Due the slowing nature of the game day thread, and the fact that people are SOMEHOW enjoying watching a game that involves the Wild, we have added a third period thread for your enjoyment.

Avalanche host Flames

Will the Avalanche show up

or melt in the heat?

Flames lead the series

With wins in the first two games

Wins in seven straight.

Kiprusoff in net

Varly on the other end

The victor the spoils

Must start game on time

To extinguish the hot Flames

Lets go Avs, lets go!

1st period:

Avs start the game putting pressure on the Flames. Just 70 seconds into the game Winnik fires a shot on net with Landeskog in front, but Kiprusoff makes the save.  Avs get the first four shots, but then the Flames go the other way with speed and Paul Byron torches the Avs with his first goal of the season, on the first shot of the game for the Flames. Flames with the 1-0 lead at the 2:06 mark.  Byron is playing in just his second game this season, and 10th career NHL game. He scored his first NHL goal last season playing for the Buffalo Sabres.

2:34 Landeskog is in front again and draws the ire of the Flames, but nothing comes from the ensuing scrum.

3:48 Derrick Smith approaches the blue line and takes a hit from Ryan Wilson, Wilson takes the worse of the hit as Smith knocks him off his feet.

5:38 Galiardi takes the puck into the offensive zone and tries to dance between two Flames players, Flames steal the puck and head the opposite direction.  Tanguay draws both Wilson and Johnson to him, but is still able to get the puck to Iginla who buries it to give the Flames their second goal on just their second shot of the night at 5:47.  Yep Flames are shooting 100% so far.

Sacco calls his time just 5:47 seconds into the game to settle down his team...will it work?

Fun fact - In their last two games (since playing the Avs last Sunday) the Flames have been outscored 7-1.

Not so fun fact - Rene Bourque has 13G and 12A vs the Avs.

7:31 O'Brien tries to start some rough stuff behind the net.

8:30 The Thirst line looks hungry, they are putting some serious back pressure on the Flames

11:37 Another rush by the Flames and Varly comes up big, but Landy takes a delayed hooking penalty and the Flames get a couple of big chances while controlling the puck for the next 47 seconds.

First Power play of the game goes to the Flames and we'll see the 21st best power play unit against the 27th best penalty kill. Flames also have the 2nd best road power play unit, behind the Avs.

14:11 The Avs kill the penalty but allow the Flames to rush into the zone again. Kostopolous drives to the front of the net and leaves the puck between the circles where Curtis Glencross rips it past Varly for a 3-0 lead.

15:13 Lindstrom takes a nice shot through the defensman's legs and Kiprusoff snow angels for the save.

17:45 Yet another odd man rush into the zone for the Flames, but Milan Hejduk doesn't cheat and is able to break up the play.

18:54 Landeskog loses his stick behind the net, still kicks the puck out, retrieves his stick and then strips the puck from the Flames. They head the other way and go behind the net where Landeskog puts a pass out to Winnik, who can't settle down the puck, it goes to Landeskog, but his shot is blocked.

The period ends with the Avs out shooting the Flames 10-7,  but the Flames continue to torch the Avs on the score board 3-0.  So far through 7 periods of hockey the Flames have out scored the Avs 9-2 this season

2nd Period:

Avs start the period with a strong shift from the Duchene line. Gali breaks into the zone and drives around the net for a shot.

4:00 Winnik carries the puck into the Flames zone. Smith tries to stand him up at the blue line but Winnik shoves him to the ice.

6:10 With the third line continuing to play with energy Landeskog tries to drive into the zone. He gets tripped up by David Moss and no call is made. The puck is cleared and the Third Line comes back with another rush, Winnik pulls up from the right circle for a shot and Landeskog can't get to the front because of a hook. Again no call is made.

The Avs are sitting back too much in this game.  Every time the Avs approach the Calgary blue line they are hit or stood up. At the other end, Calgary is allowed to walk into the Avs zone and set up, their point men have a ton of time and space.

7:50 Duchene carries down the right wing for a shot, but it's too far out and Kiprusoff sees it the whole way.

9:36 Stepniak gets to the puck behind the net with Hejda all over him, however Hedja loses his stick and Stepniak is able to walk out to the circle and back hands the puck past Varly. 4-0 Flames.

