SB Nation - Kyle Cumiskey

Game 31 Preview: Avalanche at Blue Jackets

David Driscoll-Carignan — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:37:22 -0000


Colorado Avalanche	5: MT / 7 ET / 12 GMT	Columbus Blue Jakcets
15-9-6	December 5th, 2009	13-10-5
36 pts	Nationwide Arena	31 pts
t-4th in West	Columbus, OH	10th in West

The Avalanche continue their 5-game trek tonight with their first visit to the fine city of Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets. For whatever reason, these matchups always seem to be entertaining. There's been some chippy games and some back-and-forth games in the last few years. There's that annoying cannon, of course, and, if you happen to watch the Columbus feed you'll be watching two of the biggest homers in all of sports. Actually, analyst Danny Gare left after last season, so I don't know that new analyst Bill Davidge will be as bad, but given that he played for (*sigh*) The Ohio State University and coached at Miami of Ohio and that he's paired with pom-pom-toting Jeff Rimer, I think it's a fair guess. Neither team is playing well right now (both teams are3-4-3 in their last 10)

There's added intrigue in the game as it's the first return to Columbus for Adam Foote since his "controversial" trade to Colorado in 2008. When Foote missed both trips to Columbus last year, we was quietly (and not-so-quietly) accused of having a touch of Columbus flu to avoid any controversy. Sadly, I have another engagement tonight and will not be able to see the game until tomorrow. I won't have a recap up for this one.

Craig Anderson (neck) is not expected to play tonight, which should give Peter Budaj his 2nd straight start. Statistically, he's the better goalie. Columbus' Steve Mason has had a tough sophomore season, with a 3.46 GAA and an .888 save percentage. In his 22 starts, he's allowed 3 goals or more 14 times. The Jackets are 3-7-4 in those games, so I think the Avs goal tonight is clear: score.

As strange as it is to see the BJ's goaltending collapse (they went from 9th in the league last year to 29th so far this year), it's nothing compared to what happened to their powerplay. They had the worst PP in the league last year (yes, even worse than ours). This year? #1. They have almost doubled their PP efficiency so far, improving from 12.7% to 24.8%. Amazing.

Besides Andy, the Avalanche will be without the usual suspects tonight - David Jones, Ruslan Salei and Kyle Cumiskey. The BJs are without Rusty Klesla, Derek Dorsett, Andrew Murray, Frederik Modin. Raffi Torres and Marc Methot are both questionable.

Avalanche vs Blue Jackets coverage

The Cannon

Colorado			Columbus
7th	36	Points	15th	31
9th	2.97	GF/G	7th	3.04
21st	2.93	GA/G	29th	3.46
17th	19.7	PP%	1st	24.8
18th	79.4	PK%	23rd	78.2
30th	26	S/G	17th	29.4
26th	33.1	SA/G	23rd	31.4
29th	46.7	FO%	13th	50.2
16th	14	PIM/G	20th	14.4
Stastny	30 pts	Top Scorer	Nash	30 pts

Game 29 Preview: Avalanche at Panthers

David Driscoll-Carignan — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:00:25 -0000


Colorado Avalanche	5:30 MT / 7:30 ET / 12:30 GMT	Florida Panthers
15-8-5	December 2nd, 2009	10-12-4
35 pts	BankAtlantic Center	24 pts
4th in West	Sunrise, FL	13th in East

The Avalanche got a big win on Monday as they topped the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-0 on Monday. They'd like to make it 2-for-Florida tonight as they face off against a Florida Panthers that is, well, kind of meh. The Panthers aren't doing very well in any major statistical category, they've lost 5 straight, and are currently missing a couple of their best players in David Booth, Cory Stillman and Tomas Vokoun

Per Dater, Craig Anderson is the starter. I know it's all serendipitous to have the former Panther Anderson in there, with another game tomorrow night in Pittsburgh, this really should be Peter Budaj's game. Unkind or not, the Panthers are a team you throw your backup against. But, at least we'll get to see Andy firmly focused on...the ice girls. We already know the starter for the Panthers will be Scott Clemmenson (facing the Avalanche for the 1st time in his career). He's in for Vokoun, recovering from nearly being Van Gogh'd by defenseman Keith Ballard.

Speaking of Ballard, there are a bunch of former Avs on the Panthers. Steven Reinprecht is 2nd on the team in scoring. Jordan Leopold is averaging 22 minutes per game and is playing in all situations (he's tops on the team in PK time). And the Panthers also have the enigmatic Victor Oreskovich, a former 2nd round pick of the Avs who retired from hockey early and is attempting a comeback this year.

