The game opened with the Nashville Predators going up by a 2-0 margin with opportunistic scoring. Shea Weber tallied his 15th goal of the season just as a Predators power play expired. Weber crashed the net and was able to flip a wrister past Colorado netminder Peter Budaj at 4:16 of the opening period. The Predators were very good at establishing pressure on the power play, and though the Avs got Brandon Yip out of the box- where he was serving the too many men on the ice penalty- the Predators continued to control the play. Joel Ward put a shot on net and Weber was able to get the rebound and put it past Budaj to give the Preds a 1-0 lead.

The Predators would stretch the lead to 2-0 at 11:36 of the first as Kevin Klein would put a shot on net that Budaj kicked out with his pad. Matt Halischuk was crashing the net and gathered in the rebound and lifted the puck over the pad of Budaj for his second goal of the season. The play was started by Blake Geoffrion, who stole the puck in the Avs zone and passed the puck to Klein for the shot. The young guys- Geoffrion and Halischuk had a strong game for the Predators tonight.

In the first period, Nashville netminder Pekka Rinne was called upon to make a few good saves, but generally the Predators controlled the play in the period.

That would change in the second period, as the Avalanche turned up the intensity and it appeared as if the Predators were a step slow and unable to match the level of play of the Avs. In this period, the Avalanche outshot the Predators 16-8 and controlled much of the play. This was in part to the Predators taking penalties, including giving Colorado 1:43 of a two man advantage, which they were able to kill.

Colorado would make it 2-1 at 4:15 of the second as they swarmed the Predators net. Rinne made several saves, but was finally beaten by Ryan O’Reilly to cut the deficit to 1. Momentum and energy were definitely in favor of the Avalanche.

Joel Ward would re-establish the Predators two goal advantage at 13:31 with a beautiful goal. Ward would intercept a pass from Jay McClement at the face off circle. He took a stride toward the net and faked a slapshot to draw Budaj out of the net. Ward pulled the puck back and drove to the net, tucking it into the goal from behind the goal line for his 10th goal of the year and his third straight game with a goal. Wardo was deft in his handling of the puck and patient in drawing Budaj out of the net for the scoring opportunity.

Colorado was not going away easily, however, and they once again cut the deficit to one goal at 19:30 as Daniel Winnik Took a shot from the point. The puck was going wide of the net but hit the skate of Colin Wilson and skittered past Rinne into the net.

This set up a third period that would hang in the balance and would require the Predators to match the intensity of the Avalanche to secure the win.

The Predators responded with a much better defensive effort in the third period, holding Colorado to 9 shots while recording 8 of their own. Rinne was solid in the third period and shut the door on the Avs offensive effort. The defense did a better job of limiting second chances and forcing many of the Avs shots from the outside.

Marty Erat would ice the game with an empty netter at 19:58 of the third for the final margin of 4-2.

This was a game the Predators had to have, yet it was a game in which the Predators effort was less than their best. The fact that they persevered and came away with the win is a sign of the growth of this team. They will have to win some ugly games in this stretch drive. They will have to match the intensity of some desperate teams. They will have to find ways to win games that will not make highlight reels.

Contributions will have to come from all the lines, and it won’t necessarily be things that show up on the score sheet. Things like Jordin Tootoo being willing to drop the gloves like he did tonight against Ryan Wilson, pounding him to the ice and energizing his team and the crowd. Things like taking hits to make plays. Things like winning battles for the puck.

At times, the Avs dominated play. The fact that this team refused to wilt in the face of that pressure will serve them well.

The battles will continue and the road to the playoffs will not get an easier.

Keep battling like you did tonight, and you will be successful.

My three stars:

1. Joel Ward

2. Pekka Rinne

3. Matt Halischuk

But now all bets are off. With the addition of Kevin Shattenkirk, Ryan O’Byrne and Matt Hunwick, and now the subtraction of Scott Hannan, there are a lot of changes going on. All this shuffling is of course(?) due to a rash of injuries. But if all of these players continue to play well, the Avs are going to have too many blueliners when everyone is healthy.

Kyle Quincey has already shown signs of being in the dog house and is perhaps only playing due to the injuries. The return of Adam Foote may not force Coach Sacco’s hand, yet. He has been willing to play seven defensemen many times this season. But eventually the injured Kyle Cumiskey’s return will force the situation.

Many have wondered if the Avs really needed two undersized, speedy puck handling defensemen, Liles and Cumiskey. With the addition of Hunwick the question becomes more pertinent.

