<rss version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <title>SB Nation - Scott Hannan</title>
    <link>http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55482/Scott_Hannan</link>
    <description>Stories From Around SB Nation About Scott Hannan</description>
    <item>
      <title>Surprise, Surpise, Surprise</title>
      <guid>http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/12/18/1206495/surprise-surpise-surprise</guid>
      <author>David Driscoll-Carignan</author>
      <link>http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/12/18/1206495/surprise-surpise-surprise</link>
      <pubDate>Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:00:24 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">


&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img class=&quot;photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/335815/gomerpyle_medium.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Gomerpyle_medium&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I love surprises. And the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/COL&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Avalanche&lt;/a&gt; have been chock full of them this year.&lt;a href=&quot;http://rebeccasartgallery.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/gomerpyle.jpg&quot;&gt; &lt;/a&gt;Some are obvious (Joe covered one yesterday), but I think the sheer number of unexpected improvements from a lot of the same guys who &quot;participated&quot; in last year's mail-in season makes it possible that a few of the surprises fall through the cracks. In light of that, and since we've got an extra off-day to fill, I thought I'd look at surprise improvements from Avalanche players, in order from least to most surprising.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54849/Craig_Anderson&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Craig Anderson&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Anderson has been rock solid, although I'm not sure he's really taken any of us by surprise statistically. He does appear to have that starting goalie swagger that no Avalanche goalie other than Patrick Roy has possessed, and that part isn't something everyone saw coming. But his stats - 2.68 GAA and .916 Save Percentage are right on par with his career numbers (2.82 / .912). I would say that's right in line with what we expected.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55496/Chris_Stewart&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Chris Stewart&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With 21 points in 31 games, he's already topped his career high 19 in 53 games last year. His PPG rate has almost doubled from .36 to .68. Not a complete shock, of course, because we've all seen that he has a belt full of NHL tools at his disposal. The question has always been whether or not he had the desire to use them, and that was certainly in question earlier in the season when Stewart was briefly demoted. As Joe pointed out yesterday, he has come on strong lately.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55504/David_Jones&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;David Jones&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yes, his season is all but over. But before wrecking his ACL in a freak collision, Jones had already set a career high for goals, points and set a record for most predictable nickname. I placed him a bit higher than Stewart on the DDC Surprise O Meter scale mostly because Stewart was a 1st round draft pick and Jones was taken 288th overall - the lowest Quebec / Colorado draft pick to make the NHL.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55477/Wojtek_Wolski&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Wojtek Wolski&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In my opinion, Wolski hasn't gotten anywhere near enough notice for the season he's having. His 33 points have him 22nd in the league in scoring. He needs 17 more points to set a career high and his .92 PPG is well above his career average going into this season of .61. Wolski's point totals have dropped every year he's been in the NHL, so this breakout season is a welcome turn of tale for WW. He still seems to attract way to much ire from the fans but geez, folks, he's not a power forward. Get over it already. He's scored a point in 25 of the 36 game's he's played in this year - 70%, which blows away the 55% for Stastny and 45% for Hejduk.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55482/Scott_Hannan&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Scott Hannan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hannan isn't as young as the other guys on this list, but I think he deserves some props for the improvement to his game. Hannan's struggles in his first two seasons in Denver are well documented. So we might as well make sure it's in print that Hannan - not &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54568/Kyle_Quincey&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Kyle Quincey&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55502/Adam_Foote&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Adam Foote&lt;/a&gt; - has been the Avs' most consistent defenseman this year. I have long been on the record that Hannan's $4.5 million isn't the disaster it's been made out to be, and I think he's been well worth that money this year. He's even been providing a little offense, which is a welcome addition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55500/Kyle_Cumiskey&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Kyle Cumiskey&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nothing surprised me more this fall than Kyle Cumiskey making the club out of camp. I always enjoyed watching him play, but didn't have faith that he'd ever pull it together in the pros. He's proving me wrong. Cumiskey has been breathtaking to watch this year (he's currently on the shelf with a foot injury). He's been steady defensively (a part of his game he'd already been pretty good at), but he's also been greatly improved on the offensive side of things (a part of the game where he previously stunk at). His .29 PPG rate still isn't hot (works out to 24 points over a full season), but it's double his career rate going into this year (.13).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54700/Ryan_Wilson&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Ryan Wilson&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On a team full of surprises, Ryan &quot;Mitch&quot; Wilson has got to be the biggest surprise of them all. Wilson was never drafted, despite being the top-scoring defenseman in the OHL. Twice. The knock on Wilson seemed to be his lack of skating as well as some defensive deficiencies. Check &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hockeysfuture.com/prospects/ryan_wilson&quot;&gt;out one scout's comments on Wilson from back in 2005&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He&amp;rsquo;s too knock-kneed for me; he&amp;rsquo;s got some offensive gifts but my groins get sore watching him skate! &lt;b&gt;There&amp;rsquo;s no way that he can be an NHL player and skate like that&lt;/b&gt;, his knees will wear out from rubbing together.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When Wilson was acquired in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55498/Jordan_Leopold&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Jordan Leopold&lt;/a&gt; trade, I don't think any of us thought of him as anything less than a throw in. Kent Wilson of Matchsticks and Gasoline &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.matchsticksandgasoline.com/2009/3/4/780468/flames-re-acquire-jordan-l&quot;&gt;called him&lt;/a&gt; &quot;a long shot to ever be an NHLer&quot; while a genius here at&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/3/4/780462/leopold-headed-back-to-cal&quot;&gt; MHH pointed out&lt;/a&gt; that the 2nd round pick obtained in that deal was &quot;the key&quot; of the deal (yeah, it was me). Surprise. Wilson has been an absolute find, and even if &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/71827/Stefan_Elliott&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Stefan Elliott&lt;/a&gt; (the aformentioned 2nd rounder) never plays a minute in the NHL, that trade is looking right now like it's going to go down as an absolute steal for former GM Francois Giguere. Wilson doesn't look much to me like a knock-kneed defensive sieve. He's been reliable defensively, he's shown some spark offensively and he's already had so many open-ice hits that whenever I see someone in another jersey get run over out of the corner of my eye, I immediately say &quot;yep, that was Wilson.&quot; And about 75% of the time, I'm right. His ice time has steadily increased (12:25 in October, 14:41 in November, 18:16 in December) and he's starting to get used more and more both on the PP and the PK. When Kyle Cumiskey returns, Joe Sacco may have a really tough decision on his hands. That's high praise for an undrafted free agent who was considered AHL filler just 9 months ago. The secret may be out though. To sponsor Wilson's page at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/w/wilsory01.html&quot;&gt;hockey-reference&lt;/a&gt; you'd have to shell out $25, more than any other active Avalanche player. Yes, really. You have a problem with that?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;center&gt; &lt;iframe src=&quot;http://avalanche.nhl.tv/team/embed.jsp?hlg=20092010,2,435&amp;event=STL373&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;289&quot; width=&quot;480&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;
  