Happy 23rd birthday today to Kyle Cumiskey. *beep beep*.

Tale of the Tape

(all rankings are from before Tuesday games)

Colorado			Florida
5th	35	Points	26th	24
10th	2.96	GF/G	23rd	2.58
21st	2.82	GA/G	27th	3.23
20th	19.4	PP%	28th	13.9
16th	80.8	PK%	29th	74.8
30th	26	S/G	27th	27.6
26th	32.8	SA/G	29th	35.1
29th	46.6	FO%	11th	49.5
14th	13.4	PIM/G	6th	11.3
Stastny	26 pts	Top Scorer	Horton	22 pts

Avalanche vs Panthers coverage

Litter Box Cats

Tom Preissing Waived

David Driscoll-Carignan — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:27:24 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

26 days ago: Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne, right, of Finland, is run into by Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tom Preissing, front left, after Preissing was checked by Predators right winger Jordin Tootoo (22) in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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The Colorado Avalanche have placed defenseman Tom Preissing on waivers. This is not at all a surprise move; it's actually one we've been speculating would happen for some time now. Preissing has a $2.75 million salary and is signed through the end of next season. It is highly unlikely that he will be claimed and will instead be headed to the AHL (he cleared waivers in the spring when the Kings sent him to their farm team). In making this move, the Avalanche clear some cap space and Preissing gets a chance to play every day.

In other roster news, Kyle Cumiskey has been placed on the IR retroactive to November 23rd (meaning he'll miss at least tonight's game and Monday's game against Tampa Bay) while Adam Foote and Matt Hendricks have been activated and could play tonight.

Game 26 Preview: Avalanche at Wild

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


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

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

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

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

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

Tale of the Tape

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

Avalanche Roster Moves

David Driscoll-Carignan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:41:08 -0000

More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

2 months ago: Colorado Avalanche center T. J. Hensick (7) moves the puck past Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Suter, left, in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

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The Avalanche made a couple of moves today. As usual, the news came first from the AHL transaction wire...

T.J. Hensick has cleared waivers and has been reassigned to Lake Erie. I have enough faith in T.J.'s potential that I was sweating this move slightly, but I guess no one wants to spend $850,000 (Hensick's NHL salary) to see if a change of scenery (or coach) would snap him out of his funk. Now that he's cleared, I'm glad to see him sent down to Lake Erie, as he needs to get some ice time and a giant boost of confidence. This is probably the point in the piece where I mention (again) that I think Hensick has looked better this year than he's been given credit for. Oh look! It was!

To replace Hensick, Chris Durno has been recalled again. He has 15 points in 14 games with Lake Erie this year, but he's a 4th liner / reserve forward for us.

The Avalanche also recalled defenseman Brian Fahey. You may recall that Fahey is a minor-league vet (he's 28) acquired this summer for Nigel Williams. Williams is tearing up the AHL this year with 1 point. Fahey has 6...with a Svatos-like line of 5 goals, 1 assist and 22 penalty minutes. Fahey has played in 334 AHL games and 104 ECHL game, but has yet to play in his first NHL game. I'm curious to find out if he and Craig Anderson knew each other growing up. They were both born in 1981 in Illinois in towns that are about 7 miles from each other. You have to figure they've crossed paths at some point, right?

Both Kyle Cumiskey and Adam Foote have been ruled out for Friday's Minnesota game (in fact, neither made the trip); I don't know if Fahey will play instead of Tom Preissing, but it wouldn't shock me if it happened.

Colorado Avalanche: What the Hell Happened?

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

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

And, yet, we knew.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Game 22 Recap: Oilers 6 - Avalanche 4

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

More photos » by John Ulan - AP

about 1 month ago: Edmonton Oilers' Ryan Potulny, left, and teammate Liam Reddox celebrate his goal against Colorado Avalanche goalie Peter Budaj, of Slovakia, during the third period NHL of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009, in Edmonton, Alberta. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, John Ulan)

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

Complete Coverage >

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

- The Osmonds

Divisive.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lines

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

Quincey - Hannan
Cumiskey - Clark
Preissing - Wilson

Quick Hits

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

Video Highlights

Next Up

The Avalanche are in Vancouver on Friday. Oh joy.

Well, That Was Relatively Quick - Hawks 3, Lanche 2 (Shootout)

McClure — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:54:10 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y. Huh - AP

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At least it wasn't eight or nine rounds deep this time.

