Game #63 Recap

I'm leaving after two periods of this slaughtering to go see a Clippers game. That's how bad this team is right now. I would rather watch the Los Angeles Clippers. Au revoir.

Also, I predicted to my friend, before the game, that the Rangers would win 5-1, which is the score right now. Who votes I shut my mouth on predictions from now on?

Avs get Thrashed early, can't fully recover.

Today, the Avs gave their best impression of a team who could care less about attempting to make the playoffs, at least in the first period. Shortly after the 11 minute mark of the first period, the Thrashers had a commanding three goal lead on our boys in burgandy. However, the Avs decided to show a sign of life as Milan Hejduk scored his 9th PPG of the year on a beautiful cross-crease pass from none other than Paul Stastny. That pass right there really showed what we have missed over the past two months with him out of the lineup. In the second, Hejduk cut the game to a one goal deficit for the Avs with a rocket of a wrister from the slot which banked off the inside of the post before finding the twine. Though, four minutes later, the Thrashers scored their second short-handed goal of the game, bringing their lead to two goals once again. The third period saw a lot of back and forth action with the Avs seeming to have a little bit of an edge. With Budaj on the bench, Chris Stewart scored his 9th goal of the year, but the Avs efforts to tie the game fell short and ended up with a 4-3 loss. The Avs showed a lot of resiliency in this game, but in all honesty, they shouldn't have had to battle back from a three goal deficit against a team like Atlanta. With Stastny back in the lineup, the Avs should be able to put goals on the board, but they can't keep digging themselves into the holes they've become accustomed to this season.

#300

Before the game recap, I want to give a gigantic, avalanche-sized congratulations to both Ryan Smyth and Milan Hejduk, who both netted career goals #300 in Sunday's win against the Flames. The majority of Smyth's goals came while playing with Edmonton, but all 300 of Hejduk's came for the good guys. What an accomplishment!

Now, onto the game! The Avs came out stronger on offense than the previous 45 games this year, but it appeared Flames' backup Curtis McElhinney was up for the challenge as he came up with big save after big save, but only managed to keep the Avs off the board for 16 minutes before Marek Svatos was able to bang home a rebound in the crease on the powerplay. Less than two minutes later, Salei hit Stewart with a homerun pass for a breakaway, and Stewey made no mistake in finding the back of the net for his fifth goal of the year. By the end of the first, the Avs were leading the shots on goal margin by a total of 20-8. I could be wrong, but I think that's the biggest one period shot differential in favor of the Avs this season.

Ten minutes into the second period, the game seemed to be turning to an all-too-familiar direction as Cammalerri notched his 20th goal of the season on a perfect cross-ice feed on the powerplay, closing the Flames deficit to only one goal. Less than two minutes later, Ruslan Salei took his second straight penalty, giving the red-hot Flames' powerplay a chance to even the score. BUT never fear, Ben Guite is here! After a big save by Budaj, Smyth took the puck up ice with Guite not too far behind creating a two-on-one chance for the Avs. The Flames were obviously SO terrified of how good Ben is as they left Ryan Smyth alone to take the shot of his choice and he buried career goal #300 in the back of the net. Teammate Milan Hejduk was also sitting at 299 career goals coming into the game, and I guess he figured that since Smytty scored #300, he couldn't be left behind with a mere 299 goals! About five minutes later, he was able to score big #300 as well on a powerplay feed from JML. Haynes' goal calls of "NUMBER 300!!!" were nearly identical, but I loved every second of it.

The Flames cut the score to 4-2 early in the third, but the Avs wouldn't let that last for long as they scored two goals in the final five minutes of the period, courtesy of Salei and MVP Cody McLeod. McLeod's TENTH (yes, you read that right) goal of the season came with less than one second left on the clock, and was the proverbial cherry on the top for all Avs fans, and the proverbial slap in the face for all Flames fans. Budaj had a great comeback game after a recent dry-spell of sorts, stopping 39 of 41 Flames shots.

After the game, Budaj was announced as the third star. Then, Alan Roach announced that there would be no second star of the game, as there were two FIRST STARS. Of course, he was referring to Smyth and Hejduk. It would've been special enough for each of them to reach the milestone at some point during this season, but too accomplish it together on the same night made it that much better. I think the saying "a picture is worth one thousand words" applies well here, as the size of their smiles in the picture above says all you need to know about how special that moment was. Hats off to you, Ryan and Milan. Congratulations.

