Avalanche Split the East Coast Trip

Friday night the Colorado Avalanche continued their road warrior ways, leading the NHL in road games the Avs played back-to-backs at Carolina and Buffalo. 

Joe Sacco appears to be warming up to the conventional thinking of most coaches of playing the backup in these situations.  Previously Sacco has ridden Craig Anderson through nearly every game of the season, but with Anderson out for as few games Sacco had little choice but to play Peter Budaj in the month of December.  Budaj didn’t disappoint with five games resulting in a 1.21 GAA and 0.962 SV% though only a 3-2 record.

The Avs and Carolina could have called it a game after a 1^st period that included two fights, 15 penalties and one sweet goal by and old veteran.  The 2^nd and 3^rd weren’t really worth watching after a first filled with such excitement.  It all started with Darcy Tucker and Tuomo Ruutu squaring off.  Apparently a phone call Ruutu made to Tucker apologizing that hit in October wasn’t going to cut it.  It was a good fight and you would think that the Avs would be energized by it, but the referee’s seemed determined to calm things down from the beginning.  Shortly after the fight Cody McLeod made a great hit on Aaron Ward and was thrown in the box for charging.  It was a dubious call and Ray Whitney was able to make the Avs pay with a nifty fake in front of the net.  Captain Adam Foote had lost his stick allowing an easy pass to Whitney who turned rookie defenseman Ryan Wilson and goalie Peter Budaj inside-out.

The Avs had chance after chance in the 1^st with five power play opportunities and could not take advantage of them.  Again the referee’s, in an attempt to manage the game, were extremely quick with the whistles in front of Cam Ward and several times the puck was clearly in play but the play was blown dead. 

The Avs problem Friday night was…well, everything.  Despite having their foot to the floor throughout the first, nothing was working for the Avs, they couldn’t score on FIVE PP’s, and they could barely keep it in the zone.  After that they just took their foot off the gas and quit playing hard. 

Whitney scored another in the second and the Avs finally put one in the net (Yip) with 15 seconds left in the game.  It wasn’t as close as the score made it look.  It didn’t help that the Avs lost Adam Foote in the game to injury.  He was returned to Denver and isn’t expected to return for the rest of the trip.

After that disaster the Avs jumped on a plane and headed for Buffalo.  The Sabres decided to give Ryan Miller the night off and start Lalime.  A perfect chance for the Avs to bounce back: though they had no chance of bouncing back into first place in the division.  With the Canucks and Flames sitting at 55 points and the Avs at 54, the NHL schedulers just happened to put the ‘Nucks and Flames up against each other tonight.  For the Avs sake it better not turn into a 3 point game.

Everything the Avs couldn’t do right the night before looked like it was second nature to them tonight against the Buffalo Sabres.  Matt Duchene scored two goals.  Brandon Yip scored his 5^th goal in 10 games since being called up.  Kyle Quincey was pressed into extreme minutes with the injury to Foote, logging 29 minutes two nights in a row and emerging with his +/- unscarred. 

The 1^st period saw the Avs score twice and just own the puck.

In the 2^nd period the Avs allowed a power play goal but came right back to keep the two goal lead.

Did I say the Avs were doing everything right?  Well, that is until the 3^rd period rolled around.  Then it was time for one of the very consistent parts of the Avs game this year: letting teams back in the game.  At one point late in the period the Avs were being out shot 15-4!  Halfway through the 3^rd Thomas Vanek makes a goal and the Avs help a little with some bad defensive coverage.  With 4:12 left Buffalo ties it up on a crazy-lucky shot by Jochen Hecht.  It was a completely blind shot from the point that threaded its way through no less than five guys.  Craig Anderson never saw it coming until it was way too late.  This is where the game becomes a shooting gallery with the Sabres trying to get the winning goal and the Avs doing a lot of standing around. 

The Sabres didn’t get a goal in those last few minutes and in fact gave the Avs a power play that carried over into to overtime.  No one scored in the OT but it was perhaps the most fun five minutes of hockey I have seen in a long time.  Full of odd-man rushes, great steals and great scoring chances, but it wasn’t meant too be and the shoot out was up next.

The Avs have a penchant for these really long shoot outs.  This one went 11 rounds!!  The Avs could have won it several times as Buffalo chose to go first.  But finally it was Matt Hendricks that was the hero.  As unlikely a hero as ever you have seen, skating down the ice like he was in cement he wildly kicked his leg back as though to shoot and veered off to Lalime’s glove side to put the puck in just out of reach of a sprawling and surely embarrassed goalie.  Hendricks’ teammates mobbed him against the boards and on the plane ride to Calgary they will no doubt be talking about the worst fake they’ve ever seen. 

But it worked, and that’s all that counts. 

Up next: Calgary and another shot at 1^st in the Northwest!