After a long absence, I am back. School, friends visiting from out of town, and vacations have all kept me away, but I am looking to get back to writing on a regular basis. A lot has happened in the Avalanche world in the month since my last post. I was in Denver for the last three games in the month of January, and the Avs decided to honor the fact that I traveled 1,000 miles to see them by losing all three games. However, I didn't let those games ruin my trip. I truly love the city of Denver and definitely plan on moving there at some point in the near future. I was able to attend two practices and meet a bunch of the players as well. If you'd like to read more about my trip and see pictures from around the city, I have a travel blog that I kept regularly on my Denver trip, which you can view by clicking on the profile link found on this blog.
The Avs have been up and down since then, which is really nothing new (though they did beat the Red Wings for the THIRD straight time this season), but they look to get a huge boost tonight as Paul Stastny returns to the line-up tonight in Atlanta after missing the last 26 (hey, isn't that his number?) games since suffering a broken forearm against the Coyotes way back in December. If the going rate for games missed due to injury corresponds to your number, let's hope Ryan Smyth never gets hurt again. Please, and thank you. According to the Denver Post, he was skating on a line in practice with Cody McLeod on his left and Milan Hejduk on his right. This is a line I absolutely love and can't wait to see in action tonight. I assume Willsie will be the odd-man-out of the lineup tonight, though part of me would prefer to see Tucker sit, despite his decent play recently.
Showing posts with label Wings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wings. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sunday, December 28, 2008
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.
Monday, December 15, 2008
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.
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.
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