9:57 Avs finally get a power pay after Scott Hannan gets caught hooking Hejduk.  The Avs  #1 ranked power play faces off against the 17th ranked penalty kill. Paul Stastny gets two early chances which would be the Avs only two shots as the power play never gets set up again.

13:26 Milan Hejduk stick handles through the defense and throws a shot on net that bounces around in the air before falling in behind Kiprusoff.  The goal would be reviewed as it appeared to have been deflected by a high stick. However the goal would count and the Avs are finally on the board.

Very next shift the Avs are attacking, but the Flames get the puck and as they leave the zone we get a delayed penalty call. Galiardi got tied up in front of the net with Chris Butler, Gali may have pushed Kiprusoff, and he is called for roughing.

20 seconds left on the penalty kill and Varly takes the puck off the head/helmet but play continues as he appears to be OK. Porter takes the puck the other way, goes around the net and passes to Johnson who gets a shot off at the net.  Avs take momentum out of the kill but can't get their chances to fall.

18:33 Iginla puts a big blast on net that gets through Varly, but it goes wide.  Both teams are playing run and gun and getting quick chances but little sustained pressure.

After 40:00 the Avs are out shooting the Flames 32-16, But the Flames lead 4-1

3rd Period:

Last game the Avs finally showed up in the third period and, with a little help from the opposing goalie, were able to come back and tie the game before winning in OT. Could they do it again? They did start to play much better near the end of the second period and have some momentum.

The period starts with Duchene back on Stastny's wing and it pays off. O'Brien sneaks in to the top of the circle and tracks down a puck before giving a pass across to Duchene who blasts it past Kiprusoff just 25 seconds into the period.  Score 2-4.

1:48 Avs continue to pressure and Lindstrom has a chances from the left circle. But the Flames get the puck and head the other way. As Stepniak approaches the blue line he gets an elbow from O'Brien at 2:05. The Avs will be on the penalty kill for the third time tonight. However the Avs are very aggressive and Calgary doesn't register a shot on net.

You would think that a big kill would give the Avs momentum, however a poor power play will kill any momentum they should have had. The Avs would get three power plays over a seven minute time frame. First Horak gets called for slashing Duchene's stick at 4:41 and the Avs don't register a shot on net. Then at 8:44 Landeskog gets checked into the Flames net by Giordano who is called for interference. Avs get a couple of chances, but the best chance was for Calgary shorthanded. As the penalty to Giordano is expiring, Duchene gets cross-check in front of the net by Kostopolous. Avs again have no shots on the power play and now Calgary has the momentum. Calgary starts to clog up the neutral zone once again and the Avs are struggling to get possession.

15:25 The Avs finally get a rush, O'Brien carries the puck below the goal line and behind the net before passing to Wilson on the point. Wilson passes over to O'Reilly who puts a blast on net.  David Jones is in front and tips the puck past Kiprusoff to get the Avs within a goal.

Avs continue to pressure and are getting some good chances, but Kiprusoff is stopping them all.

19:15 An icing call on the Flames forces them to call their time out with the Avs really putting the pressure on. After the time out Varly remains on the bench for the Avs. Avs win another face off, they've been winning a lot in this third period.

19:25 The puck is shot out of play and after some discussion the officials decide that Jokinen shot it out of play.  A delay of game penalty gives the Avs a late power play. Another face off win gets the Avs a couple more chances but kiprusoff won't budge.

19:40 Bourque fires the puck at the open net and misses, the race is on and Duchene just beats Bourque to the puck allowing the Avs to head back the other way for one more chance.

Kiprusoff covers up another chance with 4.2 seconds on the clock. Avs win yet one more face off, but at the point Duchene doesn't get it cleanly. He still gets the puck on net and Kiprusoff juggles it, but the Avs just run out of time.

Avs fall to Flames for the third time this season and the 8th straight time. Their last win was on Oct 28, 2010 and their last home win Dec 13, 2009. Kiprusoff has won 9 straight against the Avs and was the difference again tonight for his team making saves.

Avs lose another game at home while out shooting their opponent 39-20. A very poor first period and allowing 3 goals on 7 chances was too much to overcome.

