SB Nation - David Koci

Game 32 Recap: Avalanche 4 - Blues 0

David Driscoll-Carignan — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:33:35 -0000

3 days ago: Colorado Avalanche goalie Peter Budaj deflects a shot on goal in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the St. Louis Blues, Monday, Dec. 7, 2009 in St. Louis.(AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

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Final - 12.7.2009	1	2	3	Total
Colorado Avalanche	1	2	1	4
St. Louis Blues	0	0	0	0

Complete Coverage >

Nothingness
Lonliness
Empty chest
And nothing lasts forever

-Living Colour, Nothingness

My first instinct is to make this recap a long, sarcastic diatribe about how Peter Budaj has sucked his way into a 1.34 GAA and .959 save percentage over the last 3 games (and, by the way, 2 key road wins). However, since I don't really know what "diatribe" means, I'm going to play this one straight.

As I stated in my recap tonight, the Avs were going to need a strong game from Peter Budaj to beat the stingy Blues' defense, and they got exactly that. Budaj turned aside all 35 shots he face (including 17 in the final frame) to earn his 1st shutout of the season. His defense played well in front of him (they blocked 20 shots to the Blues 4) for most of the night (3rd period thoughts to follow below), but let's give the credit to the #1 star of the game; Budaj played a hell of a game.

The Avs came out firing in this one, putting up 13 shots on Chris Mason in the 1st period. I saw mention somewhere that Joe Sacco is looking for his team to fire more, and Blues' reporter Bernie Federko was between the benches during the game and indeed said that Sacco was emphasizing this during the game. Despite the solid first period play, it looked like the Avalanche weren't going to have anything to show for it, especially when Mason made a stupendous glove save behind a screen on John-Michael Liles on a late first-period powerplay. Thankfully, on the faceoff immediately after this save, the Avs won the draw, got the puck back to Liles who dished to Kyle Quincey who fired a shot/pass to the net that Chris Stewart deflected into the top corner with just 11 seconds to go in the first.

That would be enough, but the Avs would tack on a few more. At 6:08 of the 2nd, Stastny scored a controversial goal set up by Wolski and Stewart. Wolski took advantage of a sloppy line change by the Blues and carried the puck in down the left wing. The Blues were scrambling to get back in position, and Stewart found space in front of the net. Wolski and Stewart exchanged passed and then David Backes cleared Wolski out of the crease...but he ended up running Wolski into Mason. Stastny came in late and tapped the puck into an empty net. The Blues were outraged, feeling that Wolski interfered with Mason. I've given up trying to figure out what is goalie interference and what isn't, but let's just say I was kind of surprised that one was allowed to stand, even if it's Backes' own stupid fault that Mason was taken out.

The Avs made it 3-0 later in the period, with Stewart deflecting a point shot into the net for the second time in the game (this time, it was Liles taking the shot). Stewart picked up his first 2-goal game of his career. He has 12 points in his last 9 games. Perhaps more importantly, he has 8 points in the 5 games since the David Jones injury, helping to fill a critical void. Matt Duchene effectively iced the game in the 3rd when Wojtek Wolski intercepted a pass and bumped it ahead to Duchene who skated in and fired a wrister through Mason's 5-hole. That goal was Downy soft on Mason's part, but was still a pretty slick shot for Duchene (who otherwise had a quiet night). It was also Wolski's 3rd point in the game. He's been taking a lot of heat this year, but he now has 30 points in 32 games, well on his way to a career year (his high is 50 points). As of right now, he's 19th in the league in scoring, tied with guys like Iginla, Nash and Zetterberg.

The Avs play in the 3rd period continues to mystify me. Actually, after the strong 1st period, the Avs managed just 9 shots the rest of the way- 6 in the 2nd and 3 in the 3rd. Luckily, they made those shots count and Budaj made some big saves to preserve the shutout, but it wasn't very pretty to watch. The Avs didn't look sharp in the 3rd - pucks were turned over in the neutral zone, battles to the puck were lost, etcetera etcetera. I wonder, could it be a matter of fatigue? While I like the concept of Joe Sacco using the guys who've played the best in the 3rd, I wonder if using just 3 lines in the final frame is the right idea, especially with a lead. Marek Svatos, Matt Hendricks and David Koci had about 4 minutes of ice time in the 3rd period. While those guys aren't exactly Selke award candidates, a couple of timely shifts in the 3rd to spell our other players might help. Maybe it's not fatigue, but I'd really like for someone to figure it out soon so that it can be fixed; the Avs won't always have an ace like Peter Budaj between the pipes. (and...scene).