Suddenly this is a notably different defense. It’s younger and faster and possibly even more physical. Though Hunwick is described as undersized, you can’t say that about O’Byrne, so the size of the squad isn’t much changed and frankly, one can’t be much less physical than Hannan. Hunwick may be smallish but he fights a lot better than Hannan.

Ryan Wilson, O’Byrne and Foote will be expected to lead with the forearm when it comes to toughness. Just ask the Capitals fans, toughness is an important part of the defensive makeup of any blueline squad. So despite Wilson’s lack of smart play as of late he still adds an important aspect to the defensive scheme. Too many mistakes however could very well lead to the dog house.

John-Michael Liles
John-Michael Liles has become everything you could want in the speedy, puck handling defense man that many thought Cumiskey would be, would have to be with the non-stop trade talk swirling around Liles on an annual basis. But Cumiskey hasn’t progressed in his defensive responsibility, and as well as Liles is playing the Avs would have to be batty to think about trading the guy no matter what the offer. Besides, the departure of Hannan allows/demands Liles to step into a veteran leadership role on the blueline. That leadership is something that is going to be sorely needed come next year with the expected retirement of Foote.

With Liles just hitting 30, the Avs now have only one defenseman over 30. Hunwick’s three years of experience is essentially replacing Hannan’s twelve years of experience. For a defense that was universally panned at the beginning of the season you’ve got to wonder if it’s going in the right direction. But you can’t say it isn’t different.

Colby Cohen trade: Good or Bad?
Cohen may or may not have been the future of the young defense in Colorado. But why wait for the future when you can have it now? Not a Ray Bourque kind of now, but a more experienced and seasoned defenseman in Hunwick that the green Holøs, Cohen and even Shattenkirk don’t offer. Don’t get me wrong on Shattenkirk, he looks great so far but he’s still green. The Avs can ill-afford that much inexperience on the blueline and when it comes to trades, you’ve got to give to get.

Retooling on the Fly
What the Capitals learned last season is that you can’t necessarily win the Cup with scoring. The Avs, sending a solid, stay at home defenseman to the Caps might mean that they weren’t watching the first round of the playoffs in the spring. Sure, the Avs are forth in the league in scoring but they are also seventh in goals against. So trading a solid defender like Scott Hannan is risky. Isn’t it? Hannan played an average of over 20 minutes per game and PK time as well that will need to be filled.

On the other hand, O’Byrne can pick up the PK work and Foote will be back soon. Hunwick will be expected to add to the PP, something that the Avs thought was fixed with the addition of Peter Mueller. But that injury situation is as unknown as Mueller’s return date.

Last year this time coach Sacco said the team was in a must win situation. That is neither here nor there now, but it was pretty obvious that the Avs, this year, were in a must trade situation. It isn’t an easy accomplishment at this time of year and the Avs are to be commended for getting this one done.

So I’m not sure if this is the right direction for the Avs defense but there’s no denying that it is different. And since I wasn’t real impressed with last year’s squad I’m certainly willing to give this new look a chance.

Ryan Wilson is a guy that plays a different game, a physical game. That’s the game Sacco wants out of at least part of his defense. Holøs doesn’t offer that physical game and though Shattenkirk isn’t the biggest guy he has been delivering the hits as well as blocks. But with the points Shatty is putting on the score sheet there’s just no way Sacco can justify sitting him.

A few stats comparing Holøs to Wilson: over roughly the same number of games, Wilson and Holøs have about the same +/- rating and they each have a couple assists. However, Wilson has 27 hits to Holøs’ 4 and Wilson has 26 blocked shots whereas Holøs has eleven. The difference between those two numbers is huge.

New acquisition, Ryan O’Byrne brings the same kind of grit to the game; in fact since he has arrived he is even ahead of Wilson when it comes to hits and blocks.

Think the Avs are missing Brett Clark a little?

Here’s a surprising stat for you, John-Michael Liles leads this team in blocks with 39, that’s only 6 behind Brett Clark. Liles is nearly on pace to double his blocks from last season. More bonus: earlier this season in an Avalanche round table, I said Liles was about as likely to hit 40 points this season as Adam Foote. Oops. Guess I blew that one. With 20 points already it seems unlikely Liles can miss that mark. If there’s one thing I like to see its Sacco and Liles getting along, no dog house for Liles, just him playing lights out.