Rayzor slips in an Oil slick.

Just when I was starting to turn to the 'dark side' (yes, I've been watching some Star Wars this week) and become a Rayzor supporter, he goes and pulls something absolutely terrible and unforgivable like that third-period, back-breaking, game-winning, completely demoralizing goal that knocked me, and his own confidence in net, back down to planet Earth. There are no excuses for a bone-headed play like that, in a game as important as tonight's. He had no business coming out to play that puck. That's the kind of thing good ol' Patrick used to do in his many attempts to score that one goal he always dreamed of. That's something Marty Turco, or his one-time understudy Mike Smith, is allowed to do because they actually possess basic puck-handling skils and are able to clear the puck by an opposing player with relative ease. This is NOT something The Rayzor should be thinking of doing, no matter how confident he feels in himself at the moment. Yes, the Oilers probably outplayed the Avs a bit tonight and deserved to win, but the fact is the team stayed in the game, and, if not for the stellar goaltending by Mathieu Garon, probably would've won and gotten the two HUGE points up for grabs in tonight's contest. Once again, absolutely inexcusable on Rayzor's part and it's going to take another seven-game winning streak for me to trust him again.

In other news, at various points early in the game, I happened to say a couple bad things about Tyler Arnason and T.J. Hensick's lack of ability to put the puck in the net. And what did they do about it? Not one, but BOTH OF THEM scored and made me eat my words, which happened to taste pretty good at the time until the bonehead ruined it. Maybe the rant you see above will put some good karma on Raycroft's side, as the hockey gods obviously love to prove me wrong.

I think it's time to start singing the Budaj Blues.

As much as I love Peter Budaj, he is starting to wear out his welcome very quickly in my mind. Three out of four goals the Blues scored tonight (not counting the empty netter) were just plain awful. Just like the beginning of the season, that five hole is killing him, and the team's chances to stay in games. The team didn't play it's best game tonight, but they had a decent number of chances and managed to get two goals past Legace in the third to bring it to a 3-2 score. Cody McLeod brought his MVP campaign back to life tonight with his 9th goal of the season, and Guite returned to action, bringing mega-stache back with him just to make me happy. Stewart had a monster of a fight and is quickly moving up my favorite players list. Once again, Tucker was out on the ice in crunch time. WHY?!?!?! I don't know what's going on in TG's mind to think that he is worthy of this ice time, but hopefully it changes soon. Let's see if he decides to shake anything up for tomorrow's game. Maybe a Ledin call-up?

I'm starting to really dislike the Jackets..

Over the years, the Avs have never had a problem with the Jackets. Never, ever, ever! But now, the Avs have acquired zero out of a possible six points this season against the only club in the NHL who has never made the playoffs. What is going on here?! Yes, I know the Jackets have gained a lot of young talent over the years through the draft, but shouldn't the Avs at least be able to keep up?! Frustration at it's finest, ladies and gentlemen.

Personally, I figured this game to be a 2-1 final, with the winner possibly coming in OT or even a shootout, based on how the two starting goaltenders had been playing recently. Through two periods, I was ready to crown myself victorious in predicting the final.. until all hell broke loose. In a span of 3:41, five pucks (in order: CBJ, COL, CBJ, CBJ, COL) found the back of the net to give the Jackets a 4-3 lead, which also ended up being the final score. I couldn't really tell what brought on this offensive onslaught by both clubs, but it was definitely the last thing I was expecting.

JML had what I would consider his best game defensivly, as he was constantly out-muscling bigger forwards in the corners to strip them of the puck. This is the kind of play we need from him after his big contract signing this past summer. Let's hope it's here to stay. Marek Svatos scored his first goal in who knows how long, and one could only hope that he has figured out what he's been doing wrong this season and add the offensive firepower the team has gotten from him in the past. If Liles was the team's best player on defense, Chris Stewart was hands down the best on the offensive side of the ice. Not only did he notch an assist on Svatos' goal; not only did he score his own goal in the third to tie the game at two, but he also was credited with four hits in the game as well, and they weren't exactly small little shoves. Stewey was throwing his body around out there like there was no tomorrow, as he should with that size, and is definitely making a case to stay on the team once the injury bug leaves. Also, congrats to one of my favorite players, Cody McLeod. Although he didn't continue his MVP campaign by getting on the scoresheet, he was registered with five hits and three blocked shots. That, my friends, is how you earn a roster spot.