Game 29 Preview: Return of the Foote

Mike MacLean — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:31:50 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

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This is going to be extremely quick, folks. I just found a computer and I don`t even know if the formatting will turn out. This is the return of Adam Foote, I won`t bag on him as much as others do, but it will be interesting to see how the fans treat him.

Andrew Murray and Raffi Torres return to the lineup, and the defensive pairs have been shaken up. Toots and Stralman aren`t together anymore, Stralman is with Russ and Methot returns to the lineup to play with Fedor. Should be interesting how the Russ-Stralman pairing does five-on-five.

I won`t be able to watch this game tonight unfortunately, but I will be checking the boxscore on my Blackberry. Here`s hoping the boys can pull one out and get back in the win column.

Fearless Prediction: A win, damnit.

Game Time: 7:00pm ET

Opponent's Blog: Mile High Hockey

Game Page: Avalanche vs Blue Jackets Coverage

TSN Preview: Avalanche vs Blue Jackets Preview

TV: FSN Ohio

Radio: WBNS-AM (1460); WWCD-FM (101.1)

More after the jump...

From the Columbus Dispatch:

Colorado captain Adam Foote makes his first appearance in Nationwide Arena since he was traded by the Blue Jackets to the Avalanche on Feb. 26, 2008. The Blue Jackets are in a 1-4-3 tailspin since Nov. 19. Columbus won all four games last season and has won six of the past seven games in the series.

Jackets Links:

Columbus Blue Jackets / Columbus Blue Jackets Schedule

Columbus Blue Jackets Roster / Columbus Blue Jackets Stats

Here are the lineups for tonight's tilt:

Columbus Blue Jackets

Kristian Huselius	Antoine Vermette	Rick Nash
R.J. Umberger	Derick Brassard	Jakub Voracek
Jason Chimera	Samuel Pahlsson	Andrew Murray
Raffi Torres	Derek MacKenzie	Jared Boll

Fedor Tyutin	Marc Methot
Mike Commodore	Jan Hejda
Kris Russell	Anton Stralman

Steve Mason

Mathieu Garon

EXTRA: Alexandre Picard

INJURED: Fredrik Modin, Andrew Murray, Derek Dorsett, Rostislav Klesla, Marc Methot

Colorado Avalanche

Matt Duchene	Paul Stastny	Chris Stewart
Wojtek Wolski	T.J. Galiardi	Milan Hejduk
Cody McLeod	Ryan O'Reilly	Darcy Tucker
David Koci	Chris Durno	Marek Svatos

Scott Hannan	Kyle Quincey
John-Michael Liles	Brett Clark
Adam Foote	Ryan Wilson

Peter Budaj

Tyler Weiman

Minnesota Wild @ Colorado Avalanche: Game Recap

nathaneide — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:08:16 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

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Minnesota Wild 3-2 (so) Colorado Avalanche

Two games against the Avalanche, two excellent efforts, seven goals and four points. This was exactly the kind of week the Wild needed to try to break out of their funk. Hopefully they can build on this, and Andrew Ebbett and Guillaume Latendresse continue to fit in as well as they have in the first week.

While it didn't always look this way on the scoreboard, the Wild controlled this game. Colorado got sloppy once they had the lead and Minnesota took advantage of the miscues and poorly times penalties, worked their way back into it, and never relinquished control, carrying it through to the shootout, where Mikko Koivu and Andrew Ebbett sealed the deal.

The Wild came out hot, with 12 shots in the first and 14 in the second. Were it not for the outstanding goaltending of Craig Anderson, the Avs could've easily found themselves on the wrong end of a bloodbath. Lucky for them, Matt Hendricks and Matt Duchene took advantage of two nice scoring chances (basically the only two chances in the first for the Avs) and got the Avs up 2-0 against the run of play. After that second goal, the Wild kept up the pressure and you could feel that it was only a matter of time until they took over on the scoreboard as well.

The scoring was started early in the second as Eric Belanger came flying in on a two on one, and rocketed one past Anderson. Nice to see Belly score, because he hadn't done so all month. After that goal, the Wild kept flying and kept the pressure on, but Anderson kept turning away everything the Wild could throw at him.

Each team had a goal disallowed for being played with a high stick. Duchene in the first and Guillaume Latendresse in the third. Lucky for the Wild, Latendresse is learning from his past in Montreal and parking himself in front of the net to get the rebounds, the way a power forward should. After a shot from Owen Nolan goes off Anderson, Latendresse is right there to bury it and get his first goal as a member of the Minnesota Wild.

Neither team would get another opportunity in regulation, and in overtime, disaster was averted as a puck trickled just wide of the cage as Josh Harding mussed it with his glove and it slid through the crease. This would send both teams to the shootout where Mikko Koivu would use his patented backhand roofer, then Andrew Ebbett scored the winner as Marek Svatos and Wojtek Wolski were stopped by Harding.

