PP goal was a thing of brilliance but too often they looked disorganized breaking in to the zone and spent a lot of time not moving their feet once they'd established themselves. Granato needs to tighten that up.

The defense looked more cohesive today. Wingers were sticking near their point men more often as opposed to collapsing down low too early. Not every time, but more often than the last few games. Hopefully they keep working on that adjustment.

Paul Stastny is making a statement so far. And that statement, unfortunately for the Avalanche, is "I am worth a boatload of cash." Time to re-up his contract, Mr. Giguere.

David Jones is looking good physically but he's not getting any points nor very many scoring changes. After spending time on the top line and not getting any production, he could find himself stuck on the third line until he picks it up a notch.

TSN is still talking about Mats Sundin like people still care. Here's a hint: nobody cares. Especially not the Rangers who don't have the cap room to sign him nor the have the need to sign him. And man, Torts is boring so far on the panel.

And just to make sure I rag on TSN enough, what a brutal "video montage" to go along with their prized acquisition, the old HNIC theme. It looked like shots from NHL '09 haphazardly put together by a 10-year old. There was no passion, no fire, no reality. In short, it was an epic fail.

But I prefer Ferraro on color commentary as opposed to Pierre McGuire. So there's one point for TSN.

Related Links

ColoradoAvalanche.com Game Recap

NHL.com Boxscore

RMN Game Recap