One more thing. I've just about had enough with Darcy Tucker. I've never been one to dislike players on the teams that I live and breathe for, but he's making a case to be the first of his kind. His bonehead move at the end of the Minnesota game last week definitely sticks out in my mind, but a lot of the time he does his best Tyler Arnason impression and just seems completely lost out there. I do not understand Granato throwing him out there with one minute left in a one goal game, but I guess he had his reasons. Unless his play and bonehead penalty-taking change in the second half of the season, I'll be hoping he receives his second contract buy-out in as many years. Good luck Tuck.

Avs beat Wings, Part 2

Yes, that title is true. And while I've been battling not one, but two bouts with the flu since early Monday morning, I somehow found enough strength to make it in front of the tv for this one. I'm not going to write much as I need my sleep, but.. HAHA to any Wings fans out there :). Happy Holidays everyone. I'll be back when I recover fully.

Empty.

I tried as hard as I could to think of one, single, solitary good thing that happened in today's game, but sadly, there is absolutely nothing worthwhile to write about.

Ouch!

CRASH!!!

That's the sound of the Avs falling back down to Earth after an improbable win last night in Detroit. And that's not to say that the Avs didn't play well tonight, because they did. But they just seemed to be a bit outmatched by a better team who wanted it more, and who managed a few lucky bounces on the way. And even as the diehard fans we are, did we REALLY expect the team to dominate a red-hot Flyers team in their home building while the Avs are playing the second game of a back to back? In my heart, I expect the team to win them all, but there's some games that I know will be tougher than others, and this, of course, was one of them.

The Avs started out strong, just as last night, and Paul Stastny was able to score a PPG off what seemed like a broken play as he won the faceoff, and pushed it off the boards to Hejduk or Smyth, but both of them were tied up and the puck managed to find it's way right back to Stastny's stick, which he quickly stick-handled to his forehand to put it in the net. The Flyers didn't allow that lead to last long however, as they got goals by Mike Knuble on the powerplay and a shorthanded goal by Jeff Carter before the end of the period.

The second period saw the Flyers extend their lead to a comfortable 4-1 before David Jones had an absolutely beautiful tip-in on a T.J. Hensick from the point. I was a huge critic of him earlier in the season, partly because Guite was being benched in his favor, but I really think this guy is starting to come around and find his groove on the ice. The second period also saw two fights, the first resulted from Chris Stewart standing up for Jonesy after he took a big hit from Aaron Asham into the Flyers bench. I love Stewart more and more each game, and I feel that he won the fight as well. The second fight was a bout between Lappy and Scott Hartnell. I never knew Hartnell to be much of a fighter, but he definitely was ready for this one with Laperriere.

In the third, the Flyers scored their fifth and final goal of the night, bringing the score to it's final, 5-2 mark.

I really can't put too much blame on the Avs as a whole for this one, as some goals were flukey, and others were just great goals that most goalies wouldn't stand a chance against. They obviously were a bit tired after the game in Detroit last night, and you could sense that about halfway through the game. Jones had another great game, as did Stastny and Smyth, as usual. The Avs travel to the state of Florida next for two games before coming home for one game before the holidays. Barring any unforeseen news in the Avs world, I will be back Thursday to talk about the game against Vinny LeCavalier and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Red Wings win (opposite day edition)

I saw it, but I really don't believe it.. Did the Avs REALLY just beat the Red Wings, in Detroit, with Andrew Raycroft in net??? Pinch me, for I think I am dreaming!

In a game that no Avs fan really thought that they could win (don't deny it!), the Avs pulled off the absolutely unexpected and beat the team that has plagued them for longer than I can remember on their home ice. The team started the game stronger than almost any game this entire season. On a beautiful steal by Wolski in the neutral zone, just a minute into the game, he fed the puck to Tyler Arnason, who dished it back to him as he came in all alone on Osgood, and then proceeded to make Ozzie look like a mere rookie with one of his totally awesome moves usually reserved for the shootout. Just three minutes later, Paul Stastny decided a one goal lead wasn't enough and blasted a wrister top-shelf from the circles on the powerplay. 2-0 in Detroit, four minutes into the game?!?!?! WOW. A few minutes later, the Avs found themselves on the short end of a 5-on-3 with the league's top powerplay unit attacking their backup goaltender. Somehow, no pucks made it in and this probably ended up being the biggest penalty kill of the season thus far. If the Wings had cut the lead to just one that early, I think the entire momentum would've shifted in their favor, and we all know that is an absolutely terrible thing.