Please read the game recap over at Mile High Hockey

Hockey Wilderness Three Stars

Guillaume Latendresse (1 G)
Andrew Ebbett (shootout winner)
Craig Anderson (34 saves)

Questions to Answer

Will Kobasew find the first line to his liking again? He didn't score, but did get three shots and at least two nice scoring chances tonight. I think he fits well on that line.
Will Josh Harding perform well, spelling Backstrom? Harding was very solid today. Definitely earned his first win of the season.
Does Latendresse show signs of fatigue with all his travel the last few days? If he was feeling it, he certainly wasn't showing it. Nice goal to tie it up.
Is Adrian Dater the biggest ass in NHL media? Always. Luckily he talks trash about the Avs as well as anyone they play.
Will we see some bitterness due to the home and home? Will this game get ugly? Well, it got ugly really early on as David Koci tried to spark the Avs by tangling with John Scott. Not a great decision by Koci, as he couldn't match the reach of Scott, and it was a series of grabs and punches that didn't really land.

Game 26 Preview: Avalanche at Wild

David Driscoll-Carignan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:48:53 -0000


Colorado Avalanche	12 MT / 2 ET / 7 GMT	Minnesota Wild
14-7-4	November 27th, 2009	8-12-3
32 pts	Xcel Energy Center	19 pts
3rd in West	St Paul, MN	15th in West

The Colorado Avalance are in Minnesota this afternoon to take on the Minnesota Wild. The Wild have had a rough season so far and are currently mired in last place. They simply haven't been able to get anything going this year and have only managed to put together two consecutive wins twice (they've yet to win 3 in a row). Like Colorado, the Wild got a loser point on Wednesday, falling to the Boston Bruins in a shootout.The Wild are their normal low-scoring selves this year. Unfortunately, they are 23rd in the league in goals against per game (just ahead of the Avs) to go with that. It's hard to win 2-1 hockey games when you are giving up 3 goals a game...

The teams have met each other once this season, with the Wild taking advantage of a slew of Avalanche penalties and winning in the shootout, 3-2. Neither team really play the sort of style to facilitate this, but the opportunity is there to develop a little bad blood, as they are playing 3 times over the next 2 weeks (today, tomorrow and December 9th). Derek Boogaard and David Koci did tangle in the first game, but it wasn't much of a fight.

Minnesota is expected to be without forwards Martin Havlat and Antti Miettinen; both missed the game on Wednesday and neither practiced on Thursday. The Wild hope to have Gillaume Latendresse in the lineup; he was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens earlier in the week. No word yet as to who the starting goalie will be for Minnesota, but Niklas Backstrom has started 20 of the Wild's 23 games.

The Avalanche will again be without the services of Adam Foote, who will be missing his 5th game with a mere flesh wound, and Kyle Cumiskey (broken jet pack). Brian Fahey was called up from Lake Erie yesterday and it's possible he'll play instead of Tom Preissing. Craig Anderson is the starter today, according to Adrian Dater's reborn twitter feed. Andy is 8 games away from his NHL season high of 31.

Tale of the Tape

Colorado			Minnesota
5th	32	Points	28th	19
7th	3.00	GF/G	27th	2.35
22nd	2.88	GA/G	23rd	2.91
22nd	18.4	PP%	23rd	18.2
15th	80	PK%	8th	83.2
30th	25.8	S/G	23rd	28.7
25th	32.6	SA/G	10th	28.5
29th	46.7	FO%	8th	51.4
13th	13.4	PIM/G	5th	11.3
Stastny	23 pts	Top Scorer	Koivu	21 pts

Colorado Avalanche: What the Hell Happened?

David Driscoll-Carignan — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:00:15 -0000

Halloween, 2009. Although the Avalanche had lost the night before to San Jose, we woke up that Saturday feeling pretty good about our team. The Avalanche had finished October at phenomenal 10-2-2 and, as we dressed our kiddos in their Halloween costumes and ran out to the stores to stock our trick-or-treat bowls, we had a little spring in our step. Our sad-sack Avalanche of last year had turned things around and were currently perched on top of the Western Conference (indeed, they were tied with Pittsburgh at 1st in the league).

And, yet, we knew.

Oh, sure, we got indignant when James Mirtle (and others) predicted we'd start to fall back into the pack or whenever someone failed to give the Avalanche props in power rankings and the like. We're proud of our team and, after 6 months of nothing but negativity (on the ice and off), it was great to have something to feel good about again. Deep down, though, we knew. The team was better (not that we could have gotten much worse than the steaming pile of dung that was the 2008 season); the Avalanche were working harder, working smarter and, for the first time in years, had a bona fide #1 between the pipes. But - and this may be the largest "but" I've ever written - this was not a first-place team. Deep down, we knew it.