The Avs situation on the blueline isn’t likely over yet. Kyle Quincey has been a healthy scratch since returning from injured reserve. Quincey was a regular top pairing for most of last year but did spend some time in the dog house, late in the season. Though that didn’t keep the Avs from re-signing him in the off season.

Kyle Cumiskey is still out with an injury and his return is likely to further complicate the crowded blueline.

Compare and Contrast

The play of Matt Duchene and Chris Stewart is interesting to observe. While Stewart leads the Avs in both points and goals, Duchene is struggling to put up goals. The odd thing about is that in any given game, Matt Duchene is hard to miss out there on the ice. He’s often dashing into the zone with the puck, and it’s not unusual to see him behind the net turning a defenseman inside out with his stops, starts and sparkling puck handling.

Chris Stewart, on the other hand, can spend minutes on the ice where I don’t notice a thing. Sure he’s working hard and skating hard, but it isn’t flashy. In fact, unless he is scoring a goal, you are more likely to notice Stewart defending a teammate in a tussle. The thing is: he’s scoring goals.

Matt Duchene is not. It’s eerily like the beginning of last year for the sophomore. He pulls some sweet move on the defenseman, gets open and fires the puck just to have it bing off the iron or just miss that sliver of net the goalie left open. Almost, but no cigar. Where I’m seeing too much of Matt Duchene is in the sin bin. He has had way too many penalties that have nothing to do with aggressive play. His first NHL fight Monday night may well have had as much to do with his frustration as it did with the generally chippy nature of that particular game.

Defending the Caveman

The Avs were suffering injuries in such numbers that some very young players were forced into service. The defensive corps was hit so hard that they were forced to make a hasty trade for an experienced defenseman. But with the return of Ryan Wilson and Adam Foote, and despite Colby Cohen and David Liffiton’s return to the farm team, the Avs will soon have eight healthy blueliners.
What to do? Well, here’s what you don’t do. You don’t sit Ryan Wilson.

Yes, Shattenkirk has looked good on this call up and Holøs has played a smart game. But neither player gives the Avalanche the fearsome hitting capabilities that Wilson brings to the Avs blueline. The best thing about Wilson’s physical play is that he knows when it’s appropriate. Rarely does Wilson make a huge hit that takes him out of the play. He’s a smart checker. Considering the occasional brain freeze I’ve seen in every young Avalanche defenseman, I’ll take the physical game Wilson brings. Wilson should play.

The Avs, forced to call up a bevy of rookies, suddenly shifted to the youngest team in the NHL. Jonas Holøs is the grizzled vet amongst the boys with ten games to his credit. The other three, David Liffiton, Colby Cohen and Kevin Shattenkirk total twelve games of NHL experience.

All those young guys on defense would be enough to make any knowledgeable fan wince at the sight of a D that young taking the ice in a season this young.

The kids had a nice showing on Saturday night and elated fans and bloggers were ready to trade the Kyles and give the young guys a chance. Growing pains be damned. And after a 5 – 0 beat-down of the Dallas Stars over the weekend it’s easy to forget just how painful they can be. Easy until it costs the team a game, or a ½ dozen.

But for now Sacco seems willing to play his young guys in every situation, but then he doesn’t have much of a choice, does he? Most of these kids are playing more minutes than they are years old.

For now, Avs fans are going to have to live with Quincey. He just signed and probably isn’t going anywhere soon. But Cumiskey does seem like a commodity that would be available for trade. And while Wilson’s steady play, hard hits and willingness to fight at an especially low salary would be desirable for any team, it’s just the reason the Avs should keep him.

Next year Foote will surely retire, opening the way for yet another defenseman to step in on a permanent basis. As the injuries begin to clear up, why not let the kids duke it out for top dog? It will make them all better by the end of the season.

During the game the Avs lost two more players to injuries. David Van Der Gulik is reported out indefinitely with a knee injury and T.J. Galiardi is reported to have a broken wrist. On the bright side at least they aren’t defensemen?

Along the Dashers

• Colby Cohen spotted making some nice outlet passes but made a critical mistake late that cost the Avs at least a point.
• As of Tuesday, Colorado had 45 man-games lost to injury, second most in NHL.
• Chris Stewart scored his 100th career point in the Calgary game.
• Kevin Porter was doling out hits and racking up points. Might be getting tired of the bus tour in Erie
• Brandon Yip was credited with a Gordie Howe hat trick in Saturday’s game. Sorry, but that’s hardly a fight.