Raycroft, or "Rayzor", decided to give his best impression of #33 and came up with a number of huge, statue-of-liberty, glove saves, along with many other incredible saves, including some where he was completely out of position and had to scramble to get back and block the shot (Note: I refuse to actually come out and compare Rayzor to #33 by name, so the number will do for now). Of course, he couldn't stay perfect forever though and let in a second-period goal resulting from a big mess of bodies in front of the net. I won't necessarily place the blame on him on that one, it's just a matter of getting lucky in a situation like that.. every goalie saves some and lets others in.

Early in the third, the top-line, consisting of the Codys and Philippe Dupuis (what?) were battling in front of the net trying to slap the puck in when it seemed like a Detroit defender fell on the puck, aka PENALTY SHOT. I guess Granato felt like those three forwards score way too many goals and wanted to give someone else a shot, so he put the puck on Jordan Leopold's stick, and he proceeded to make Ozzie look like what we thought the goalie across the ice would look like, as he easily buried the puck on the backhand. The Wings managed to get another goal to pull the score to within one, but failed to tie it up in the final minute with no goalie.

To say I'm impressed with this win might be the understatement of the year. As much as I love this team with every fiber of my being, there's just some games that I know will be a loss. Apparently, I don't know this team as well as you would think a fan of 16 years would know a team as they completely surprised the sh*t out of me tonight. Tyler Arnason had a great game (yes, I know, oxymoron), as did David Jones, possibly his best of the year, even though he failed to get on the scoreboard.

Let's hope the team can keep it up as they play the red-hot Flyers tomorrow night. Budaj will be back in net, but it seems that Svatos, Guite, and Tucker will remain out of the lineup, even though they are on the trip with the team.

Blackhawk Down (opposite day edition)

After a two-plus week stretch where the Avs looked like the team that us Avs faithful had hoped and longed for, and gaining 11 out of 16 possible points, the team hit a monstrous wall in the third period (sound familiar?) and fell right back to Earth, where most "experts" had predicted.

The Avs gave up a very early goal on what seemed like a defensive breakdown in front of the net as a bunch of Avs players just stood around, letting Craig Adams skate right up to the puck and put it in the net on a shot that Budaj would've had on one of his good nights. The Avs didn't let them get that down though as MVP #2, Chris Stewart, shot an absolute BOMB from the point, Rob Blake-style, off of a beautiful drop-pass from Lappy, and beat the Bulin Wall top-shelf. This guy is here to stay, my friends, and I couldn't be happier for him. Lappy followed up his assist with a nice tip-in goal in front of the net, coming on the end of a great play by JM-Liles, who had by far his best game of the season. He took the puck from deep in the Avs zone and skated all the way down to nearly the Chicago goal-line, before feeding it to the front of the net as both Lappy and Stewy crashed the net for the tip in. Lappy got his stick on it, and then proceeded to give Johnny one of his patented post-goal kisses and exclaimed something along the lines of "What a f****n play!". As JM was skating across the red-line during the play, I said to my dad, "Look at Bobby Orr out there", and lo and behold, he actually finished the play in Bobby Orr fashion.

The second period didn't see much action, save for the Hawks tying the game at two on yet another goal that Mr. Budaj should've had. Four minutes into the third, however, Wojtek Wolski decided to take the game into his own hands, and made a play that Toews and Kane could only dream of, as he split through two defenders as he crossed the blue-line and made no mistake in burying the puck top-shelf. Could this be the start of a breakout year for Wooly? I sure f'n hope so! However, in the typical Avalanche style that we, as fans, have grown accustomed to since the lockout, the team decided to blow a third period lead, and not even get to overtime to secure a point. Hawks Goal #3 was ANOTHER goal that Budaj 100% should've had, as he let in an extremely weak five-hole goal to someone not necessarily known for scoring. Hawks Goal #4 came three seconds after the end of an Avs penalty, and I think was a result of the players just being dead-tired out there.

This was a very important game for the Avs, as a win would've put them within striking distance of the division lead, but this loss sets them towards the back of the pack, where they've spent most of the season thus far. This was a very winnable game, as the team had the lead with only 10 minutes to go. The loss is a bit inexcusable to me because I really feel they should've won this one, if it weren't for the bad goals Budaj let in. I am a big Budaj supporter, and maybe he was tired from being over-played due to the lack of a quality backup, but he really should've made those saves in a game with this significance. I know you can't win 'em all, but this was one that should've been won by the burgundy and blue.