Since then, it hasn't been very pretty. The Avalanche have gone 3-5-1 in November. That won't get it done. If the Avalanche were to continue at that pace, they'd finish the season at 33-40-9. 75 points. Last year, 75 points would have been good enough for...you guessed it: 3rd-worst record in the NHL. Are you guys ready for the next "tank it 4 ___" watch?

What the hell happened? Lots. Adrian Dater covered it very well on Friday night after the latest debacle. I agree with every single point in that excellent post. I'd also like to flesh out a few thoughts I've had bouncing around in that little plinko machine in my head.

Unquestionably, any discussion about the Avs and their now-wheelless bus has to start with the powerplay. After 6 games, the Avalanche had 10 PP goals and were humming along at 38.5% efficiency. For a team that scored just 50 PP goals last year, that was an amazing start. Sadly, it wouldn't last. In the 17 games since that game 6 in Toronto, the Avalanche have just 7 PP goals in 62 chances. That's a pitiful 11.3% efficiency, even worse than 15.7% the Avalanche mustered last year and the 14.6% laugher under Joel Quenneville that created our power play kitten meme. Why has it been so bad? Losing John-Michael Liles has had an impact. It's probably not a coincidence that the PP collapse coincided with Liles' leaving the lineup; he was injured in the Toronto game. In a perfectly symmetrical stat, the Avalanche have had 44 PP opportunities this year with Liles in the lineup and 44 PP opportunities with him out of the lineup. With him in, they've scored 13 times (29.5%). Without? 4 (9.1%).That's ugly.

Compelling stats, but there's more to it. In the first 6 games, the Avalanche were getting something on the powerplay they have lacked for years: scoring from the point. Kyle Quincey was absolutely revitalizing in the early going and he, Liles and Brett Clark combined for 3 goals and 11 assists on the PP in the first 6 games. Since then, bone dry and I mean Mojave Desert dry. No goals for any of them. Liles has 2 assists (both in Friday's game). Quincey and Clark have just one PP assist each. What happened to them? In the last 4 games, Quincey hasn't even registered a shot on net (PP or otherwise). They have been so ineffective that Joe Sacco has resorted to using a forward on the point. It's working about as well as it did under both Joel Quenneville and Tony Granato. In other words, it isn't.

And how about that Kyle Quincey? When the Avalanche traded for him this summer, I was less than pleased. It wasn't so much a knock on Quincey (or Tom Preissing...don't ask me to go there right now) as I felt it was a mistake to trade Ryan Smyth. My argument was that the Avalanche had a fair number of manageable defensemen, while they were thin offensively and at left wing. And that was before the sudden maturation of Kyle Cumiskey or the surprising play of Ryan Wilson. For a while, it looked like Quincey would sway me. In an interview for Second City Hockey's fan program back in October, I said the following:

Quincey has been a GREAT fit for us defensively. He is already paying dividends. The Avs have been looking for a PP quarterback for eons and his crisp passes have already started a boatload of breakaways at even strength.

What happened to those dividends? Did the board of directors vote to suspend them? Where did that PP quarterbacking go? Where did those breakout passes go? What about the big hits he was throwing around in the first couple of weeks? What's with all the stupid penalties all of a sudden (6 minor penalties in the last 4 games)? Is he still an upgrade for our defense? Yes. Has he been playing so far above the guys in the pressbox to warrant the trade of Smyth? No. I mean, Ruslan Salei can take bad penalties and do nothing on the PP just as well as Quincey has done lately. Speaking of Salei, he's set to return from his back injury soon. With all that defensive depth I talked about, is he even going to play? Or are we just going to pay Salei and Preissing $5.775 million to watch from the press box?

While I'm aware that moving Smyth was a salary move, you'd like to see a big trade like that make your team better. Smyth, in case you missed it, has 23 points in 22 games this year. Our #1 left wing, Wojtek Wolski, has a solid 20 points. No complaints there. After Wolski, though, our left wingers are providing butkus. Cody McLeod has 8 points. Darcy Tucker has 7. David Koci has 1. The Avalanche are so hard up at left wing that Marek Svatos (8 points) played there on Friday; he has 3 even strength points this year. I like Kyle Quincey, but wouldn't this team look much better right now with Ryan Smyth skating with Matt Duchene and Milan Hejduk rather than Svatos or Tucker?