Tonights lines:

Lindstrom-Stastny-Hejduk
Galiardi-Duchene-Jones
Landeskog-O’Reilly-Winnik
McLeod-Porter-Kobasew

Johnson WIlson

Quincey-O'Brien

O'Byrne-Hejda

NHL.com recap and highlights:

NHL.com recap

Game Summary

Event Summary

Next up:

The Avs now head on the road for games in Pittsburgh on Tuesday and Minnesota on Thursday before returning to the Pepsi Center for an 8 game home stand.

From a versus article

Anderson says right knee is progressing

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So I'm watching TV tonight and I go to change channels after "The Mighty Ducks" movie was over. I'm scrolling up the guide, and just before the NHL Network I noticed something disturbing. My local Fox sports station, Fox West (LA Kings) as well as Prime (Ducks) have no programing info, but instead have the following info "Important News! Press Info!"

I select the channel to see whats going on and I get information as well as a video of the Dish Network President telling me that Fox Sports has removed these channels because Dish Network is refusing to pay a 50% increase for the channels.

Dish's take:

Dish VS Fox

Fox is also supposedly pulling the same thing with CableVision.

Fox's take:

Keep Fox on

Now, it seems that Dish (unlike Direct TV last year) is some how able to broadcast some of the locked out games, through other channels (at least so far with MLB and the NFL, and potentially with Hockey later this week). So it is possible that if this lasts a while, I won't actually have to miss any games against LA or Anaheim (since I usually get these game blacked out on Center Ice and have to watch the LA/Anaheim feeds). However, you'd think these stations would have learned after the VS-Direct TV thing last year.

Three Players Reassigned To Lake Erie

Sunday, 09.27.2009 / 1:25 PM / News Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today that it has reduced its 2009 preseason roster to 24 players.

The following players have been reassigned to the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League:

Pos.     Player                         
C          Chris Durno
D          Derek Peltier
G          Tyler Weiman

After last nights game in Las Vegas the Avs have made the final cuts to the roster (or maybe it was done before since none of these guys played last night). I'm curious to see if O'Reilly stays up for more than 9-10 games, or if he's gone in a couple of weeks.  I also expect to see Koci as a healthy scratch most night, but wouldn't it be nice if his partner in the press box was Tucker.

David Jones Update

Adrian Dater is reporting he's heard Jones has signed, but no details as of yet.

I’m hearing Jones has signed a two-year deal with the Avs, but haven’t gotten it totally confirmed yet, and I don’t know for how much either.

No confirmation on the Haydar rumors.

I’ve heard the Darren Haydar rumors too, but don’t have it confirmed that he’s signed anything with the Avs. It’s a holiday weekend, and a lot of people around the team are off.

Avs may still be looking to bring in someone:

*People are asking about whether the Avs are in the market for a forward/center/PK guy/whomever, and my best answer right now is: could be. Guys like Yelle/Malhotra/Betts are out there still, and no it wouldn’t shock me if the Avs tried to sign one of them.

Avalanche ink McLeod to three-year deal

The Colorado Avalanche and forward Cody McLeod have agreed to a three-year deal worth $3.1 million.

 

The contract will see the 6'2, 210-pound native of Binscarth, Manitoba make $900,000, $1 million, and $1.2 million per year, respectively.

A little bit of a pay raise over the $522.500 he made last season. I have a feeling the organization is expecting McLeod to "replace" Lappy.

Also, a former Avs player is involved in one of the first trades of this offseason as Reinprecht was traded to Florida.

Coyotes deal Reinprecht to Panthers for Meyer

Reinprecht was set to be an unrestricted free agent, but has singed with Florida

Reinprecht's three-year deal has a cap hit of $2.050 million. He will get $1.8 million in the first year and $2.175 million in each of the following two years.

It seems the nostalgia tour could be continuing for the organization as Dater reports that Adam Deadmarsh interviewed with the team for a management position.

Deadmarsh up for management post

His playing days are over, but Deadmarsh has interviewed for a management position with the Avs organization, the team confirmed Wednesday.

Avs vice president Jean Martineau said that while Deadmarsh is not up for the team's vacant second assistant coaching position, he has interviewed for another management job and is being strongly considered.

Is it possible he could be coaching in LE next season, or is there still a vacancy somewhere in the main office?

Just watched saturday's game (March 7th).  Just a few notes of things I noticed.