 	&lt;fieldset class=&quot;poll-box&quot;&gt;
  &lt;legend&gt;Poll&lt;/legend&gt; 
  &lt;h5 class=&quot;poll-title&quot;&gt;Who has been the Avs most surprising player this year?&lt;/h5&gt;
  
    
&lt;div id=&quot;poll_container_57959_936880690&quot;&gt;
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&lt;ul class=&quot;poll-list clearfix&quot;&gt;

    &lt;li class=&quot;clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;radio&quot;&gt;&lt;input id=&quot;poll_option_267649&quot; name=&quot;poll_option&quot; type=&quot;radio&quot; value=&quot;267649&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        &lt;label for=&quot;poll_option_267649&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;option&quot;&gt;Anderson&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/label&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

    &lt;li class=&quot;clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;radio&quot;&gt;&lt;input id=&quot;poll_option_267650&quot; name=&quot;poll_option&quot; type=&quot;radio&quot; value=&quot;267650&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        &lt;label for=&quot;poll_option_267650&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;option&quot;&gt;Stewart&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/label&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

    &lt;li class=&quot;clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;radio&quot;&gt;&lt;input id=&quot;poll_option_267651&quot; name=&quot;poll_option&quot; type=&quot;radio&quot; value=&quot;267651&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        &lt;label for=&quot;poll_option_267651&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;option&quot;&gt;Jones&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/label&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

    &lt;li class=&quot;clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;radio&quot;&gt;&lt;input id=&quot;poll_option_267652&quot; name=&quot;poll_option&quot; type=&quot;radio&quot; value=&quot;267652&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        &lt;label for=&quot;poll_option_267652&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;option&quot;&gt;Wolski&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/label&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

    &lt;li class=&quot;clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;radio&quot;&gt;&lt;input id=&quot;poll_option_267653&quot; name=&quot;poll_option&quot; type=&quot;radio&quot; value=&quot;267653&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        &lt;label for=&quot;poll_option_267653&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;option&quot;&gt;Hannan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/label&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

    &lt;li class=&quot;clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;radio&quot;&gt;&lt;input id=&quot;poll_option_267654&quot; name=&quot;poll_option&quot; type=&quot;radio&quot; value=&quot;267654&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        &lt;label for=&quot;poll_option_267654&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;option&quot;&gt;Cumiskey&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/label&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

    &lt;li class=&quot;clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;radio&quot;&gt;&lt;input id=&quot;poll_option_267655&quot; name=&quot;poll_option&quot; type=&quot;radio&quot; value=&quot;267655&quot; /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        &lt;label for=&quot;poll_option_267655&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;option&quot;&gt;Wilson&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/label&gt;&lt;/li&gt;

&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p class=&quot;poll-vote-submit&quot;&gt;&lt;input class=&quot;button&quot; name=&quot;commit&quot; type=&quot;submit&quot; value=&quot;Vote!&quot; /&gt; &amp;nbsp;  264 votes | &lt;a href=&quot;#&quot; onclick=&quot;new Ajax.Request('/polls/results/57959?container_id=poll_container_57959_936880690', {asynchronous:true, evalScripts:true}); return false;&quot;&gt;Results&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/form&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
  
&lt;/fieldset&gt;

      </description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Colorado Players Among League Leaders</title>
      <guid>http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/12/15/1201468/colorado-players-among-league</guid>
      <author>Joe Dunman</author>
      <link>http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/12/15/1201468/colorado-players-among-league</link>
      <pubDate>Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:16:13 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-big_time&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/colorado-players-among-league&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Photo&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn3.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/206110/53697_avalanche_blue_jackets_hockey.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
    &lt;div class=&quot;photo-meta&quot;&gt;
      &lt;p class=&quot;by clearfix&quot;&gt;
        
          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/colorado-players-among-league&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by Jay LaPrete - AP
        
      &lt;/p&gt;
    
      
    &lt;/div&gt;  
    
    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/colorado-players-among-league&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

  &lt;/div&gt;