Smyth's linemate this year is Anze Kopitar, who is tearing up the league (33 points). Smyth's linemate last year was Paul Stastny. While Stastny hasn't been terrible, he's been quieter than he should be. You may recall that when Kopitar signed his big extension with the Kings last year, I opined that that deal would be the ballpark for Stastny's upcoming extension. Sure enough, when Stastny signed his extension about a month later, it was just $200,000 less per season than Kopitar's. How's that worked out for the respective teams? For the Kings, really well. Here are Kopitar's numbers before signing his extension and his numbers since:

Before: 155 GP 52G 86A 138P -29 .89 PPG (points per game)
Since: 105GP 41G 58A 99P -10 .94 PPG

Since becoming rich, Kopitar hasn't rested on his laurels. In fact, he's increased his scoring production. You know what's coming next.

Before: 164GP 55G 109A 164P +16 1.00 PPG
After: 52GP 12G 29A 41P -3 .79 PPG

Stastny's production has slipped since signing his extension. Now, .79 PPG is not terrible, but it is a decline. That's a 65-point season, something 50 players managed last year. In fact, only 5 teams didn't have a player get to 65 points (want to guess one of them?). It's good, but it's not great. It's not quite $6.6 million worth, not quite highest-paid-on-the-team great, not quite 21st-highest-paid forward-like. It's hard to pick on a guy who leads the team in scoring, but Paul Stastny needs to be doing more and he needs to do it on a more consistent basis. Stastny is held off the scoresheet on too many nights and, in fact, is in the longest goal-scoring drought of his career (12 games). When he was a 2nd line center and the Avalanche had other weapons, this would have been okay. They don't have other weapons.

I'm already running long, so I'll have to speed through the rest of this. Craig Anderson has a 3.39 GAA and .885 Save Percentage in November and lately he's been making us think fondly of Jose Theodore's awful stickhandling. Perhaps we should hold off on giving him the keys to the city for a while longer. Our PK was terrific in October (12.9%) but it's been dreadful since (26.3%). The Avalanche were supposed to be harder to play against under Joe Sacco, but the Avs are giving up more shots per game than they did under Tony Granato and they are hitting substantially less (from about 10 per game to 6). How is that better?

At the end of October, Joe Sacco looked like a coach of the year candidate for the way he had turned this team around. In just 3 weeks, that's gone away. Although they are still high in the standings, they are looking more and more like last year's team - no scoring, defensive lapses, inconsistent goaltending. With another bad week, the Avs could be out of the top 8 altogether (they are just 5 points ahead of the 11th place Canucks).

Personally, I think the next few weeks are going to be very interesting. As we approached the start of the season, it seems like most of us fans felt that this season wouldn't be so much about winning as losing as it would be about effort and player development. That's going to be put to the test shortly, I'm afraid. Will we be frustrated with repeated losses? Or will we really be content to watch guys like Wojtek Wolski, David Jones and Kyle Cumiskey who are having career years (Cumiskey has already set a career high, and Jones needs just 2 more points to do the same) as well as seeing kids like Matt Duchene, Ryan O'Reilly and Ryan Wilson blossom? It will be an adjustment for sure, but not all that new for us. After all, we were 3 games over .500 and in 8th place as late as January 10th last year. I think we all know how that ended for us.

Game 22 Recap: Oilers 6 - Avalanche 4

David Driscoll-Carignan — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:38:56 -0000

More photos » by John Ulan - AP

22 days ago: Edmonton Oilers' Ryan Potulny, left, and teammate Liam Reddox celebrate his goal against Colorado Avalanche goalie Peter Budaj, of Slovakia, during the third period NHL of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009, in Edmonton, Alberta. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Ulan)

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Final - 11.18.2009	1	2	3	Total
Colorado Avalanche	2	2	0	4
Edmonton Oilers	1	2	3	6

Complete Coverage >

I'm a little bit country
And I'm a little bit rock 'n roll
I'm a little bit of Memphis and Nashville
With a little bit of Motown in my soul
I don't know if it's good or bad
But I know I love it so
I'm a little bit country
And I'm a little bit rock 'n roll

- The Osmonds

Divisive.

There is no Avalanche player on the roster today who is more divisive than Peter Budaj. Some guys come close (Brett Clark, for example), but Budaj takes the cake. When he plays, our normally kumbaya community goes to their respective corners. Some have faith in Budaj, no matter what happens on the ice. Others blame Budaj for every goal, no matter what happens on the ice.

In reality, Peter Budaj wasn't very sharp tonight. Then again, you can say that about pretty much everyone wearing an Avalanche unipron not named Duchene, Jones, Cumiskey or Hejduk. But Budaj is the goalie, and he's got to be better than that. He's certainly got to be better than the other goalie, especially when it's a backup WHO'S GOT A HYPHEN IN HIS NAME. Budaj wasn't.

So, Budaj detractors can do their little Tyler Weiman dance tonight and I, a devoted Budaj backer, won't complain. But I think you should know one thing: Budaj isn't the only reason we lost.