There were a lot of stellar performances on this team last season, not the least of which was the rookie bench minder, Joe Sacco.

Will Sacco’s tough demeanor get old quickly with these guys? Is it possible that Sacco’s style could become detrimental? Have the team veterans been acting as a buffer? The assistants? Will that remain stable?

I do not think this team is deep on defense. I believe as the season progresses the loss of Brett Clark will be noticeable. Can Ryan Wilson have another good season sans head injuries? The Avs have many promising looking rookies coming into camp. They may look promising but the one or perhaps two that make the team will obviously be rookies and that brings with it all the adjustments to the big league play.

This year the team has a serious lack of veteran leadership on the ice. Are Adam Foote and Milan Hejduk enough? Last year it became apparent to me that while Darcy Tucker didn’t do squat on the ice, he was clearly important off the ice. Have the young guns learned enough to take the reins by themselves? We shall see, but I sure would have liked to see one more grizzly, old vet signed.

If Peter Mueller thinks he has escaped the expectations that were dogging him in the desert, he’s got another thing coming. The fans and media have anointed him the Golden Boy of the Power Play and that won’t change this year. And the Avs need that power play to perform. Perhaps more importantly they need the penalty kill to perform and where that savior is going to come from is not readily apparent to me. Basically the same guys are going to have to do better. A lot better.

If this team stays healthy it will certainly look different up front. And like last year, will the youth movement mean more of the same? Periods of exuberant and brilliant playing mixed with 3rd period collapses and head-shaking mistakes? But…they still won a slot in the playoffs. What about this year?

It’s time for training camp and I’ll be there over the weekend so expect a report from camp. And as usual the Avalanche will wrap camp with the traditional Burgundy and White charity game on Monday night. I’ll likely have a recap of that as well.

The experts knew this too and the last thing they gave the Avalanche was respect.

They were predicted to finish anywhere from 14^th in the conference to just out of the playoffs, anywhere but where they are now.

And as it turns out the rookies have been a key to their success.

No one was really surprised that Matt Duchene has succeeded.  It’s expected.  And after a bit of adjustment early in the season Duchene has moved up to third in scoring on the team and leads all rookies in the league.  He’s had 6 points in the last five games.

Ryan O’Reilly doesn’t shine in the stats column but Coach Joe Sacco clearly has faith in the kid and often puts him on the ice in critical defensive situations.

And as the injuries have piled up even more rookies have been called upon to contribute. 

First it was Ryan Wilson, a defenseman that hadn’t even sniffed the big time.  A few injuries soon changed that and he found himself paired with grizzled veteran and team captain Adam Foote.  He started playing bigger and bigger minutes and displaying his big hits as well.  I wrote a player profile on Wilson that you can read here.

Since Brandon Yip came up he has been on fire.  In his fifteen games with the Avs, Yip has scored 6 goals and 11 points including the game winner against Nashville Friday night.

After a good weekend for the Avalanche, grabbing four points and holding the division lead, the team will be idle for three days.  But the red-hot Canucks are in action Monday and Wednesday, giving them plenty of opportunity to grab the lead from the Avalanche.

The Preds have won six of their last ten.  They’ve recently been on a mini-tour of the Northwest division that has resulted in a 3-1 record.  That’s good for the Avs but of course the Avs need to make that 3-2. 

Not to take anything away from how well the Avs have been playing as of late but the losing streak the Flames went on (assisted by the Preds) is just another aspect of how well things are going for this young Avalanche team. 

But the Preds have been hot on the road and after a tough loss at home the other night they were probably ready to hit the road. The Preds will be playing the Avs in the second of a back-to-back after falling to Phoenix.  

And although the Avs haven’t been home much they do have a good record, 13-6-2. 

So something is going to have to give.

The predators are coming off a poor showing at home and they will be looking to the road to cure what ails. 

Speaking of ails, the Avalanche are hurting a bit as they head into this game.  Ryan Wilson took a nasty hit in the Oilers game on Monday and is out with a concussion.  Adam Foote is still out with an ankle injury as is Matt Hendricks and Milan Hejduk went under the knife recently.  Oh and Marek Svatos is out, like anyone notices either way.  For a team that seemed overstocked on defense when the season started, they sure are short on them now.  Former Notre Dame defenseman Wes O’Neill was recalled from Lake Erie to fill in if Foote is unavailable. 