&lt;p&gt;One sign that a team has a strong offense is the presence of its players among the league's individual leaders.&amp;nbsp; Last season the Avs' offense was the worst in team history, and because of that, few &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/COL&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Avalanche&lt;/a&gt; players made the final leader lists at the end of the season.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Historically speaking, Avalanche players have frequently appeared in large numbers on the league leader boards.&amp;nbsp; In 2000-01, four Colorado players finished the year among the top 50 players for points scored (Sakic, Forsberg, Hejduk, Tanguay), with three more just outside (Drury, Blake, Bourque).&amp;nbsp; Last season, not one Avalanche player appeared on the list.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Non-offensive categories like blocked shots and average time on ice feature Avalanche players this season as well.&amp;nbsp; Last year no Colorado players ranked among the top 50 in ice time, nor did anyone make the +/- leader board.&amp;nbsp; This year is a different story.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Below is a comparison between last year's leaders and this year's current standings, separated by category.&amp;nbsp; First is the player's rank, then name, then current total in parentheses.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;center&gt; 
&lt;table cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;379&quot; style=&quot;border-collapse: collapse; width: 285pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;col width=&quot;97&quot; style=&quot;width: 73pt;&quot; /&gt; &lt;col width=&quot;148&quot; style=&quot;width: 111pt;&quot; /&gt; &lt;col width=&quot;134&quot; style=&quot;width: 101pt;&quot; /&gt; 
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; width=&quot;97&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt; width: 73pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width=&quot;148&quot; style=&quot;width: 111pt;&quot;&gt;2008-09&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width=&quot;134&quot; style=&quot;width: 101pt;&quot;&gt;2009-10&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;Goals&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-47th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Hejduk (27)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-26th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Wolski (13)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-29th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Hejduk (12)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-47th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Jones (10)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;Assists&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-8th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Stastny (26)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-20th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Wolski (20)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;Points&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-14th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Stastny (34)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-17th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Wolski (33)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;(+/-)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-11th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;O'Reilly (12)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-16th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Wolski (11)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-33rd&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Hannan (9)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-44th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Stastny (8)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-44th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Wilson (8)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;PIM&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;11th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Laperriere (163)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;17th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;McLeod (59)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;12th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;McLeod (162)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-42nd&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Koci (44)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;ATOI&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;10th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Quincey (25:11)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;Hits&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-22nd&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;McLeod (194)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;21st&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;McLeod (87)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;Blocked Shots&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2nd&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Clark (238)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1st&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Clark (108)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-14th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Hannan (162)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;7th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Hannan (76)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;29th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Salei (143)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-11th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Quincey (67)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;Shots&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-23rd&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Smyth (257)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;PP Goals&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-39th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Hejduk (10)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-10th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Hejduk (6)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-39th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Smyth (10)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-38th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Duchene (4)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;PP Assists&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-26th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Quincey (8)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;SH Goals&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-1st&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Jones (2)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-12th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Duchene (1)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;SH Assists&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-9th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Galiardi (1)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;
&lt;td height=&quot;20&quot; style=&quot;height: 15pt;&quot;&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;t-9th&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Foote (1)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;/center&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The season is not yet half over.&amp;nbsp; If these trends continue, expect to see a major Avalanche presence on the NHL individual leader boards at the end of the year.&lt;/p&gt;

  


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      <title>No Wheels Required: The Avs Are Still Contenders</title>
      <guid>http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/12/12/1197558/no-wheels-required-the-avs-are</guid>
      <author>Joe Dunman</author>
      <link>http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/12/12/1197558/no-wheels-required-the-avs-are</link>
      <pubDate>Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:34:06 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-banner&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/no-wheels-required-the-avs-are&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Photo&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn3.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/203047/53849_avalanche_blues_hockey.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
    &lt;div class=&quot;photo-meta&quot;&gt;
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          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/no-wheels-required-the-avs-are&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by Tom Gannam - AP
        
      &lt;/p&gt;
    
      
    &lt;/div&gt;  
    
    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/no-wheels-required-the-avs-are&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

  &lt;/div&gt;


&lt;p&gt;The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/COL&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Colorado Avalanche&lt;/a&gt; had the best October of the team's history, going 10-2-2 to start this season.&amp;nbsp; The good luck continued for a few more games, and after seventeen, the Avs' record was 12-3-2.&amp;nbsp; Then, depending on how you look at it, the wheels fell off, as the Avs managed a sub-par, 5-6-3 November.&amp;nbsp; But 5-6-3 isn't terrible, considering the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/CAR&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Carolina Hurricanes&lt;/a&gt; went 2-10-2 during the same month.&amp;nbsp; Things could have been worse.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Still, 5-6-3 is a long way from 10-2-2.&amp;nbsp; Criticism was warranted.&amp;nbsp; The good thing about starting the year so well is that the inevitable cooling-off period wasn't so damaging to the overall record.&amp;nbsp; At the end of November, the Avs were still in second place in the Northwest Division, just two points behind Calgary and locked into a playoff spot.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Now, five games later, the Avs are tied for first place and face the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/CAL&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Flames&lt;/a&gt; in their next game.&amp;nbsp; The winner will take the division lead.&amp;nbsp; So even if the team had hit a wall (and with so many injuries, their performance is still very impressive), they've recovered sufficiently to stay in contention.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What's been key for the Avs is their point production.&amp;nbsp; Colorado has collected at least a point seven times in their last ten games.&amp;nbsp; They've been pretty bad in OT and the shootout overall, but with the NHL still clinging to the charity point system, the Avs are staying put near the top of the conference standings by dragging games beyond regulation.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Another saving grace for the Avs was the solid play of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54860/Peter_Budaj&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Peter Budaj&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; In the four games he started in December, he didn't have a single bad showing.&amp;nbsp; His save percentage was .940 or better and he managed a shutout.&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54849/Craig_Anderson&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Craig Anderson&lt;/a&gt; has cooled off and the Avs' defense has struggled at times, but Budaj came through when Colorado needed it, proving once again that he's a solid backup goaltender.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;After 34 games, the Avs have scored 100 goals.&amp;nbsp; That's fifth-best in the NHL, and third-best in the West.&amp;nbsp; They're currently on pace to score 241 goals this season, which would be a 51-goal improvement over their poor 2008-09 showing.&amp;nbsp; Granted, they've only scored seven more goals than at the same point last season, but hopefully they'll avoid the second-half collapse the team endured last year.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Player-wise, the Avs are a mixed bag.&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55504/David_Jones&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;David Jones&lt;/a&gt; was on fire but got hurt and will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL.&amp;nbsp; Luckily, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55496/Chris_Stewart&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Chris Stewart&lt;/a&gt; has finally stepped up, scoring 12 points in his last ten games.&amp;nbsp; As surprise stand-out &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/71975/Ryan_O%60Reilly&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Ryan O'Reilly&lt;/a&gt; has cooled off, slow-to-get-going rookie phenom &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/72479/Matt_Duchene&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Matt Duchene&lt;/a&gt; has heated up.&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55485/Paul_Stastny&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Paul Stastny&lt;/a&gt; suffered a temporary drought but is again contributing to the offense and ranks near the top in the league in scoring.&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55477/Wojtek_Wolski&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Wojtek Wolski&lt;/a&gt; has scored at least one point in 15 of his last 18 games.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Defensively, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54568/Kyle_Quincey&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Kyle Quincey&lt;/a&gt; has lost his dominant edge, but &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55482/Scott_Hannan&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Scott Hannan&lt;/a&gt; has played very well.&amp;nbsp; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55476/Brett_Clark&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brett Clark&lt;/a&gt; is a puck-blocking but generally immobile pylon, while rookie &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54700/Ryan_Wilson&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Ryan Wilson&lt;/a&gt; is a solid +7 and continues to play well.&amp;nbsp; The rest of the blue line is hit-or-miss, depending on the night, but generally nobody has been awful.&amp;nbsp; Just like the offense, the performances vary.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Overall, the Avs have cooled but are still contending.&amp;nbsp; They're a top-tier team in the Western Conference and have a strong chance to win in every game.&amp;nbsp; If an 18-10-6 record after 34 games (by a team predicted to be in dead last) still qualifies as the wheels being off, we'll take it.&lt;/p&gt;