A funny thing happened tonight. Well, not "ha ha" funny, but I think you'll get the idea. Even though the Avs weren't playing at their best (perhaps due more to fatigue than anything else), they have a 2-gpal lead at the midway point of the game, thanks mostly to the 4 guys named two paragraphs up. When Kyle Cumiskey embarrassed Deslauriers to make it 4-2, the Oilers were pissed. And they started to unravel. They started cheap-shotting our players. Some, like the brutal Gilbert Brule board on Paul Stastny or about 3 cheap shots from Jason Strudwick, didn't get called. Others, like the Sheldon Souray cross-check across Wojtek Wolski's face, did. Edmonton was coming undone.

The Avalanche had two courses of action available to them. They could stoop to Edmonton's level of immaturity and give them the goon right back to them, or they could take the high road and convert on the 5 on 3 powerplays handed to them on a silver platter. Instead, Colorado went with option C - none of the above. I'm sorry, folks, but C is the wrong answer.

While I'm disturbed that the Avs could not score on the powerplay, I'm not really surprised. The Avalanche have made some strides in that area, but there's still lots of work to be done (obviously). The Avs have slipped to 16th overall in PP efficiency, and even Peter McNab is whispering in his company-mandated-shiny way that the team needs to get better there. What really gets me, though, is that the Oilers took shots at our players all night long and no one did a thing about it. David Koci? Planted firmly on the bench for the final 35 minutes of the game (does he even bother to come out of the locker room for the 3rd periods?). Cody McLeod? I know he played, because he was -4, but he certainly wasn't taking care of business. Tucker? Stewart? Anyone? This is really the one area where the Avs have taken a significant step backwards this year. Last year, someone would have stepped in when Stasny is getting slammed face first into the boards, or when Marek Svatos is getting cross-checked to the ice after three straight whistles. Is it as simple as missing guys like Lappy or Cody McCormick? Is it a coaching thing? I suspect it might be more of the latter, as Chris Stewart had about 5 fights at this point last year, while he just had his first one last night. And, of course, David Koci may be talented but he can't protect anyone from the bench. I'm all about playing disciplined hockey, but our guys have been getting pushed around all year and I'm sick of this team turtleing. I'm also angry that I don't know how to spell turtleing. Oh well.

I'll say this: if we lose 6-4 but I watched our tough guys answer the bell in the 2nd period, it would still be a loss, but I'd be much less disappointed in the team right now.

Lines

Wolski - Stastny - Jones
Tucker - Duchene - Hejduk
McLeod - O'Reilly - Stewart
Koci - Durno - Svatos

Quincey - Hannan
Cumiskey - Clark
Preissing - Wilson

Quick Hits

The Avalanche won the faceoff battle for the 2nd straight game
The McLeod, O'Reilly and Stewart line was a combined -9 with 2 shots.

Video Highlights

Next Up

The Avalanche are in Vancouver on Friday. Oh joy.

Game 18 Recap: Oilers 5 - Avalanche 3

David Driscoll-Carignan — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:53:40 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

about 1 month ago: Edmonton Oilers goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, of Kazahkstan, right, makes a glove save of a shot off the stick of Colorado Avalanche rookie center Ryan O'Reilly in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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Final - 11.8.2009	1	2	3	Total
Edmonton Oilers	3	0	2	5
Colorado Avalanche	1	1	1	3

Complete Coverage >

This will be quick, as I've got a game of mini-golf scheduled soon. Or, if that falls through, it'll be some solo time on the driving range. Either way, better things to do.

This one's pretty easy anyway. You give up 4 PP goals in a game, you lose the game. I don't feel the PK was particularly bad, but a couple of bounces (like Stastny's nice stickwork to break up a cross-ice pass going right to the stick of a wide open Mike Comrie) is all it takes sometimes. If you take 8 minor penalties (I missed Adam Foote's misconduct penalty at the end of the game), you're going to be in trouble whether your goalie is Craig Anderson or Craig T Nelson. Also, Peter Budaj shaved his beard, so he gets some blame as well.

TJ Hensick had a decent game. In my opinion, he's gotten a bum steer this year getting bumped off the roster by guys like Chris Durno, Brian Willsie, Philippe Dupuis and David Koci (can anyone tell me why Koci has been dressed for almost every game?). I think Joe Sacco has made his point; Hensick needs to work harder. Now, lets give him an opportunity to show us.

I could talk about Duchene's miscues on two Edmonton goals or the pathetic 4 shots the Avs mustered in the 3rd period or the fact that the Avs are making a habit of playing terribly in the first 10 minutes of the games, but I'm chalking most of that up to just a bit of an off game. MHH member gl av fan summed it up rather succintly in her facebook status tonight: "Oh well. Can't win them all." Expect the Avs to be better on Wednesday.

