Avs Hammer the Oil

After a great performance on Saturday against the New Jersey Devils, Avs fans were wondering if this team would keep their foot on the pedal against the Oil or play down to the competition.

Going into tonight’s game against the Oil I couldn’t help but be a bit surprised by this quote by Ethan Moreau, “We’re not exactly on fire when we had everybody healthy, so things haven’t changed much,” made after the Sharks loss and regarding members of the team having the flu.  Wow, inspirational Capt. Morose.  No wonder I’ve heard trade rumors. 

I thought, if the Avs can’t beat this team then they have a serious issue.

I guess a 6-0 win by the Avs answers that.

The Oil haven’t had a win yet in 2010, and tonight wasn’t any different.

But, say what you will about where the Oil are in the standings, they still like to skate and the game started off fast and hard hitting.

With Milan Hejduk out of the line up, the Avs top 6 forwards average age tonight was 22 years old.

The first big hit of the night came when Jean-Francois Jacques hammered Ryan Wilson into the boards.  Wilson made the critical mistake of turning to the boards at the last second and though he finished the period he did not return for the rest of the game.  It’s no surprise an Oil player was looking to drill Wilson; he’s quickly building a reputation around the league as a hard hitting player.

The Avs started the scoring at even strength with a shot from the point by John-Michael Liles who would eventually rack up 4 points in the game.

The second goal would come on a 5 on 3 power play, going to the rookie Matt Duchene.

Duchene would end the night with 2 goals and an assist, taking the lead in the rookie scoring race.

Chris Stewart continued his hot streak with a tip-in goal in the second.

Kyle Cumiskey would put in the next two goals with Duchene capping off the night with the last goal of the night.

Duchene must be feeling pretty good about the two for the night and seems to be off the schnide at home.  Duchene recently apologized to the Avs fans for not scoring more goals at home. 

Duchene is maintaining his lead in the rookie scoring title just as the Avs are holding the first place spot in the Northwest division.

The Avs have been taking advantage of the losing ways of their fiercest competition in the division.  The Flames are on a losing streak started by the Avs in an OTL last Monday.  The Flames have been spiraling ever since. 

Despite the Avalanche losing a lot of point production from last season with the trade of Ryan Smyth (59 points) and injuries this year to Jones and Svatos, Wojtek Wolski and Milan Hejduk have been steady. 

But now Hejduk is out with knee surgery.  The timing here was obviously planned well ahead of time.  Hejduk decided to forego the Olympics to get healthy for this team.  Why?  Because he knows a good thing when he sees it.  This will give him plenty of time to recover and get back in the flow by the time the playoffs start.  And this team does need a healthy Hejduk to compete in the playoffs. 

And yes, that is now a foregone conclusion.  Avs fans can stop saying ‘if’ and stop praying to the hockey gods.  It will happen.  They will make the playoffs.

What more is this team going to have to do to be taken seriously?  At least Don Cherry has taken notice, he was babbling on about Joe Sacco and Chris Stewart on HNIC the other night.  So maybe the secret is out? 

Because even if people don’t take the Avs seriously, they take Don Cherry seriously…er…

How about it folks?  Are the Avs for real?