  


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    <item>
      <title>Game 34 Recap: Avalanche 2 - Lightning 1 (SO)</title>
      <guid>http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/12/11/1197144/game-33-recap-avalanche-2</guid>
      <author>David Driscoll-Carignan</author>
      <link>http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/12/11/1197144/game-33-recap-avalanche-2</link>
      <pubDate>Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:10:35 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-big_time&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/game-33-recap-avalanche-2&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Colorado Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson uses his shoulder to deflect a shot against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Friday, Dec. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn3.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/202666/54138_lightning_avalanche_hockey.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
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      &lt;p class=&quot;by clearfix&quot;&gt;
        
          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/game-33-recap-avalanche-2&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by David Zalubowski - AP
        
      &lt;/p&gt;
    
      
        &lt;p class=&quot;cap&quot;&gt;
          
            &lt;strong&gt;12 days ago:&lt;/strong&gt; 
          
          Colorado Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson uses his shoulder to deflect a shot against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Friday, Dec. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
        &lt;/p&gt;
      
    &lt;/div&gt;  
    
    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/game-33-recap-avalanche-2&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

  &lt;/div&gt;


&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;!-- BEGIN WIDGET --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr class=&quot;widget_boundry_marker&quot; /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;pane sports_data_widget events clearfix&quot;&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;box-score&quot;&gt;
&lt;thead&gt; 
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;th class=&quot;td-left&quot;&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/events/38408&quot;&gt;Final - 12.11.2009 &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;1&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;2&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;3&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;OT&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;SO&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;Total&lt;/th&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/thead&gt; 
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;td-name&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;loss&quot;&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/TAM&quot;&gt;Tampa Bay Lightning&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;highlight&quot;&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;td-name&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;win&quot;&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/COL&quot;&gt;Colorado Avalanche&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;highlight&quot;&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p class=&quot;foot clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;link-more&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/events/38408&quot;&gt;Complete Coverage&amp;nbsp;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;hr class=&quot;widget_boundry_marker&quot; /&gt;
&lt;!-- END WIDGET --&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br id=&quot;1260593574124&quot; /&gt;&amp;nbsp;I'm still kind of scratching my head a bit, wondering if I really saw what I just saw. I've decided that this was some sort of Freaky Friday puzzle, and I'm supposed to find all the things that weren't normal about the game. Let's see how I do...&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The Avalanche started slowly and, get this, &lt;i&gt;got better&lt;/i&gt; as the game went on! (I could stop there and that would be freaky enough. But wait, there's more).&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The Avs won the faceoff battle (handily: 54%-46%)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The Avs outshot the other team&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The Avs outshot the other team in the 3rd period&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The Avs outshot the other team in the 3rd period by a wide margin (18-4)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The Avs got better defensively as the game went on&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55476/Brett_Clark&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brett Clark&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55475/John_Michael_Liles&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;John-Michael Liles&lt;/a&gt; both played excellent, in both ends of the ice (okay, this might be a little hyperbolic, but I sure did love seeing Brett Clark rub out Alex Tanguay in the corner).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Speaking of, those two played terrific on the powerplay and both were firing bombs from the point&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55482/Scott_Hannan&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Scott Hannan&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54568/Kyle_Quincey&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Kyle Quincey&lt;/a&gt; did not play well, and were probably the two worst d-men out of the six&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55480/Darcy_Tucker&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Darcy Tucker&lt;/a&gt; had a whale of a game&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The Avs won a goal review&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Antero Nittymaki is, apparently, a bona fide NHL goaltender. He's the only reason this was close.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54849/Craig_Anderson&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Craig Anderson&lt;/a&gt; stopped the first attempt in the shootout&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55477/Wojtek_Wolski&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Wojtek Wolski&lt;/a&gt; scored in the shootout (first time time this year)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The Avs actually played one of their more physical games of the season&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Did I get them all? So many things in this game that I'm just not used to seeing; forgive me if I've missed a couple. Oh, and, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55495/Marek_Svatos&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Marek Svatos&lt;/a&gt; left the game midway through the 2nd period and did not return - but that doesn't fit into any of the bullet points above.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Big, big game on Sunday as the Avs host the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/CAL&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Flames&lt;/a&gt;; winner gets 1st place in the Northwest.&lt;/p&gt;
  


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      <title>Game 29 Preview: Return of the Foote</title>
      <guid>http://www.jacketscannon.com/2009/12/5/1187076/game-29-preview-return-of-the-foote</guid>
      <author>Mike MacLean</author>
      <link>http://www.jacketscannon.com/2009/12/5/1187076/game-29-preview-return-of-the-foote</link>
      <pubDate>Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:31:50 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-left_portrait&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/game-29-preview-return-of-the-foote&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Photo&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/195291/53382_blue_jackets_blackhawks_hockey.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
    &lt;div class=&quot;photo-meta&quot;&gt;
      &lt;p class=&quot;by clearfix&quot;&gt;
        
          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/game-29-preview-return-of-the-foote&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP
        
      &lt;/p&gt;
    
      
    &lt;/div&gt;  
    
    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/game-29-preview-return-of-the-foote&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

  &lt;/div&gt;


&lt;p&gt;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 &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55502/Adam_Foote&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Adam Foote&lt;/a&gt;, I won`t bag on him as much as others do, but it will be interesting to see how the fans treat him.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;Fearless Prediction: A win, damnit.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;Game Time: 7:00pm ET&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;Opponent's Blog: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/&quot;&gt;Mile High Hockey&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;Game Page: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/events/39024&quot;&gt;Avalanche vs Blue Jackets Coverage&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/events/39013&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;TSN Preview:&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/events/38895/preview/67756&quot;&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/events/39024/preview/77313&quot;&gt;Avalanche vs Blue Jackets Preview&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;TV: FSN Ohio&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;Radio: WBNS-AM (1460); WWCD-FM (101.1)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;More after the jump...&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;