Game #28 Recap

If you consider yourself an Avs fan, there is no way that Tuesday night's game wouldn't be considered one of the best games of the year. The Avs came out strong, and kept the pressure on for nearly a full 60 minutes, something that is usually not one of their strong points. Just 3:28 into the game, Marek Svatos found the back of the net for the sixth time this season. On the ensuing faceoff, Lappy and Mr. Zeiler got down to business, which every Avs fan across the world was hoping for as Zeiler was the one to knock our poor Footer out of the lineup for nearly three weeks with a dirty hit. Lappy showed him what was up, and easily won the fight. Just 24 seconds later, Milan Hejduk was able to put one past Jason LaBarbera on a beautiful feed from Paul Stastny who was hiding behind the net. As soon as I saw the pass coming from Stazz, I stood up to cheer because I know my Hedjie will always bury that shot. Eight minutes later, Cody McLeod was able to keep his MVP campaign with his fourth goal of the season after knocking Derek Armstrong out of the game earlier in the play, which Mark Rycroft claimed to be "great" in the post-game show.

Two minutes into the second period, Ryan Smyth was able to score the first PPG of the night, on a beautiful feed from behind the net from T.J. Hensick. To be honest, it reminded me of an Andrew Brunette special, but this is not something I expect to see out of Henner every night, unfortunately. Two minutes later marked my favorite Avs moment of the season. Chris Stewart chased down the puck as LaBarbera was playing it in the 'zoid behind the net, and generated a steal. He then fed it to the front where Tyler Arnason failed to put it in (surprised?) but the rebound came right to Mr. MVP, Cody McLeod, who made no mistake in burrying it for his second of the night. However, as soon as he started to celebrate Raitis Ivanans attempted to ruin the party by attacking Cody for being a much better and far sexier player than he could ever dream to be. There was a bunch of pushing and shoving, but no real fights broke out. However, Cody taunted the big guy all the way to the box and even from inside the box as Raitis skated by. I must have watched this clip on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJPQLWEYDcI) nearly 30 times by now, and still crack up every time. I absolutely love the fire and passion that Cody brings to the ice every night, and he is now the leading candidate for the jersey I will buy for next season so long as he gets re-signed. To make things even better, my homie, Chris Stewart, scored his first NHL point (assist) on this play, and I immediately went on facebook to congratulate him. Apparently getting his first NHL point wasn't enough as he followed it up with a short-handed goal on a breakaway later in the second, on which I had to offer my facebook congratulations yet again. Either he thinks I'm the coolest fan in the world, or he's one more "congratulations" post away from deleting me. At this point, it was 6-0, but the Kings managed a PPG of their own from new-comer Oscar Moller, ending Budaj's hope for a shutout.


Nothing major happened in the game after this, as 6-1 was the final, but being in the same room as a Kings fan for this game definitely had it's perks. My fellow Avs fan friend, Paul, and I came home about 10 minutes before game time, and the house was decorated with Kings paraphernalia nearly everywhere from my dear father. However, with each goal scored, I removed one Kings item from it's place and promptly threw it on the floor and stomped on it. Needless to say I was doing a lot of stomping! Fun night in the Hersh house-hold, let me tell you. To make things even better, we put a window-cling with a puck on it on my dad's back-windshield and put an Avs hat next to it, just to rub it in a little bit more (see picture below).

Game #27 Recap

It's been a while yet again, and this past week was weird as it was an Avs-free week for me. Don't think I'm jumping ship at this point, rather, please allow me to explain. I spent the week with my family in lovely Las Vegas, missing three Avs games in the process. But never fear, faithful readers! I recorded not one, not two, but ALL three games on my tivo, and came home Friday night to an absolute Avalanche marathon! Now to make this task a complete success, I had to cut myself off from the Avalanche world for the entire week; no blogs, no Avs site, no nothing. It was tough, especially since my TV rarely leaves ESPN, but I somehow managed to make it five full days only seeing "Stastny: 2g, 1a" scroll across the ESPN's bottom-line during Monday Night Football. Can't win 'em all, right? The Avs seem to live by that rule, so my blog will as well.

So while Friday's Av-tastic (use that word, free of charge) marathon brought a great deal of mixed emotions through our teams efforts, I won't attempt to document all of them as I was running on a week's worth of "Vegas sleep" (about four hours a night or less) and can't remember much worth documenting.