Despite being 29th in the AHL the Monster's power play looked better than the parent club.  They still pass a little too much, but their passes seem much crisper and faster. Some players barely hold the puck at all before passing (like they already know where their teammates are).  The Monster had a long 5:00 power play early in the game, during which they also had a full 2:00 5 on 3.  I don't know how hard Darcy Campbell's shot is, but he isn't shy about shooting the puck from the point.  The Monsters kept the puck in the offensive zone most of the 5:00 and Campbell took a number of shots from the point includingone that beat the goalie during the 5 on 3.

Galiardi has a couple of good little moves.  He used one to score on a power play as more good passing got him the puck to the goalies right, he deked the goalie and then back-handed a shot between the goalie and the d-man to give the Monster's a 3-0 lead. I mentioned the passing...four good quick passes spread the defense out. The second to last pass came to Rowe (from Macias) in between the circle which drew one d-man up away from the crease on the fake shot, then Rowe passed down to Galiardi who basically had the goalie to beat.

Matt Hendricks - looks like a Smyth style player.  He scored in this game by working in/around the crease. They replayed some of his goals this season and a lot of them looked to be off deflections, or by picking up rebounds in the crease and banging them home. He seems to spend most of his time within a few feet of the goalie....

Hendrick's second goal was an ugly one for the goalie.  He made the initial stop on Hendricks shorthanded chance, but it had just enough to squeak through the pads and knuckle across the line.

Late in the game Hendricks had a chance at the hat-trick. With the Monsters on the power play, a shot was thrown on net and Hendricks was crashing in from the goalie's left for the chance.

Per Ledin scored a goal camped in the crease and took a beating for his trouble. Early in the game he drew the 5:00 penalty. He was hit along the boards (nothing wrong with the hit) but then the American's player decided to sprear him in the ribs...not sure if Ledin said samething to ruffle the guys feathers or what?

Can't really say too much about Wieman. He wasn't tested much through out the game (5 shots in the first) and both goals against were pretty good scores.  He did seemt o get across the crease fairly well...

It's just one game, but Hendricks looks like a guy that might be up with the Avs in the next year or two. Since he was just called up, it will be interesting to see if he plays, and if so, how he does.

The Avs are once again hoping to not match their longest losing streak of the season (five games) as they face the Calgary Flames in the second to last game of this eight game home stand.  Surprisingly the Flames are the last team the Avs beat before losing their last four.  In case the boys in Burgundy and Blue have forgot, here's some tips on how to properly extinguish a fire.

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Rinse, trim excess fat from duck. Take a sharp knife and cut slits in the SKIN of the duck in a number of places on the back, ribs sides, thighs, drumsticks but NOT in the skin on the breast. Place duck on a rack in a roasting pan, laying it with the back up. Place in preheated oven for about 7 minutes. Turn duck over and place in oven for another 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from oven (turn oven off) and move duck to a cutting board and allow it to cool enough that you can handle it. Drain fat off pan and discard it. Reserve roasting pan. When duck has cooled, with a sharp knife, quarter the duck. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Place duck pieces skin side down on a roasting pan, sprinkle salt and black pepper. Bake in preheated oven at 350 Degree F. for 10 minutes. While duck is cooking, in a 2 quart saucepan, combine ginger ale with sliced ginger root; bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer until reduced to about 1 cup. Add orange juice, brown sugar, orange marmalade, and chopped green onions and 2 Tbsp brandy. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until mixture is a thin syrup. This takes about 30 minutes. Remove ginger; turn duck skin side up and drain off any fat. Baste thoroughly with sauce. Return to oven and bake for 7 minutes basting well. Add 3 Tbsp brandy to the remaining sauce and simmer until thickened. When duck has reached desired doneness (DON'T OVERCOOK), place duck on serving platter and pour sauce on it. Serve with wild rice, or parsleyed potatoes.

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Since I just got home and there seems to be no GDT, I'll start one, but we're half way through the first and no one seems to be here.

Toronto Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson's frustration with his team's poor defensive play is boiling over. He expects to see some improvement or he'll make personnel changes to get the desired results.

Wilson looks for a better defensive effort from the Maple Leafs, who have lost four in a row going into their first meeting in more than two years with the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday.

The Maple Leafs (17-23-8) have given up a league-high 174 goals, and Wilson's first move to try and improve the team's defense was to call up goaltender Justin Pogge from Toronto's AHL club.