Game 13 Recap: Avalanche 3 - Flames 2

David Driscoll-Carignan — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:38:22 -0000

More photos » by Jeff McIntosh - AP

about 1 month ago: Colorado Avalanche Wojtek Wolski, center, from Poland, celebrates his game winning goal with his teammates during third period NHL hockey game against the Calgary Flames in Calgary, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. The Colorado Avalanche beat the Calgary Flames 3-2. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Jeff McIntosh)

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Final - 10.28.2009	1	2	3	Total
Colorado Avalanche	2	0	1	3
Calgary Flames	2	0	0	2

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Truckin' got my chips cashed in. Keep truckin', like the do-dah man
Together, more or less in line, just keep truckin' on.

- Truckin', Grateful Dead

Are they ever going to stop? The Avalanche continue to roll, topping the Flames 3-2 in Calgary, becoming the first NW division team to beat the Flames this year. This, despite going down 2-0 just 1:10 into the game on a couple of fluky goals (well, in my opinion it was one bad goal and one fluky goal, but the result was the same).

Last year, you could have switched the channel at that point - I understand there was a baseball game of some importance? - but this is not last year. The Avalanche worked hard and battled back. David Koci got his first goal of the season (and second goal of his career) when Brett Clark's wicked point shot deflected in off his arm (welcome back to the land of the useful, Brett). Later in the first, David Jones won a battle for the puck in a scramble in front of the net. It took the Avs just 15 minutes to dig out of the hole.

I didn't see much after that, to be honest, as I drifted off into my sweet, sweet slumber. It doesn't look like the Avalanche had many shots (32-14 Calgary) and given that Craig Anderson was the first star, I assume he stood on his head for the team. Sadly, I did not get to see Wojtek Wolski embarrass the hell out of the 6 Calgary Flames on the ice. Thankfully, it's recorded for posterity below.

The "surprising" Colorado Avalanche now have a 5 point lead on the rest of the Western Conference. With 22 points, they are just shy of a third of the way to last season's point totals. That's quite a fluke they've got going there...

ADDENDUM: Joe here. T.J. Galiardi left the game early last night after suffering an ankle injury. He didn't return to the ice against Calgary. The good news is that Coach Joe Sacco doesn't think the injury is serious, and the fact that Galiardi was able to test out the ankle before eventually leaving is a good sign that the damage isn't major.

Coach Sacco also had this to say about the astounding 2009-10 Avalanche:

"There's no quit in the room," said Sacco. "You get in those situations, play back-to-back games on the road, there's a good hockey team here waiting for us, but there's no quit."

...

"There's a good feeling going on, the guys are pulling for each other, they're working hard. The guys really believe they can win right now, doesn't matter if the situation is we're down 1-0 or 2-0, we have that feeling that we can come back at any time," Sacco said.

And just in case you hadn't heard, 10-1-2 is the best start in Avalanche history.

Game 10 Recap: Avalanche 5 - Hurricanes 4

David Driscoll-Carignan — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:12:43 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

about 1 month ago: Linesman Jonny Murray, left, escorts Carolina Hurricanes right winger Tuomo Ruutu, of Finland, off the ice after he earned a game misconduct for a penalty on Colorado Avalanche right winger Darcy Tucker in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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Final - 10.23.2009	1	2	3	Total
Carolina Hurricanes	2	1	1	4
Colorado Avalanche	2	2	1	5

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Lord, this game had just about everything. I have to admit, 6 minutes in the Hurricanes already had a 2-0 lead, the Avalanche looked absolutely dreadful and I figured this was going to be a blowout. Instead, it turned into one of the most entertaining games of the year.

As seen in the first paragraph, the Hurricanes dominated early. But with about 5 to go in the first, the Avs started seeing some life. The new line of Ryan O'Reilly, Wojtek Wolksi and Chris Stewart started things off with Wolski giving a nice feed to Radar in front of Cam Ward. Just 30 seconds later, Paul Stastny deked the pants off of every Carolina player (including Ward) and fired a slick backhander into a wide open net (Ryan Wilson, who has played very well, had the assist for his first career point).

The 2nd period had some unfortunate drama: Tuomo Ruuttu slamming Darcy Tucker into the boards from behind. Tucker went down hard and didn't move. It was a scary moment for sure and he was taken out of the rink on a stretcher. He was moving as they carried him out and hopefully he will be okay.