So in that case, we fast forward to tonight's game against the Vancouver Canucks, losers of the last seven against the mighty Colorado Avalanche. Friday marked the first career NHL game of my dear facebook friend, Chris Stewart. While he didn't have a note-worthy debut, it wasn't necessarily bad either. Tonight, however, he appeared to have much more of a jump in his step (skate?), and the coaching staff noticed it as well, putting him on the ice for nearly 13 minutes, up from a mere 7.5 on Friday. This is a guy I've always wanted to see succeed, so although I hate the fact that the injury bug has already launched a full-scale attack on our roster, I'm glad to see him out there as well. As usual, Budaj made a number of huge saves to keep the team in the game, and for once, the team decided to put the necessary amount of pucks in the net to win a high-scoring game. As usual, part two, the RPM line was flying out there, combining for eight points, and a +8 rating. As usual, part three, our shootout shooters were stellar, finding the twine on all three shots. As noted by Shane, I think the Avs might have the most formidable three-some of shooters in the league. Wolski is an absolute beast in shootouts, logging the second best percentage of shootout goals all time, while Svatos and Hejduk aren't exactly slouches either. Budaj seems pretty dang confident in net for shootouts as well, something that plagued him earlier in his young career.

Tuesday night, the Kings and the most hated man in Denver, John Zeiler, travel to the Pepsi Center to take on a pissed-off Lappy and the rest of the squad. The Hersh house will be in it's fourth civil war of the season (three Avs vs Kings games and one fantasy football matchup) with me being the victor over my father on all three occasions. Let's hope this trend continues!

Game #10 Recap

What could be said about this game? The Avs, particularly Andrew Raycroft, looked like an absolute disaster on the ice. The first two goals of the game were given up on nearly identical shots, beating Razor glove-side, top-shelf. To be honest, the only player I noticed making a constant effort on the ice was none other than the team's constant scapegoat for any and every problem, Tyler Arnason. What a shocker there. Maybe he finally realized that his job was in jeopardy and decided to play his heart out last night, and it showed. The only other positives to be taken from this game was the lack of penalties taken, zero minor penalties and three majors for fighting, and a 2 for 4 night on the powerplay. Let's hope the Avs got all of their bad play out of their systems over the last four periods and will come out flying on Sunday against the best in the west, the San Jose Sharks.

Game #8 Recap

Before I get into tonight's game, I apologize for the lack of updates for the last two games. On Monday night, I was consumed by the Patriots on Monday Night Football and with my FFF (fantasy football fate) hanging in the balance, I held off on watching the Avs/Kings game until after football. By the time the game ended, and I had gloated in front of my dad (the world's biggest Kings fan) for a good five minutes, I was too tired to formulate my emotions on the game into coherent thoughts. I then got sick Tuesday morning, and am still trying to fully recover from it.

Luckily, the Avs have kept their win streak alive as it now stands at FIVE, count 'em, five straight games after dropping the first three contests of the season. The latest victim on the way to a 79-3 season were the previously 6-0-1 Buffalo Sabres. I was a bit nervous going into this game after seeing their record this season, and seeing as the Avs haven't truly been tested by a team playing at the top of their game yet this season, but the team seemed to match up pretty evenly against the Sabres. The first period was quite exciting, as their was a ton of action at each end, and hitting galore. Adam Foote got hit in the ankle by a shot early in the game, which seemed to be serious, but a few minutes later, he was back on the ice like the trooper he is. After returning to the ice, he seemed to be playing with an extra step out there, blocking shots, following up his hits, and attempting to fight Adam Mair who cheap-shotted him and then skated away. Jeez! In the second period, Budaj gave up his lone goal-against of the night, and the Avs seemed to be a bit out-played, but managed to keep it a one goal game going into the third. About midway through the third, the ice started to tilt towards the Sabres goal, as Miller was peppered with shots from just about every angle imaginable. The one that happened to go in started on Jordan Leopold's stick, hit off a Sabres' d-man's skate, off another Sabres' helmet, and past a stunned Ryan Miller. Miller instantly darted to the ref calling for goalie interference, but the replayed showed that it was actually his own teammate who bumped into him during the goal sequence. Sorry Ryan! The teams skated to a 1-1 tie in regulation, and again in the overtime period, the ice seemed to be tilted towards Miller. To be honest, if he wasn't such a solid goaltender, I think they would've found a way to put one past him before time expired. However, a shootout was necessary to decide this one. Hejduk made a great move to put one past him, but it was completely over-shadowed by one of Wolski's signature triple-deke moves as he totally faked out Miller. Go Wolski-Goalski! After the original three shooters, the score was still tied. Next up for the Avs was Svatos, who didn't do much of anything with his shot. Luckily, Budaj came up big on the following save, and round five was on! Smyth was up, and buried a wrister below Miller's arm, and Budaj again came up with a big save for his third straight victory, and his second straight one-goal-against game. Did he see Raycroft's winning streak as a challenge? WHO CARES! This is the Budaj we need this year and he finally seems to be finding his groove.