Pogge, 22, was scheduled to return to the minors after starting the Leafs' game Tuesday night regardless of how he performed. The rookie, however, had little chance to make a case to stay in the NHL due to the sloppy play in front of him in a 6-1 loss to Minnesota.

Pogge, considered the team's top prospect, made 15 saves and had virtually no chance on all four Wild goals in the second period.

The lopsided loss was just the latest poor defensive performance for Toronto this season, and Wilson is reaching the point of exasperation.

"We have a lot of guys that have to show a lot more pride in their performance defensively than they're showing," he said.

"Right now it's a garden full of weeds and I need to pick some weeds. It's as simple as that."

The Maple Leafs have been outscored 16-7 during their four-game losing streak, and have lost eight of nine.

With Pogge returning to the AHL, struggling veteran Vesa Toskala is expected to be back in net Thursday. Toskala has lost his last three starts and is 2-8-2 with a 3.73 goals-against average since Dec. 23.

Toskala has not faced the Avalanche since 2006 when he was with the Sharks. He's 3-3-0 with one tie and a 2.56 GAA in nine games against them.

Colorado and Toronto haven't met since the Avalanche's 4-1 win Oct. 18, 2006, behind two goals from John-Michael Liles. The Avs have won their last three home games against the Maple Leafs since a 3-2 loss March 29, 1997.

The Avalanche (23-24-1) are halfway through an eight-game homestand that hasn't gone well. They've lost three of their first four in the stretch.

After scoring 11 goals in its previous two games, Colorado lost to San Jose 3-0 on Tuesday. The Avalanche have dropped five of six since a three-game winning streak.

Despite its recent struggles, Colorado is only four points out of a playoff spot.

"It's frustrating. We need all the points we can get right now," Colorado's Brett Clark said. "Little mistakes here and there. If we can eliminate those, we're going to be OK."

The Avs have also suffered from a shaky situation in goal of late.

Andrew Raycroft, who stopped 35 shots Tuesday, has posted a 3.12 GAA in losing his last four games, while Peter Budaj is 1-4-0 with a 3.89 GAA in six starts since Dec. 31.

Raycroft, who was in goal for Toronto in its last meeting with Colorado, is 3-5-1 with a 2.73 GAA in nine starts versus his former team.

Budaj made 27 saves in the win over Toronto in October 2006, his only career start against the Leafs.

(Editorial note: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKKK  - Joe)

The "S" curse continues to plague the once mighty Avalanche as Paul Stastny had been lost due to a fractured right forearm. Stastny suffered the injury on a shot from the Coyotes Olli Jokinen in the final minute of the third period, while the Avs were trying to maintain a 4-3 lead and with the Coyotes on the power play after Brett Clark took a bad penalty with 1:28 left in the game.

Adrian Dater was the first to report the bad news in his blog over at the Denver Post:

BAD News - Stastny has fractured right forearm

But since the Avs never release news this soon about anything, it was hard to believe until Sadowski reported it at the Rocky Mountain News as well.

Avs Stastny out indefinitely after breaking arm

Fans around MHH and the blogisphere are now really wondering what the organization has done to so upset the Hockey Gods as to deserve two straight seasons of this kind of treatment? The answers have varied but two things are for sure.  The Avs are being punished for having had Joel Quenville as the coach in the form of the 'S' curse. The Avs lost Sakic, Smyth, Stastny, Svatos and others last season to injuries, including Sakic, Smyth and Stastny all at the same time right around this time of the season. Already this season we have lost Sakic, Salei, Svatos, and now Stastny to injury and have a few 'S' names that could be added to that list if the Hockey Gods feel so obliged. 

The other reason why the Hockey Gods are dealing out this punishment may in fact be the dreaded Unipron!  Think about it.  The Avs were once a mighty organization on which winning Lord Stanley's cup was the only thing expected every season. Nothing else was good enough.  Now the Avs can barely make the playoffs, if at all. And it all started with? The dreaded lockout and the design of the Unipron.  For more evidence as to the evil that is the Unipron I will direct you back to a former fanpost by MHH's own Stucturalpoke:

In-depth analysis about Avs' downturn

The Avs need to file a grievance with the league to see if there is anyway they can get rid of these hideous abominations to the game, before all hope is lost.