  
&lt;p&gt;From the Columbus Dispatch:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;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.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Jackets Links&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/CLB&quot;&gt;Columbus Blue Jackets&lt;/a&gt; / &lt;a href=&quot;/schedule&quot;&gt;Columbus Blue Jackets Schedule&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/schedule&quot;&gt;Columbus Blue Jackets Roster&lt;/a&gt; / &lt;a href=&quot;/stats&quot;&gt;Columbus Blue Jackets Stats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;Here are the lineups for tonight's tilt:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Columbus Blue Jackets&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; height=&quot;140&quot; align=&quot;center&quot; width=&quot;303&quot;&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54923/Kristian_Huselius&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Kristian Huselius&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54380/Antoine_Vermette&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Antoine Vermette&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54947/Rick_Nash&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Rick Nash&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54921/R_J_Umberger&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;R.J. Umberger&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54792/Derick_Brassard&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Derick Brassard&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54951/Jakub_Voracek&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Jakub Voracek&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54927/Jason_Chimera&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Jason Chimera&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54521/Samuel_Pahlsson&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Samuel Pahlsson&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Andrew Murray&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54918/Raffi_Torres&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Raffi Torres&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54928/Derek_MacKenzie&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Derek MacKenzie&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54935/Jared_Boll&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Jared Boll&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; height=&quot;102&quot; align=&quot;center&quot; width=&quot;218&quot;&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54943/Fedor_Tyutin&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Fedor Tyutin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Marc Methot&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54925/Mike_Commodore&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Mike Commodore&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54915/Jan_Hejda&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Jan Hejda&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54910/Kris_Russell&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Kris Russell&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54306/Anton_Stralman&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Anton Stralman&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; height=&quot;71&quot; align=&quot;center&quot; width=&quot;90&quot;&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54909/Steve_Mason&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Steve Mason&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54853/Mathieu_Garon&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Mathieu Garon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td&gt;EXTRA: &lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Alexandre Picard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td&gt;INJURED: &lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54932/Fredrik_Modin&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Fredrik Modin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54920/Andrew_Murray&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Andrew Murray&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54919/Derek_Dorsett&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Derek Dorsett&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54793/Rostislav_Klesla&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Rostislav Klesla&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54911/Marc_Methot&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Marc Methot&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/COL&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Colorado Avalanche&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; height=&quot;128&quot; align=&quot;center&quot; style=&quot;width: 327px; height: 128px;&quot; width=&quot;327&quot;&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/72479/Matt_Duchene&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Matt Duchene&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55485/Paul_Stastny&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Paul Stastny&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55496/Chris_Stewart&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Chris Stewart&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55477/Wojtek_Wolski&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Wojtek Wolski&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55497/T_J_Galiardi&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;T.J. Galiardi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55483/Milan_Hejduk&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Milan Hejduk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55505/Cody_McLeod&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Cody McLeod&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;Ryan O'Reilly&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55480/Darcy_Tucker&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Darcy Tucker&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55146/David_Koci&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;David Koci&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/68492/Chris_Durno&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Chris Durno&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55495/Marek_Svatos&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Marek Svatos&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; height=&quot;119&quot; align=&quot;center&quot; style=&quot;width: 198px; height: 119px;&quot; width=&quot;198&quot;&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55482/Scott_Hannan&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Scott Hannan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54568/Kyle_Quincey&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Kyle Quincey&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55475/John_Michael_Liles&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;John-Michael Liles&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55476/Brett_Clark&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brett Clark&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Adam Foote&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54700/Ryan_Wilson&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Ryan Wilson&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;1&quot; height=&quot;64&quot; align=&quot;center&quot; width=&quot;114&quot;&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54860/Peter_Budaj&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Peter Budaj&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55490/Tyler_Weiman&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Tyler Weiman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
  


      </description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Wednesday Morning Fly By: Facing off against Biron</title>
      <guid>http://www.broadstreethockey.com/2009/11/25/1173739/wednesday-morning-fly-by-facing</guid>
      <author>Travis Hughes</author>
      <link>http://www.broadstreethockey.com/2009/11/25/1173739/wednesday-morning-fly-by-facing</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:48:50 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-right_portrait&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/wednesday-morning-fly-by-facing&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Same pads, eh Marty?&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/184749/52075_islanders_hurricanes_hockey.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
    &lt;div class=&quot;photo-meta&quot;&gt;
      &lt;p class=&quot;by clearfix&quot;&gt;
        
          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/wednesday-morning-fly-by-facing&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by Gerry Broome - AP
        
      &lt;/p&gt;
    
      
        &lt;p class=&quot;cap&quot;&gt;
          
          Same pads, eh Marty?
        &lt;/p&gt;
      
    &lt;/div&gt;  
    
    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/wednesday-morning-fly-by-facing&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

  &lt;/div&gt;