Positives from the night have to start with Budaj's play. Also, this was the first game that the penalty kill didn't allow a goal! I'm really loving the consistency in the line-up, especially with the defensive pairings. The six defenders seem to be really getting a feel for each other on the ice and are learning to trust each other to be in the right place at the right time. No more Q line-juggling please! The fourth line was a bit invisible tonight which upsets me a bit since those are three of my favorite Avs, but what can you do. I expect a bounce-back game from all three of them come Tuesday night. I was sad to see Mr. McCormick sit tonight, but Davey Jones proved me wrong and was strong on the puck all night and definitely deserved to be out there. All in all, an extremely solid performace from the boys, and they proved to the league that they can play with the big boys. From the looks of things, this will be a VERY exciting season, and I can't wait!

Also, thanks to Shane over at AvsTalk for posting that great picture of Tucker.

Game #5 Recap

Another game, another win. You know, I could really get used to this. In what seemed like a blowout but became a nail-biter, the Avs came out on top for their second straight win. A 5-2 lead at the start of the third period quickly became 5-4, and very nearly a 5-5 tie, if not for Brendan Morrow punching the tying puck in the net with his glove. Once again, the Avs powerplay was effective, finishing 2 for 7 with powerplay tallies by both Milan Hejduk and Ryan Smyth. Overall, Raycroft seemed more comfortable in net than he did in Thursday's contest, though there were times where he was caught way out of position and paid for it by giving up "soft" goals. But as with last game, a win is a win, no matter how it happens.

Milan Hejduk is absolutely on fire this year, with five goals in five games thus far. He is dominant on the powerplay, and is making some great defensive plays as well when he needs to. After a couple years where he was nearly forgotten, though still putting up decent numbers, I think this is the year where he completely returns to form and joins the elite players of the league once again. Sakic and Stastny both have a goal and seven assists each so far in the first five games and show no signs of slowing down. Paul Stastny might be the most under-rated player in the NHL as he gets nearly no press coverage at all but is consistently one of the best players in the game. Wolski seems to be coming into his own as well this year, putting up a pair of assists in this game, both coming from his hard work in the offensive zone, which he had previously been criticized constantly for.

As much as I miss seeing Guite on the ice, the "punch" line looks like it's here to stay. With all three members, Cody Mac 1, Cody Mac 2, and Lappy getting in fights against the Stars, the name seems more than fitting. The three of them play extremely well together, and never stop working for that puck. This line could be just what the team needs for a fourth line to round out the lineup each night.

Game #4 Recap

To quote our own Mike Haynes, "HE DID IT! HE DID IT! MILAN HEJDUK WINS IT FOR THE AVS!". If you don't recall, he shouted those very words on March 18, 2007 when the Avs beat the Sharks in overtime to keep them in the playoff race. Now of course, this game wasn't nearly as important as that one, and Hejduk's goal wasn't in overtime, but it was still the game winner and came on the powerplay, one of the team's Achilles' heels from last season.

Overall, this was a very solid game played in all three zones by the Avs, though I really don't know how much can be said about the effort from the Flyers. In reality, they barely showed up to play.

Andrew Raycroft got his first start of the season, and while he didn't necessarily do anything incredible, he also didn't completely blow the game and got that ever-elusive first win of the season that Mr. Peter Budaj is still searching for. To be honest, I really think he just got lucky that they were matched against what seems to be a somewhat incompetent Flyers squad, because there were many times where he seemed out of position or just plain confused out there. The only goals he gave up were on a penalty shot (which 100% should not have been called), and on a 5-on-3 Mike Richards blast from the point that our own savior Patrick Roy would've had a hard time stopping.