Have a Mighty Christmas Avs fans...if that is still possible?

And try not to have nightmares about Arnason as our first line center....

ADDENDUM: Speaking of Arnason, Dater has the money quote from his updated blog post about the loss of Stastny:

This means that Tyler Arnason is your new No. 1 Avalanche center, folks. If that doesn’t drive up the alcoholism rate among the die-hard fan base reading here, I don’t know what will.

I'm already drunk. - Joe

The Avs reclaimed Jesse Boulerice from Edmonton via waivers on Friday. - TSN

Ice Chips

The last few weeks have been a roller coaster ride for Jesse Boulerice.  While playing in Lake Erie it was rumored that the Avs had given him a new contract so they could bring him up to the NHL. In order for that to happen he had to first clear re-entry waivers.  The Edmonton Oilers put a kink in that plan and snatched Boulerice off of waivers on November 11th.  Boulerice then suited up to play against the Avs on November 15th. After two games with Edmonton they have apparently decide to let him go and the Avs are reported to have reclaimed him.

So 2 questions: Why did Edmonton let him go?  and why are the Avs in such a hurry to have him back?

Blackhawks fire Savard after four games.

With expectations high in Chicago, the Blackhawks didn't give Savard much time to get his young crew going.  After finally winning their first game last night the Hawks parted ways with Savard who has a 65-66-16 record in 147 games with the Hawks.

Quenville, has been named the new coach.  Can you say "goalie-go-round"? Huet has been struggling going 0-1-1.  The Hawks got their first win last night with Khabibulin (1-1-0) in net. This is just what the Hawks need.

UPDATE: Moved to the front page...and that last line is sarcasm, right? Ohh, and I finally have a use for this picture!!

In a tragic story today it is reported that New York Ranger prospect Alexei Cherepanov

collapsed on the bench at or near the end of Omsk's Kontinental Hockey League game and died a short time later.

Cherepanov was drafted by the Rangers in the 1st round, 17th overall, in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

No further detail yet as to the cause.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=252547&lid=headline&lpos=secStory_nhl

Best wishes go out to his family and teammates.

I was at the game tonight and no one really stood out in my mind. It was a pretty good game, but no one made that spectacular play, or really did anything that made me say WOW!. So the following is just my tired ramblings and thoughts.

In the line up were:

Fowards:                                                              Defensemen:

T. Arnason                                                           B. Clark

B. Guite                                                                K. Cuminsky

M. Hendricks                                                       A. Foote

T.J. Hesiiick                                                        S. Hannan

I. Laperriere                                                        J. Leopold

Per Ledin                                                            J.M. Liles

the Cody's  (McLeod and McCormick)

S. Parker                                                            Goalies:

J. Sakic                                                               A. Raycroft

Chris Stewart                                                     J. Bacashihua

Darcy Tucker

Sacik played most of the night with Tucker and Hensiiick. The rest of the lines seemed to juggle a little bit.

The two goals that the Kings scored about 30 seconds apart were terrible. The first beat Raycroft top shelf just over his glove, while the second went the other direction, just over the blocker.   I called the Av's shorthanded goal; though Guite got an assist instead of the goal. His first pass hit a King's stick and bounced right back to him. The second attempt found it way across the ice and then Hendricks put it into the back of the net.  Sakic assisted on the other two goals (Tucker and Leopold) earning him the 2nd star.  Hensiiick scored as the first shooter in the SO - which ended up being the winner and it earned him the 3rd star...typical stupid home town media, Kopitar was the 1st star.  Stewart shot second in the shoot out, well he didn't actually shoot. He lost the puck and it float toward the line as Ersberg was sliding backwards into his net,  it almost worked....

The power play is still terrible.  The Avs squandered the first 3:13 of the 5:00 penalty in the first period by passing the puck and not shooting.  Then they got the 5-3 and they started shooting but couldn't capitalize.  Later in the game when they got the 4:00 power play (the high stick that took Liles out of the game) the Avs still just sat there passing the damn puck, that is when they actually got intot he Kings zone and  got set up.  The only bright side was that there were 2 D-men on the ice for the PP.  Sakic was not playing the point. Unfortunately they couldn't score even with a 1:47 of 3-5 and to powerplay's of 4:00+.