Being at the schedule makers' mercy, in an Olympic year, the Hawks met the Avalanche for the third meeting of four total in this young season, and the pace in the first period was quite brisk. The teams traded chances in the early going of the first, and Colin Fraser and Matt Hendricks renewed acquaintances with a tussle, and Colorado opened the scoring on a goal Huet would like to have back. Kyle Cumiskey picked up a rebound off the glass behind the left of Huet, and threw it at the net before Cris was back in position. It was a bad goal, but, again, we've seen worse. Aside from that Huet was rather sharp in the first, aggressively taking away angles and the bottom of the net. His counterpart Craig Anderson was peppered as well, with Patrick Kane finally solving him with a top shelf short side snap shot to tie things up. The Hawks allowed an uncharacteristic 12 shots during the first, while putting 12 shots on goal themselves.

The second was all Colorado, as the Hawks again seemed to have trouble entering the offensive zone and sustaining pressure. Wojtek Wolski scored on a broken play, again to the left of Huet after a giveaway by Andrew Ladd in the neutral zone led to a chance that had the puck pop up in the air, where Cris lost it, and then then again could not get back in position in time to stop Wolski's bid.

Conversely, the third period was all Hawks, with shots throwing rubber at Anderson at every opportunity, and finally getting their forecheck in gear. Cam Barker tied things up on a nice individual effort rushing the puck up ice from his own zone, capped off by beating Anderson again high and to the short side. From there, the Avalanche seemed content to try to escape with the point, but the Hawks kept their foot on the gas, outshooting Colorado 15-3 in the third. It should be noted, however, that two Avalanche shots drew iron during the third, but that won't show up on the scoresheet. Regulation ended tied (AGAIN), and the teams went to overtime (AGAIN).

The attack didn't cease there, as the Hawks put four shots on Anderson in the extra frame, and even had a competent, abbreviated 4-on-3 power-play to end regulation. But it was not to be. So let it be written, so let it be done- these two teams are seemingly forever destined to settle their difference in the skills competition.

Huet was down and out to lead-off man Wolski, but again, he hit the post with his Forsberg-esque half-spin backhand. Toews answered with his now trademark rifling of a shot through the goalie's five-hole. Marek Svatos converted a pretty backhand high and to Huet's stick side to knot the shoot out at 1-1. The last attempt fell to Patrick Sharp, who has had his difficulties in these situations, but made no mistake in dipping his shoulder left, then cutting back right to go high over Anderson's glove for the winner. Hawks 3, Avs 2.

Again, the defense pulls the boa constrictor act in the third and overtime, only allowing 3 shots (posts not withstanding) in the final 25 minutes. Even more impressive was that the Hawks managed 19 shots of their own in that time. We've said it before, we'll say it again - you can't shoot the puck if the other team has it the whole time.
Andrew Ebbett seems to be getting more comfortable and more noticeable, which is likely a function of not being asked to check and provide physicality, neither of which are his specialty.
In spite of the two goofy goals, and getting help from the iron, Huet was again solid tonight, making several key saves.
Nice to see Sharp convert on the winner after being seemingly snakebitten the last few games. Hopefully this, along with the approaching return of Marian Hossa will spark one of his now signature scoring binges to compliment his droughts.

Player of the Game

Tonight's honor goes to Patrick Sharp, who was a factor on all 200 feet of the ice tonight backchecking and contributing offensively assisting on Kane's goal and scoring the shootout clincher.

Game 19 Recap: Blackhawks 3 - Avalance 2 (SO)

David Driscoll-Carignan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:33:13 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y. Huh - AP

about 1 month ago: Colorado Avalanche's Matt Hendricks, right, fights with Chicago Blackhawks' Colin Fraser during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Chicago, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

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Final - 11.11.2009	1	2	3	OT	SO	Total
Colorado Avalanche	1	1	0	0	0	2
Chicago Blackhawks	1	0	1	0	1	3

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Of course it was going to a shootout.

Man, I wish we could play the Blackhawks 82 times a year, as the three matches between the clubs so far have been dandies. Tonight's game was a lot of fun to watch. Craig Anderson is a freaking monster. Matt Duchene was marvelous (and, still scoreless). Kyle Cumiskey learned that he doesn't need to think before shooting (but then forgot later on in the game). The Avs' powerplay still needs work, but at least they stayed out of the box tonight.

I would have loved to see more than 3 shots in the 3rd period, however. I also would have loved to see someone other than Darcy Tucker take that 3rd shootout try. I still would like to see better linemates for Duchene (how about TJ Hensick, who is playing very well). And I certainly could have done without the Altitude graphics person misspelling the word "Sargeant"...especially on freaking Veteran's Day. But, you can't have it all. The game was exciting, the Avs got a point. I'm moderately happy.