A big positive we can take from this game is the powerplay, which finished 3 of 11 for a 27% completion rate. Not too shabby if you ask me, especially compared to last season. Also, two of the three goals were scored with Sakic down low, as opposed to his typical spot on the point, which I and other Avs fans have been begging to change. I hope Granato realizes this and it wasn't just a fluke, as I know on one of the goals, he started on the point but shifted down low on his own. See? Joe knows where he belongs! Also, Cody McCormick made another huge statement for the roster spot that he definitely deserves, by making a great play on the forecheck to strip the Flyers player from the puck, allowing David Jones to take over, and then darting to the net to receive the pass on a 2-on-1 and roof it over Biron for the goal. PLEASE keep the Cody Mac attack in the lineup, but also put my Ben back :(. Please?

Game #3 Recap

Another game, another loss. I don't know about you guys but I'm not exactly fond of this trend, and there's still 79 games left to play. For the third straight game, the Avs were tied going into the 3rd period, SCORED A GOAL in the third period, but managed to let in not one, but TWO goals in the 3rd and were never able to overcome that deficit in any of the three games.

As with last year, the Avs biggest problem seems to be the PK unit. Last year, the team finished 28th in the league on the penalty kill. As of right now, even though the season is only a week old, the Avalanche are ranked dead last in the league with a 58.3% Penalty Killing percentage. The Flames came into this game 0 for 13 on the powerplay on the season, yet somehow managed to overcome their previous shortcomings and burn Budaj for THREE powerplay goals against. I don't know what it is about this group that has so much trouble killing penalties, though I'm pretty sure that David Jones isn't the answer to this team's problems. He somehow racked up 2:17 of ice time on the penalty kill last night, but, at least to me, remained pretty much non-existent out there, as he has during even strength situations as well so far this season.

In my opinion, at least for now, David Jones should be riding the bench in favor of Cody McCormick as he had an excellent game out there last night, racking up an assist on the first goal of the game scored by his fellow Cody Mac, a +1 rating on the night, and a fight against Jarome Iginla, who was so scared of him that he wouldn't even remove his helmet with a visor. Talk about a baby! I think Cody made an extremely solid effort out there last night to try and convince Granato that he's worthy of a roster spot each game, and to be honest, I hope Granato rewards him with that.

As for the rest of the game, the Avs powerplay unit has been looking better than last year already, scoring two goals last night on six chances, leaving them with a 21.4% powerplay conversion percentage to start the year. Not too shabby, if you ask me. However, I still strongly believe that Sakic needs to be moved off of the point once and for all. No goalie is going to be scared of a Sakic slapshot from the point. But put him on his off-wing side by the net and goalie's league-wide will be shaking in their skates in fear of that deadly wrister that he's so famous for. If this was my team, my first powerplay unit would consist of Hejduk, Stastny, and Sakic up front, with Liles and Leopold manning the points. Someone please pass this along to Tony so maybe we can finally see this in action!

Tomorrow is Game #4 against our old friend Ossi Vaananen and the Philadelphia Flyers. I will have a quick pre-game write-up at some point before the game tomorrow so be on the lookout for that.

One more thing, Cody McLeod scored YET AGAIN (and received the Mike Haynes call of the year thus far, "THE CODY'S DID IT!"), putting him on pace for a whopping 55 goals on the year. MVP! MVP! MVP!

Game #1 Recap

So the season, and home opener, has come and gone, and has left us with a loss. Starting the season 0-1 is never the way you hope for, but with 81 games remaining, an 81-1 record for a 98.7 winning percentage is still possible.. pretty good in my books. While there are many question marks on the back-end with the defensemen and Budaj giving up five goals (I'd only put the blame on him for two of them, however), we can take many positives from the team's offensive production from this game. Coach G wasn't lying when he said that he would bring an up-tempo offense to our team this season, as opposed to Q's dump and chase method. The team seemed to be buzzing in the offensive zone for a good portion of the night, and fired off 39 shots on goal, compared to only 20 for the Bruins. Looking at that stat only, you'd almost guarantee a victory, but alas we could not put the cat in the hat, as the coach on the NHL network commercials would say. It's always nice to see d-men getting involved offensively, and we seemed to have a great night on that front as Liles had two assists, Leopold had a goal, and Salei added an assist as well. All in all, we can take a lot of good and a lot of bad from this game. I think the team knows what they need to do and will be able to make the necessary adjustments to pull out the first win of the season tonight in Edmonton.


Also, Cody McLeod is currently on pace for 82 goals this season. Hart trophy anyone???