The first two fights were pretty good.  The one with Stewart was pretty much a draw.  The McLeod fight I would have to give to the LA players (still close though),  and Parker kicked the crap out of some rookie (though Parker went to the ice twice - the second time pulling the King player on top of himself. Lappy tried to get in a couple but the officials were pretty quick to break those up. 

I didn't see exactly what happened when McCormick got ejected.  All I saw was him drop on top of a King player (who was down on the ice) and start hitting him.  They called Cody for spearing???

Footer was pissed when he got his first penalty.   He too went after the King player while the King was on the ice,  which drew some pretty pathetic cries from the King fans....they bood him the rest of the night and challenged his manhood.  Not sure exactly what happened but it must have been pretty bad for a guy like Foote to go after the player while he was down.

Two little skirmishes happened infront of the benches, both looked like they were started by Kings goons...the second one Foote jump into help his teammate, while a King player did the same, Foote got a misconduct penalty and was tossed, the King (Handzus - I think) got away scott free.

Over all the Avs just seemed out of sync.  Their passes weren't great and they couldn't keep the puck on their sticks.  Raycroft redeemed himself in the third period with a couple of big save (and a little luck) when the Avs kept getting called for penalties.  Especially late when he snowmanned in the crease.  All the LA fans thought it was a goal, Raycroft tried to slide himself forward a little before sitting up.  When he finally sat up the puck was about 4 inches form the line. The reviewed the goal (I think) and announced it never crossed the line.

It will be interesting to see who actually makes the team. Cuminsky played pretty well and made some good plays to get back on rushes that would have beat most d-men. Ledin was alright, but I didn't see anything spectacular.  Hensiiick had some nice moves, but wasn't able to finish them off.  Hendricks look good at times and struggled at others. Tucker was pretty physical most of the night as was Lappy. 

[Americanario gets the honors of announcing the news!  More to come. -Joe]

It has been announced that Sakic will be back for another season. He has signed for 1yr  and will be paid $6 million (roughly $750,000 less than 07-08).

Good to have you back Joe.

So now we'll really wonder what that press conference tomorrow is all about?

From the Denver Post

Sakic will return to the Avs

From Rocky Mountain

Sakic to return for another season

As many Avs fans are looking toward the new season with suspect and bewilderment, Scott Burnside thinks the San Jose Sharks might be heading in the same direction as the Avs.  Back in early July, Burnside looked at the free agent signings and other moves of the Sharks and compared them to the Avalanche organization of not so many years past: Boyle trade creates questions for both Sharks and Lightning.

All of a sudden, the San Jose Sharks look like the old Colorado Avalanche, filled to the brim with aging stars ready to hunt down the Stanley Cup and with warning flags going up all over the place for the future.

Though the Avs still have some of those aging stars and did actually find some success on 2001, we have seen the so called fruits of acquiring playoff rental players in exchange for young talent. San Jose has yet to hoist the Holy Grail of Hockey getting knocked out of the playoffs in the second round in each of the last three seasons.

The moves are reminiscent of the path followed by Blake's old team in Colorado, a franchise that damned the torpedoes and assembled a talented, veteran squad that won a Stanley Cup in 2001. Since the lockout, though, the Avs have struggled to replenish their reserve of young talent and have yet to return to contender status.

The Avs do have some good youth in the program, but the distance between veteran players; Joe Sakic, Adam Foote, and Milan Hejduk; and young future stars like Paul Stastny, Wojtec Wolski and Marek Svatos may be to big of a gap to keep the Avs among the elite organizations of the league. Are these young stars ready to take over the reigns for the Avalanche? Will San Jose learn from the Avs mistakes before it's too late?

According to the RMN today:

Talks continue with Theo

Wolski, Svatos, Mcleod, and McCormick received offers.

Talks also continue with Jose Theodore.

Liles hopes for deal

In another article Liles agents says he hopes for a deal before the deadline.

"We're waiting to hear back from them," Resnick said. "I think J-M is a pretty special player and I hope we could reach a deal. But it's not up to me. It's up to the Avalanche. Our talks have been cordial - I'd say positive. We'd like to get a deal done."

Sauer Agent hasn't talked with Avs except for "one brief conversation a few weeks ago.".

It is expected that the Avs will resign Foote and Finger.