Game #72 Preview

As the season is winding down, the injuries continue to pile-up. Since I last wrote, the Avs have lost three more defensemen (Foote, Salei, Tjarnqvist) and arguably the team's best player, Paul Stastny, to a foot injury due to another shotblock. Because of this, a number of the young prospects have been called up from Lake Erie to see what they can do in the team's time of need. Last game against the Wild, two defenders made their NHL debuts and were fairly impressive. Michael Vernace and Derek Peltier were paired together nearly the whole game and were pretty solid defensively in their own end, and even jumped up into the offensive rush on a few occasions, which is always a good thing to see when you have a young guy confident enough in his abilities to get back defensively if need be after an offensive chance. One of the players acquired in the Leopold trade, Lawrence Nycholat, also looked solid in his own end and even stood up a few of the Wild's better players.

Tonight, all three new(er) defensemen will again be in the lineup, as will top prospect T.J. Galiardi, formerly of the Calgary Hitmen (yes, Bret "Hitman" Hart's hockey team!). I personally have high expectations for T.J. and can't wait to see him out there tonight. Could we see two T.J.s playing on the same line tonight as we have seen with our two Codys in the past? Only time will tell..