&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Your daily dose of &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/PHI&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Philadelphia Flyers&lt;/a&gt; news...&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;b&gt;Last night's NHL score... &lt;/b&gt;Montreal 5, Columbus 3&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Previews of tonight's game against the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/NYI&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;New York Islanders&lt;/a&gt; from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nhl.com/ice/preview.htm?id=2009020340&amp;navid=sb:preview&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;NHL.com&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=24527&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Bill Meltzer&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lighthousehockey.com/2009/11/25/1173108/islanders-gameday-vs-flyers-please&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Lighthouse Hockey&lt;/a&gt;. Not many previews this morning, thanks to a certain bit of news...&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54822/Danny_Briere&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Danny Briere&lt;/a&gt;, suspended two games by the NHL for his hit on Colorado's &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55482/Scott_Hannan&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Scott Hannan&lt;/a&gt;. We &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.broadstreethockey.com/2009/11/24/1172710/danny-briere-suspended-two-games&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;covered it yesterday&lt;/a&gt;, but we've got stories this morning from the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/127/2009/november/25/nhl-suspends-briere-for-two-games.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Bucks Co. Times&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/20091125_Flyers__Briere_draws_2-game_suspension.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Inquirer&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/20091125_Flyers__Briere_surprised_by_two-game_suspension.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Daily News&lt;/a&gt;, and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.csnphilly.com/pages/landing_09?Briere-Suspended-Two-Games-for-Hit-on-Ha=1&amp;blockID=95201&amp;feedID=704&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;CSN&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54859/Martin_Biron&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Martin Biron&lt;/a&gt; will be in net for the Islanders tonight, while &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54767/Brian_Boucher&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brian Boucher&lt;/a&gt; starts for the Flyers. [&lt;a href=&quot;http://blogs.courierpostonline.com/flyers/2009/11/25/its-boucher-vs-biron/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Gormley&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;A breakdown of the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55008/Mike_Richards&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Mike Richards&lt;/a&gt; Captaincy. [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.flyersgoalscoredby.com/2009-articles/october/the-mike-richards-captaincy.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;FGSB&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The Flyers are ranked 3rd in the East and 7th overall in this weeks SBN Hockey Power Rankings. [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/2009/11/24/1172390/sb-nations-nhl-power-rankings-week&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;SBN&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Last night's episode of BSH Radio is available for download. [&lt;a href=&quot;http://recordings.talkshoe.com/rss66314.xml&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;RSS&lt;/a&gt;] - [&lt;a href=&quot;itpc://recordings.talkshoe.com/rss66314.xml&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;iTunes&lt;/a&gt;] - [&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=66314&amp;cmd=tc&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Talkshoe&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Slim on the links today, sorry about that. No fly by tomorrow morning on Thanksgiving, but we'll definitely have more or you today as the Flyers prep for the Islanders. &lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

  


      </description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Justice Is Served</title>
      <guid>http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/11/24/1172903/justice-is-served</guid>
      <author>David Driscoll-Carignan</author>
      <link>http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/11/24/1172903/justice-is-served</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:29:57 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">


&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img class=&quot;photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/319920/douche_medium.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Douche_medium&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I know the news has already in a couple of different threads here today, but I thought I'd throw up a quick note to consolidate any further discussion. Philadelphia's Daniel Briere &lt;a href=&quot;http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=299730&quot;&gt;was suspended for two games&lt;/a&gt; by the league for the above hit on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55482/Scott_Hannan&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Scott Hannan&lt;/a&gt; (thanks for the screen grab, Smoky201!). Briere will miss tomorrow night's game against the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/NYI&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Islanders&lt;/a&gt; and Friday's game against the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/BUF&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Sabres&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For what it's worth, I think 2 games is just about right. Lots have people have talked about how he left his feet and all, but frankly I think that aspect of hitting gets overplayed a bit. To me, whether he left his feet or not, that's a dirty hit; it was a cross check, it was up high and it was after the play was over.Enjoy the little R&amp;amp;R, Danny Boy. Next time, I hope you find a better way to take out your frustrations.&lt;/p&gt;
  


 	&lt;fieldset class=&quot;poll-box&quot;&gt;
  &lt;legend&gt;Poll&lt;/legend&gt; 
  &lt;h5 class=&quot;poll-title&quot;&gt;How do you feel about the suspension?&lt;/h5&gt;
  
    
&lt;div id=&quot;poll_container_56112_592656114&quot; class=&quot;poll_container&quot;&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;57%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;2 games is about right&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;91&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;30%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;it's not enough&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;49&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;6%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;he shouldn't have been suspended at all&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;10&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;5%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;what about that Claude Lemieux guy?&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;9&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
  &lt;p class=&quot;poll-total-votes&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;159&lt;/strong&gt; votes
      
    | &lt;span class=&quot;poll-has-closed&quot;&gt;Poll has closed&lt;/span&gt;
  
  &lt;/p&gt;  
&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;script&gt;

  FastInit.addOnLoad(function(){
    new SBN.Poll('poll_container_56112_592656114').animateResults({renderImmediately:true});
  });

&lt;/script&gt;

  
&lt;/fieldset&gt;

      </description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Danny Briere Suspended Two Games</title>
      <guid>http://www.broadstreethockey.com/2009/11/24/1172710/danny-briere-suspended-two-games</guid>
      <author>Travis Hughes</author>
      <link>http://www.broadstreethockey.com/2009/11/24/1172710/danny-briere-suspended-two-games</link>
      <pubDate>Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:14:57 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-banner&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/danny-briere-suspended-two-games&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Photo&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn0.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/183951/45013_flyers_rangers_hockey.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
    &lt;div class=&quot;photo-meta&quot;&gt;
      &lt;p class=&quot;by clearfix&quot;&gt;
        
          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/danny-briere-suspended-two-games&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by Julie Jacobson - AP
        
      &lt;/p&gt;
    
      
    &lt;/div&gt;  
    
    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/danny-briere-suspended-two-games&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

  &lt;/div&gt;


&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;We were informed that &lt;a href=&quot;http://flyers.nhl.com/club/player.htm?id=8464975&quot;&gt;Danny Briere&lt;/a&gt; was suspended two games by the NHL for his hit last night on &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55482/Scott_Hannan&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Scott Hannan&lt;/a&gt;. It&amp;rsquo;s obviously disappointing to not have Danny in the lineup for the next few games, but it&amp;rsquo;s a decision that the league has come down with and we&amp;rsquo;ll live with it. We look forward to having Danny back in the lineup in two games.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Paul Holmgren, &lt;/i&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://flyers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=507348&amp;navid=DL|PHI|home&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;courtesy of the Flyers website&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;The hit on Hannan came immediately after his goal in the second period. It put Colorado up 4-2 at the time, and it was clearly a late hit. The puck was in the net and Hannan was celebrating with his head turned in the opposite direction of Briere. Briere jumped and put his shoulder into Hannan's chest. The goal scorer fell to the ice before getting up to respond to Briere. A minor scrum followed, but no penalties were given out.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Hannan didn't return to the game and may be out of the lineup a bit.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;It's probably the right call. Briere was obviously frustrated after the goal, but to hit an unaware Hannan like that is worthy of suspension. The only question I'd have is that, if Hannan was fine and completed the rest of the game, the issue probably would have never been brought to the attention of the league. Instead, he was injured, so Briere will sit Wednesday night in New York and Friday at home against Buffalo.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Obviously, this hurts the Flyers quite a bit, given that they're already severely banged up among the forward ranks. We could see Riley Cote, David Laliberte, Jared Ross, and Andreas Nodl all in the lineup tomorrow night.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;After the jump, video of the incident.&lt;/p&gt;