Ruuttu was given a 5 minute major and a game misconduct for the play and probably was the difference in the game. Milan Hejduk (who was a monster in this game) scored on the ensuing powerplay and Wojtek Wolski (not quite a monster, but a very good game) scored just after it expired for the Avs' 4th straight goal to make it 4-2. Matt Cullen scored on a swift wraparound attempt later in the period to close the gap to 4-3. If the game ended after 40, it would have been a wild one.

It didn't.

Just 3 minutes into the 3rd, Craig Anderson made the save of the game when he stopped Ray Whitney on a penalty shot attempt. Crazy game. In my preview today, I mentioned that the Hurricanes take a TON of penalties and tonight was no exception. It really cost them. Not long after the Whitney attempt, the Hurricanes took two penalties to put the Avalanche on a 5 on 3, which Paul Stastny promptly converted on. (The Hurricane color guy RAVED about the Avalanche powerplay all night long - how foreign a concept is that???). That was the eventual game winner. Whitney scored later to make it 5-4, but that was it. Not that it wasn't exhilerating. Wolski had a big breakaway that was stuffed. Ward made a great save on Matt Hendricks. Hendricks made a timely clear with 4 minutes left in the game and the 'Canes late-game comeback attempt was thwarted by Eric Staal taking a stupid retaliatory slashing penalty on David Jones. It was a wild game and quite fun to watch.

A LOT of Avalanche players had good games tonight. Stastny. Hejduk. Wolski. Stewart (5 shots). Jones. O'Reilly. Cumiskey. I could go on (heck, the 1st period turnaround probably started when David Koci created the Avs' first scoring chance as Radar's goal came soon after that). The negatives? Obviously, Tucker's injury (again, we're sending good vibes your way, Darcy). And that pesky attendance - under 14,000 again for the 2nd time this year. When do we start worrying about this?

Quick note on the lines before signing off. Matt Duchene finally got a linemate as Milan Hejduk dropped down and Marek Svatos was bumped up to Stastny's line. I liked it. Loved it, actually. I think tonight's line combos may have been the best of the season (with apologies to Cody McLeod).

Jones - Stastny - Svatos
Tucker - Duchene - Hejduk
Wolski - O'Reilly - Stewart
Koci - Galiardi - Hendricks

Game 9 Preview: Avalanche at Wild

David Driscoll-Carignan — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:41:02 -0000


Colorado Avalanche	6:00 MT / 9:00 ET	Minnesota Wild
6-1-1	October 21, 2009	1-6-0
13 pts	Xcel Energy Center	2 pts
1st in West	St Paul, MN	15th in West

The Avs lengthy road trip ends tonight as the 1st-place Avalanche take on the last-place Minnesota Wild in Minnesota. The Avs are 4-1-1 on the trip so far and a win against the Wild would be a great way to cap it off. It won't be a cake walk, however. The Wild have been terrible so far, but they've only played 1 home game to date. Don't be surprised if the Wild are invigorated by a return home.

Yesterday, the Wild finally ended that stupid rotating captain thing and named Mikko Koivu as the team's captain. They'll still rotate the alternate captains, but I don't have a problem with that. If you clicked that link, you saw Koivu holding the Wild's new 3rd jersey, which they will be debuting tonight.

The Wild are a bit banged up at the moment. Martin Havlat has a sore groin, but hopes to play (he practiced yesterday and will see how he feels after this morning's skate). Kyle Brodziak did not practice yesterday ("upper body") but should play. Petr Sykora, Cal Clutterbuck and Pierre-Marc Bouchard are all on the IR. Sykora is skating but not practicing and is not expected to play. It also looks like new arrival Chuck Kobasew - who had his only point of the year against the Avs - will make his Wild debut tonight.

The Avalanche sent down Chris Stewart yesterday so the only potential lineup change would be the inclusion of recent healthy scratch T.J. Hensick. With the presence of heavyweight Derek Boogaard (and possibly John Scott), though, I suspect David Koci will play and Hensick will remain in the press box.

According to the Post's Mike Chambers, Wojtek Wolski has been skating on the 3rd line with Ryan O'Reilly and Cody McLeod. It doesn't mention who is on the right side on that line, or who has replaced Wolski as the left wing on the 1st line so I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens tonight. Craig Anderson will get his 9th consecutive start for the Avs. Nik Backstrom is the presumed starter for the Wild.

Avalanche vs Wild coverage

Hockey Wilderness

Hockeycentric Minnesota Line Combos

Avalanche Game Notes

Today in Colorado Avalanche History: October 21st, 2006 - A day after changing his jersey number to #26 (which John-Michael Liles gave up to take #4), Paul Stastny scores his first NHL goal against Montreal. Milan Hejduk assisted on the goal. It gave the Avs a 3-0 lead in the game...but it wasn't enough. Montreal scored 5 3rd period goals and ended up winning 8-5. The winning goalie? David Aebischer.