Let’s hope that Matt Duchene continues the home scoring streak for us fans and keeping the lead in rookie scoring would just be icing on the cake.

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?

Wilson’s time in the OHL with the Sarnia Sting was very successful; he led all defensemen in scoring for two straight seasons.  His final season with the Sting saw him netting seven goals and 64 assists for 71 points in 58 games.  Wilson also wore the “C” for the Sting for two years and totaled 220 PIM.

But despite a year on the Flames farm he never got a chance to play up in Calgary. 

So how did Colorado end up with this rough and tumble diamond?  He came over when Colorado traded Jordan Leopold for Wilson, Lawrence Nycholat and a 2^nd in the 2009 draft.  Most Avs fans thought little of the two warm bodies that were thrown in to the trade.  At the time I was thrilled to get a 2^nd for Leopold after a pretty disappointing, injury-riddled stint in Colorado.

Looks like James Crider over at the Bleacher Report agrees with me in his midterm grades:

Ryan Wilson – B

Okay, former GM Francois Giguere did one thing right. Wilson was practically a throw in during the trade that sent Jordan Leopold to Calgary last year, yet has established himself as solid NHLer in no time, and has arguably been better than Leopold ever was in his three-year tenure with the Avalanche.

Wilson only played three games for the Avs farm team before being called up.  He hasn’t been back ever since.  Not even when the Avs had a log-jam of healthy bodies on the blue line.  No, the big $$ John-Michael Liles got the healthy scratch and Sacco raised a few eyebrows with that move.  But it’s hard to blame him, the kid is a player!

Wilson’s been paired primarily with Avs captain and grizzled vet, Adam Foote.  No doubt he’s been learning a great deal from Foote all season. 

We’re overdue to look at some stats: Wilson is 3rd in +/- and 7th in the league in rookie defensemen for points, but it isn’t just about points.

Wilson is 3rd in the league in hits, and although he doesn’t have a lot of take-aways, he doesn’t have a lot of give-aways either.  I mean you look at a guy like Tyler Myers that is getting some Calder talk and the guy has twice the give-aways of any other rookie in the league. 

Now compare him to a guy like Del Zotto who leads the league in hits, but has a lot more give-aways and I think you’ll see what I see: Wilson doesn’t hit guys just to hit them.  He picks his spots and lays the lumber like we haven’t seen in Denver since Rob Blake left. 

Let’s look at one of his biggest and somewhat controversial hits.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It really makes the opposition think twice about skating into the zone with the puck or with your head down, oops.  Personally I don’t want the other team thinking, “Hey look, it’s Liles, I’ll just let him bounce off of me and keep going.”  No, I want “Hey look, its Wilson…crap! I need to dump this puck!”

Steven Stamkos and Wilson played on the Sting together, here’s what he had to say in a recent interview by Chris Botta:

If you could lay a big, clean hit on anyone in the league, who would it be?

Ryan Wilson with the Avalanche. He was my captain in junior with Sarnia (OHL) and he hits hard. Would be nice to turn the tables on him.

I’ll bet, Wilson was recognized as one of the OHL’s hardest hitting defensemen by the annual coach’s poll.

So you want to get Wilson in your sites and line him up, eh?  Good luck tough guy.

The Avs have owned the Flames so far this year, winning all three meetings thus far by the score of 3-2. And the Avs also won the last two meetings, last season as well.  To Avs fans this suggests that the team is very capable of playing up to their competition.  Unfortunately the Avs will often lay down for the competition as well, see Carolina and the Wild for examples.

The Flames seem to have the same problem, recently playing down to the BJ’s and yet giving the ‘Nucks all they could handle, and a little more.

The Avs/Flames recent games have been a little chippy as well with four fights in two of the last 3 games.  The Avs haven’t done as well in the bouts, but the wins are what really count.  Look for some guys to take an opportunity to square up if they get the chance.  Here are the fights we’ve seen so far:

Look for Ryan Wilson to post a few more points at the Saddledome.  Wilson was tossed into a trade with the Avs last season and seems determined to make them remember what they’ve lost, posting a goal and two helpers in only two trips back.  He scored his first NHL goal and added an assist for his first multi-point game on Nov. 17 at Calgary.  Though Wilson seemed like a minor part of a larger trade he has turned out to be a guy that Sacco won’t take out of the lineup.  I’ll have a profile on Wilson later this week, be sure to check back for that.