  
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Here's the video, courtesy of NHL.com.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe src=&quot;http://flyers.nhl.tv/team/embed.jsp?hlg=20092010,2,335&amp;event=COL280&quot; height=&quot;289&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;480&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
  


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      <title>Game 24 Recap: Avalanche 5 - Flyers 4</title>
      <guid>http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/11/23/1171555/game-24-recap-avalanche-5-flyers-4</guid>
      <author>David Driscoll-Carignan</author>
      <link>http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/11/23/1171555/game-24-recap-avalanche-5-flyers-4</link>
      <pubDate>Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:00:13 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-big_time&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/game-24-recap-avalanche-5-flyers-4&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Philadelphia Flyers center Mike Richards, front left, consoles goalie Ray Emery as members of the Colorado Avalanche celebrate a goal by David Jones in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/183158/52765_flyers_avalanche_hockey.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
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          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/game-24-recap-avalanche-5-flyers-4&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by David Zalubowski - AP
        
      &lt;/p&gt;
    
      
        &lt;p class=&quot;cap&quot;&gt;
          
            &lt;strong&gt;about 1 month ago:&lt;/strong&gt; 
          
          Philadelphia Flyers center Mike Richards, front left, consoles goalie Ray Emery as members of the Colorado Avalanche celebrate a goal by David Jones in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Monday, Nov. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
        &lt;/p&gt;
      
    &lt;/div&gt;  
    
    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/game-24-recap-avalanche-5-flyers-4&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

  &lt;/div&gt;


&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;pane sports_data_widget events clearfix&quot;&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;box-score&quot;&gt;
&lt;thead&gt; 
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;th class=&quot;td-left&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/events/38330&quot;&gt;Final - 11.23.2009 &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;1&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;2&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;3&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;Total&lt;/th&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/thead&gt; 
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;td-name&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;loss&quot;&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/PHI&quot;&gt;Philadelphia Flyers&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;highlight&quot;&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;td-name&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;win&quot;&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/COL&quot;&gt;Colorado Avalanche&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;highlight&quot;&gt;5&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p class=&quot;foot clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;link-more&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/events/38330&quot;&gt;Complete Coverage&amp;nbsp;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;hr class=&quot;widget_boundry_marker&quot; /&gt;
&lt;!-- END WIDGET --&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br id=&quot;1259037595214&quot; /&gt; Hey, Colorado Avalanche, that was a nice win. Now, please don't ever, ever do that again.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For the 3rd straight game, the Avalanche squandered a 2-goal lead. Thankfully, this time it happened in the 2nd period, before the Avs turned in for the evening. It's a good thing, because otherwise they would have been toast.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Avalanche started things off early, with &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55504/David_Jones&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;David Jones&lt;/a&gt; scoring just a minute in and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55485/Paul_Stastny&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Paul Stastny&lt;/a&gt; breaking his 12-game goal drought a few minutes later. But the Flyers scored a goal late in the first and tied it up just 63 seconds later in the 2nd period, and Avalanche fans were already starting to mutter to themselves.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Avalanche own the 2nd period, though, and tonight was no exception. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55505/Cody_McLeod&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Cody McLeod&lt;/a&gt;, David Jones and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55482/Scott_Hannan&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Scott Hannan&lt;/a&gt; all scored in a wild middle frame to give the Avalanche a 5-2 lead after two periods.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They'd need all of it. The Flyers' comeback was inevitable. The Avs had been outscored 7-0 in the last two 3rd periods going into the game. You can make that 9-0 now. Philadelphia peppered &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54849/Craig_Anderson&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Craig Anderson&lt;/a&gt; with 19 shots. Anderson was excellent, but couldn't stop them all. Daniel Briere - Briere being french for &quot;little pussy&quot;...he knocked Scott Hannan out of the game with a sleazy post-whistle cross-check after Hannan made it 4-2 - scored at the 11:17 mark to make it 5-3 and then, with the Avs serving a flipping penalty for two many men (how, how, how does that happen with 6 minutes left in the 3rd period), &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55007/Jeff_Carter&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Jeff Carter&lt;/a&gt; made it 5-4. The Flyers kept on coming and might have knotted it up had &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55009/Scott_Hartnell&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Scott Hartnell&lt;/a&gt; not run over Craig Anderson with just over two minutes left (Anderson, to be honest, sold that one perfectly). Even then, the Flyers had some chances late, and Craig Anderson's save on a wide-open &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55002/Braydon_Coburn&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Braydon Coburn&lt;/a&gt; was the ultimate game-saver.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I'm glad the Avalanche won, but I can't take many more 3rd period laydowns like this. Please?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Kudos, by the way, to &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55495/Marek_Svatos&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Marek Svatos&lt;/a&gt;. No, he didn't score. But he did have his first NHL fight, taking on Claude &quot;Don't Call Me Shane&quot; Giroux in the 2nd period. Not only did Svatos acquit himself nicely, but he was the one who invited Giroux to drop the gloves. Maybe he should give some pointers to Cody McLeod. McLeod's goal was huge, but he's not himself on the ice lately. Maybe he's hurt, or maybe he's just not comfortable wearing that visor. Whatever the deal is, I noticed him shy away from an opportunity to make a check on several occasions. And that thing with Lappy was embarrassing. I have ZERO problem with McLeod refusing to drop the gloves for Lappy, especially with the Avalanche up in the game at the time. But, if you aren't going to go, don't make it look like you're going to and don't goad the other guy into dropping his gloves. That's a move an assclown like Matt Barnaby would pull. It is not a move befitting a Highlander.&lt;/p&gt;
  


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    <item>
      <title>Game 6 Recap: Avalanche 4 Maple Leafs 1</title>
      <guid>http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/10/14/1084673/game-6-recap-avalanche-4-maple</guid>
      <author>David Driscoll-Carignan</author>
      <link>http://www.milehighhockey.com/2009/10/14/1084673/game-6-recap-avalanche-4-maple</link>
      <pubDate>Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:32:39 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  &lt;div class=&quot;photo-tpl photo-tpl-big_time&quot;&gt;