Cutting this short to again try for a game of mini golf. Kudos on breaking a thousand in tonight's game thread. You guys rock.

Oh, and our favorite Chicago radio personality - chiavsfan - was covering the game. Here's his terrific radio recap.

Game 16 Recap: Avalanche 4 - Coyotes 1

David Driscoll-Carignan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:14:56 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

about 1 month ago: Colorado Avalanche goalie Peter Budaj (31), of Slovakia, deflects a shot redirected by Phoenix Coyotes center Matthew Lombardi (15) in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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Final - 11.4.2009	1	2	3	Total
Phoenix Coyotes	0	0	1	1
Colorado Avalanche	1	0	3	4

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I'm back
I'm back in the saddle again
I'm back
I'm back in the saddle again

-Aerosmith, Back in the Saddle

While it wasn't quite as lopsided as the final score indicated, the Avalanche rebounded from a two-game slump with a solid win over the Phoenix Coyotes tonight in Denver. The Avalanche started out strong, creating a powerplay opportunity on the opening shift and converting on that just 57 seconds into the game when Milan Hejduk deftly deflected a Kyle Quincey pass past Ilya Bryzgalov. (Alliteration bonus: 25 points).

That was all the scoring for a while, as there was no more scoring in the first or second periods. The Avalanche had a lot of the early momentum, but the Coyotes slowly crawled back into the game and shots and scoring chances were pretty much even by the time we hit the 2nd intermission.

The 3rd period got a little wild. First, beleaguered winger Marek Svatos took advantage of a Bryzgalov brain freeze to swoop in and punch the puck home at the 6:43 mark. It was a beauty of a play by Svatos and seemed to supercharge his game the rest of the way. Phoenix finally got on the board at the 9:52 mark when Ed Jovanovski's point shot deflected past Peter Budaj with Chris Stewart in the box for high sticking. It was the first PP goal given up by the Avs' tremendous PK in 25 chances. It was a rather untimely moment for that streak to end, though, as it cut the lead to 2-1.

The final 10 minutes of the 3rd was nerve wracking. The Avalanche had played smothering defense all night, but everything suddenly fell apart in the final half of the period. Numerous turnovers were committed (including a doozy by Kyle Cumiskey) and it seemed the only time the Avalanche could clear the zone was by icing the puck. I'm not sure what happened there, because the first 50 minutes of the game was perhaps their best game defensively of the season. Thankfully, Budaj made some good saves (and the Coyotes missed the net a couple of times) and the lead held up until David Jones could ice it with an empty net goal. For kicks, Milan Hejduk scored on a breakaway with 24 seconds left to pour a little salt into the Coyote's wounds.

Despite the breakdowns in the 3rd, it was a solid game for the Avs. They had good - not great - pressure on the Coyotes, they played physical, they mostly played a great game defensively and, finally, Budaj had a solid first game between the pipes. When the Avs forwards are getting pressure, the team is going to have a chance to win. They didn't score a lot, but they kept the Coyotes on their heels, limiting pressure in the other direction. When the Coyotes did get the puck into our end, the D was there to kick it back up to our forwards.That pressure wasn't there the last couple of games, and we've seen the results. A much, much better effort tonight.

Lines

Wolski - Stastny - Hejduk
McLeod - Duchene - Svatos
Stewart - O'Reilly - Jones
Koci - Hensick - Dupuis

Of course, the best line all night was the one I joked about yesterday: Duchene, McLeod and Svatos. Figures. All three had an excellent game, although I still don't feel they played tremendously well as a unit. It seemed like often it was two guys working well together and the third was off grabbing popcorn or something. Perhaps I'm being to critical?

Interestingly, David Jones played exclusively on the right side tonight, and it seemed like that was a specific plan. Chris Stewart moved over to the LW to facilitate this in the first. That's not that abnormal. What was really odd, though, was that in the 3rd period Jones played with Stastny and Hejduk...and Hejduk moved to the left wing. Interesting.

Quick Hits

Dismal, dismal attendance tonight. Just 11,012 officially. That's the lowest total since at least the sellout streak started, and I suspect it's the lowest since the team moved to Denver.
The Avs blocked 25 shots. 5 each for Clark, Cumiskey and Foote.
The worst faceoff team in the league had another terrible game in the circle, winning just 38% of the draws.
With 3 points, Paul Stastny now leads the team in scoring all by his lonesome. He was previously tied with Wojtek Wolski with 13 points/

Video Highlights

Next Up

The Avalanche host the Blackhawks on Friday