The Avs and Flames have been dance partners in a lot of trades.  It’s a commonly mimicked phrase in Denver to say that the Chris Drury trade was the worst trade in Colorado Avalanche history.  That’s nothing but cow-pie, folks.  Perhaps one of the worst was the one for Theo Fleury.  The Avalanche gave up a host of nobodies but they also sent Calgary a promising defenseman named Robyn Regehr.  This guy has been healthy and consistent for ten years for that club.  Over the course of time it’s easy to judge that as one of the worst trades in Avs history.

Also, the Avs are without (speaking of rock-solid “D”) Adam Foote in tonight’s game.  He was sent home in the middle of the road trip to be “further evaluated” whatever that means.  Maybe he was outside the Avs HMO approved area?  The team is rather quite about this so far. UPDATE: Per Avs beat writer, Adrian Dater‘s blog, Foote will miss 1-2 weeks.

One thing Avs fans hate as much as the Red Wings is Dion Phaneuf.  So here’s Kelly Hrudey telling the world that Phaneuf is NOT a top 20 D-man.  Awesome, it’s near the beginning so enjoy. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Aah…that’s great, Phaneuf…Scott Stevens?  Really?  No, no, no.  Hahaha!

It’s been hard for Sacco to take the new guys out of the line up, Quincey wasn’t too much of a surprise but Ryan Wilson surely is a pleasant surprise.  Wilson chips in with some points (2 on this trip) but best of all he is a very skilled hitter.  He hammers guys into the boards, separating them from the puck without putting himself out of position.

The Avs as a team had a much nicer road trip, beating Ottawa, dropping one to the Wings and then picking up another two points against Columbus by scoring the winning goal in the final minute of a tied game. 

The Ottawa game was a success in many ways for the Avs; all four lines for the Avs scored, the back checking was excellent, and the young guys were scoring.  But the Avs pulled another one of their late-game tricks where they let the other team back in the game.  Up four to one in the third, the Sens scored two goals to get back in it and make it a game.  Though the Avs managed to hang on for the win, the defensive work late in the game was often more scrambled than my morning eggs.

The Avs looked disinterested in the Detroit game, Darcy Tucker had a good game and Duchene had two helpers.

Tucker’s name has been taken in vain in Denver much more than the man has been praised.  But I’ve begun to notice in a lot of interviews with the young guys on this team that his name is often dropped when talking about veterans that are helping them with their game.  So as a fan it may not look like he is doing much, but I like to think he is benefiting these young guys with a positive influence and some of that intangible leadership that is so important to young teams.

Duchene is now only one point behind John Tavares in the rookie point standings.  Coincidentally the Islanders are up next for the Avs so the points race will be a hot topic.

Coming in to Columbus the Avs were looking to get two points to keep the lead in the Northwest.  Liles was a scratch early in the day but was suddenly put in the line up due to a festering injury suffered by Brett Clark. 

Not two seconds into the games the BJ fans were booing former captain Adam Foote every time he touched the puck.  And with the early lead, the BJ fans had something to cheer as well.

The youngsters came through for the Avs in this one with old-timer Cumiskey at 23 years old scoring the first goal for the Avs to tie things up.  Chris Stewart (22 yrs old) put the Avs second one in to tie the game up yet again at 2-2.  And finally TJ Galiardi (21 yrs old) would put it away with less than a minute to go in the third.

It was a good road trip for the team and the two points in Columbus allowed them to maintaining their 1^st place status in the northwest.

The way some Avs fans are over-reacting and were freaking out last night on twitter and live threads you would think David Koci just broke some guy’s neck with a dirty sucker punch from behind.  Give it a break Avs fans.  I know how you feel, after the Steve Moore incident the last thing we want to be is the home of the cowardly.

Well, relax, it isn’t so.  At least some of Denver is remaining calm about this hit.

Leahy at Puck Daddy thinks Koci will be getting a suspension while On Frozen Blog thinks an enforcer on the Caps roster might have prevented this in the first place.

Either way, Koci has been the target of a lot of Avs fans early this season, from the day he was signed in fact.  And this crushing hit is just the excuse a lot of them have been waiting for to unleash on the guy.  Most feel he has no place on the team and adds nothing to this young and exciting new team.  That is a different debate.  I’m going to focus on this hit.  Was it really dirty?  Intentional? 