    &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/game-6-recap-avalanche-4-maple&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;Colorado Avalanche right winger David Jones, left, celebrates his goal, next to Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Michael Komisarek during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)&quot; class=&quot;ap_photo&quot; src=&quot;http://cdn0.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/137151/50135_avalanche_maple_leafs_hockey.jpg&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
    
    &lt;div class=&quot;photo-meta&quot;&gt;
      &lt;p class=&quot;by clearfix&quot;&gt;
        
          &lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/game-6-recap-avalanche-4-maple&quot;&gt;More photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
        
        
          by Frank Gunn - AP
        
      &lt;/p&gt;
    
      
        &lt;p class=&quot;cap&quot;&gt;
          
            &lt;strong&gt;2 months ago:&lt;/strong&gt; 
          
          Colorado Avalanche right winger David Jones, left, celebrates his goal, next to Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Michael Komisarek during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)
        &lt;/p&gt;
      
    &lt;/div&gt;  
    
    &lt;p class=&quot;more-link&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.milehighhockey.com/photos/game-6-recap-avalanche-4-maple&quot;&gt;Browse more photos &amp;raquo;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

  &lt;/div&gt;


&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- BEGIN WIDGET --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr class=&quot;widget_boundry_marker&quot; /&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;pane sports_data_widget events clearfix&quot;&gt;
&lt;table class=&quot;box-score&quot;&gt;
&lt;thead&gt; 
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;th class=&quot;td-left&quot;&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/events/38163&quot;&gt;Final - 10.13.2009 &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;1&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;2&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;3&lt;/th&gt; &lt;th&gt;Total&lt;/th&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/thead&gt; 
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;td-name&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;win&quot;&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/COL&quot;&gt;Colorado Avalanche&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;highlight&quot;&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;td-name&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;loss&quot;&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/TOR&quot;&gt;Toronto Maple Leafs&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;highlight&quot;&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p class=&quot;foot clearfix&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;link-more&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/events/38163&quot;&gt;Complete Coverage&amp;nbsp;&amp;gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;hr class=&quot;widget_boundry_marker&quot; /&gt;
&lt;!-- END WIDGET --&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;We're calm like a bomb&lt;br /&gt; We're calm like a bomb&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;center&quot;&gt;-Rage Against the Machine&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;It's a little too early to throw out the &quot;I'm a believer&quot; yet, but I sure do like what I'm seeing on the ice right now. The Avalanche easily dusted off the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 last night. The Avs improved to 4-1-1 on the season and moved back into first place in the Western Conference. Truth be told, that was clusterfuck of a team they faced last night; the Leafs put in about 10 minutes of effort and then mailed it in as soon as Colorado took the lead. For a while, it looked like Toronto would put some effort into at least being pests about losing, but they even abandonded that as the game went on.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;The Avalanche powerplay continues to nearly kittenless. For those new to this site, that means it's really good. The Avs scored their 9th and 10th powerplay goals last night making them the only NHL team with 10 PPGs. Amazingly, they are a fifth of the way towards matching the 50 they scored last year. 10 players have scored at least a point on the powerplay and the only regular on the two units without a powerplay point is Kid Cumiskey who looks more and more comfortable each game, but is still double-pumping when he has a shot to take. With his 1st period PP goal, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55476/Brett_Clark&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Brett Clark&lt;/a&gt; has already surpassed his 2008-2009 powerplay output. Amazing.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Also amazing: the Avalanche penalty kill. Although they allowed a goal last night, they sit 5th in the league in PK efficiency. So far, that's a slight improvement from 21st.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Defensively, I continue to be impressed with the whole group. Yes, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54568/Kyle_Quincey&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Kyle Quincey&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55482/Scott_Hannan&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Scott Hannan&lt;/a&gt; are the best duo by far and yes, Brett Clark still is good for one giveaway in every game and yes, &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/55502/Adam_Foote&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Adam Foote&lt;/a&gt; is looking slow. But you can't really argue with the results. We are seeing very few odd-man rushes and generally not a lot of extended play in our zone. &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/players/54849/Craig_Anderson&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Craig Anderson&lt;/a&gt; is seeing a lot of shots, but a large number of them are perimeter shots. This is a much better unit this year and I think Sylvain Lefebvre has a lot to do with it (ps Happy birthday, Sylvain).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;And isn't it cool to have a goalie in there that you trust? I know it's only 6 games, but Craig Anderson just exudes confidence. We've seen good stretches from all of Patrick Roy's successors, but I don't think I've ever felt as comfortble with an Avalanche goalie since #33.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align=&quot;left&quot;&gt;Having typed all of that, I have to remind everyone (including myself) that it's only 6 games. There is a lot of hockey to be played. The Avalanche wont be surprising any more teams and at some point we're going to run into a rough patch (especially if we start running into injuries, like losing Johnny Hot Pocket...whoops). But, I can't think of ANY 6 game stretch last year where they Avs played this well. I will certainly take it while I can get it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;pane sports_data_widget clearfix&quot;&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Lines&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I didn't bring my notebook, so I'm doing this from memory. Hopefully, I have it right.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Wolski - Stastny - Hejduk&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Tucker - Duchene - Svatos&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;McLeod - O'Reilly - Jones&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Koci - Galiardi - Hendricks&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Quincey - Hannan&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Foote - Liles&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Cumiskey - Clark&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;pane sports_data_widget clearfix&quot;&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Quick Hits&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Radar had a career-high 18:05 of TOI and is looking less and less likely to go back to the OHL.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Kyle Quincey led the Avs with 5 hits. Galiardi had 4&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;The Avs know have 5 goals from the defensemen&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;pane sports_data_widget clearfix&quot;&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Video Highlights&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;center&gt; &lt;iframe src=&quot;http://www.nhl.tv/team/embed.jsp?hlg=20092010,2,75&quot; height=&quot;289&quot; frameborder=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;480&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/center&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;pane sports_data_widget clearfix&quot;&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Next Up&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Avalanche visit Montreal to play the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/teams/MON&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Canadiens&lt;/a&gt; on Thursday.&lt;/p&gt;
  


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