Shall we watch the video for 462^nd time?  Actually, don’t, not just yet.  Fortunately for my level-headed analysis of this incident the freeze-frame for the video is all I need to convince you.  This is a frozen moment in time.  The moment milliseconds before the hit.  Look at Green; he is NOT facing the boards.  Look at Koci; he is less than 5 feet away from Green.  Need I remind you how fast guys can go on skates?  Even the slow ones can go pretty fast and Koci had all kinds of open ice to get his speed up to max.

So you tell me how he is supposed to change the direction of  all that mass, at that speed…in less than 5 feet?  Not possible.  Koci took a chance that Green was going to keep going in the direction he was headed, if that had been the case Green would likely have suffered a hit just as crushing, shoulder to shoulder.  But not only was he lollygagging about behind the net, he turned INTO the boards.  Ok, now watch.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Alright you say, but regardless of Green turning into the boards, Koci is still at fault.  Here is what I say to that. 

That’s Don Cherry’s rules for defencemen.  Hey Green, study up on #4 and #5.

Want to see the whole video?  Go for it.  Americans, protect your eyes because Don Cherry and his loud suits are about to make an appearance.  Most Canadians are already immune to his wardrobe, so you may proceed with caution.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As for Bruce Boudreau and his comments after the game:

“Please, the guy’s got one goal in six years.”

And…

“It shows what we have to get rid of to have a good game. The guys that are sitting at the end of the bench and they come out and hit a guy for the sake of ‘I’ve got to run around like an idiot or I’ll never play again’ — those are the guys we’ve got to get rid of.”

Boudreau can make all the noise he wants about Koci andhis one goal in six years.  It’s all a truckload of manure!  He has a guy on his team that repeatedly runs around like an “idiot” going for the monster hits and has made it clear that he isn’t interested in changing his ways.  But, Alex Ovechkin doesn’t sit on the end of the bench and he scores more goals than most hard-hitting “idiot” players, a lot more goals.  Those are rare players and Boudreau’s comments imply that if a player can contribute with goals, it’s ok if he takes dirty shots at other players.

Ovi attempted his (debatably purposeful) knee-on-knee maneuver on Ryan Wilson and Wilson slipped it just in time.  It also just so happens that it was right in front of me, a mere six rows from the ice and Wilson had THE BIGGEST grin on his face after slipping that hit, you would think he just scored a goal!  Clearly he respected the attempted hit by Ovechkin and was pleased with himself for avoiding it.  And Wilson is a guy that likes to hit, he understands what is going on here, he sure didn’t look to me like a guy that narrowly avoided the infamous Alex Ovechkin career-ending knee-on-knee special. 

So let’s get back to Koci and the fans of the Colorado Avalanche.  I think folks are really over-reacting to this hit and I think it has something to do with our past as Avs fans.  As much as we have vilified (and justifiably) Todd Bertuzzi, David Koci is NOT the next incarnate of the Devil.  Making all this noise about how embarrassed you are that he is in an Avs jersey is just ridiculous.  Maybe he is guilty of a misjudgment of time and space, but he isn’t guilty of it on a regular basis.  And for guys like that you have to give them the benefit of the doubt.

The Avs take on the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight and if any one of them so much as looks at him cross-eyed, he needs to be pummeled by the Avalanche.  Now part of the challenge here for the Avs is their lack of fighting toughness on the backline.  Not that a forward can’t take on this roll, but I would like to see at least one Avalanche defenseman take on the role of being Andy’s personal bodyguard. 

Adam Foote has dropped the gloves in the past, he’s getting a bit long in the tooth to keep doing that and he really hasn’t dropped ‘em much in the last few years.  Footer has only three fights since the lockout and no fights in nearly two years.  But if you think he isn’t up to the job, take a look at his last fight with Jordin Tootoo.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I like the captain showing the team what needs to be done, but I would also like to see one of the other guys take on this responsibility.  So who else might take on this role?  Well here is the last fight (only NHL fight) John-Michael Liles was in.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So I don’t think he is our guy.  Way to protect the face pretty-boy.

How about Hannan, Clark, or Quincey?  Combined, they average less than a fight per year since the lockout.

That leaves Ryan Wilson, who has shown a real penchant for putting the hurt on guys with his checks.  Let’s watch this recent video of Wilson leveling Ethan Moreau and fighting Zach Stortini. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now Wilson didn’t fare so well in that fight but looking at his 100+ PIMs in his last couple years in the OHL, it’s obvious that Wilson has done a little fighting.  He could be the man for this job. 

If the league isn’t going to protect our goalie, then things need to be handled by the Avs, on the ice.  I don’t care if that pint-size Martin St. Louis is the one that commits the infraction, someone needs to address it.  Craig Anderson is clearly a key component to the winning ways of this new and improved Colorado Avalanche.  Last I checked the league doesn’t have a skirt-rule for goalies and I’m not calling for one either.  I’m calling for the Avs to stand up for one of the guys that have made this team a winner again.

Just 3 minutes into the period the Preds were on the power play and made good on it for the 6^th game in a row.  Mere minutes later the Preds put a second one in the net and coach Joe Sacco decided he needed to calm down his boys and took a time out.

The second started off better for the Avs as Milan Hejduk fed the puck to Ryan Wilson who skated in and wristed it home at 3:39.  Just past the halfway mark with the Avs on a 4 minute PP, David Jones made a fantastic cross-ice pass to Milan Hejduk to tie the game.  Minutes later Chris Stewart took all the Preds with him on the wing leaving Marek Svatos wide open.  Stewart made a perfect pass and Svatos sent it home.  But the Avs couldn’t hold the lead, even for the period, and Shea Weber sent a slap shot by Craig Anderson at 18:07.

The third period was played rather cautiously by both teams and the Avalanche were guilty of some pretty sloppy play in general.  Again letting the Preds run them around and looking to Anderson to save them.  With 1:07 left in the tie game, TJ Galiardi made a nice pass to Matt Duchene who could have been the hero.  He was very patient and looked calm but ultimately missed the small opening that was there for the win.

Overtime was a whirlwind of chances for both teams and over quickly when David Legwand’s goal squeaked past Anderson.

The Avs continue to play games from behind, playing hard one period and looking helpless the next.  Joe Sacco seems to really have his hands full trying to get consistent play out of this team. 

Although David Jones didn’t score in tonight’s game he was doing his job and sitting on the door step of Pekkka Rinne‘s goal crease all night long.  If he keeps that up he will continue to be one of the hottest goal scorers for the month of November.

Up next is a back to back for the Avs with the Minnesota Wild.  This is more critical division play for the Avs who are loaded up with division bouts this month.  These are important games and I’ll have more on that this weekend.

Have a great holiday!

Last Saturday the Avs played the first of four-straight divisional games.  Coach Joe Sacco called the game a “must-win”.  The Avs failed to even show up for the game, leaving the head coach looking like a big dummy.  The Avs went through both goalies and let in 8 goals on 30 shots.

Road trips in the Northwest Division are never easy, but after a terrible game against Vancouver, the Avs were probably ready to get out of town.  Two days later the Avs hit the road in Calgary and had a killer game against a red hot team trying to get the lead in the division.  The Avs played hard throughout the game and the Flames players even commented that the Avs are a hard team to play against.  Music to Sacco’s ears. 

Sacco has been saying since the day he was hired that his team will be a tough team to play, win or lose. 

That’s the team that showed up in Calgary but not the one that showed up for Vancouver.

The very next night the Avs faced the Edmonton Oilers.  Which team would show up for this game?

As it turns out, they both did. 

Milan Hejduk was on a line with rookie Matt Duchene (finally!) and was on fire in the first.  The Oil was keeping up on the scoreboard till about halfway through the second.  That’s when the Avs jumped into a two goal lead and rookie defenseman Ryan Wilson laid a huge mid-ice hit on the Oil’s captain, Ethan Moreau.  Teammate Zack Stortini immediately went to Moreau’s defense, blessing Wilson with his first NHL fight.  But instead of finishing the Oil off, the Avs quit playing and suddenly the other personality showed up.  The Avs laid down and let the Oil roll over them for the rest of the game.

After winning 3 of 4 NW division games in October, the Avs have won only 1 of 5 for November.  If there are any games that a team needs to win in the early part of the year, it’s in your own division.  November is loaded with division games, eight total, so they still have an opportunity to go 4-4. But that means showing Vancouver the hard working team tonight.  Not the other side of their personality.  The side that makes coaches and fans crazy!

This is a young team and these things will happen.  It’s up and down like the cracking voice of a boy hitting puberty. And let’s face it; a lot of these guys are barely shaving once a week.  But the best thing about youth is its elasticity.  Its bounce. You have a down night? No problem, that bounce will send you back on the upswing.

It’s rough on coaches.  It’s rough on the fans.

It makes for exciting games and dreadful games. 

Let’s go boys! Time to bounce.