The Avalanche had a 1-3 record this past week. They play again at home Saturday before going on the road for a pair, then they are back home for a season long eight game home stand.
vs. Dallas : Father and mentor night in the big D where the role models for the Avalanche joined the team on the road trip. Quincey's assist in the 1st made it 12 straight games with an Avs defensemen getting at least a point. Duchene playing on Stastny's wing misses open net in final seconds of 1st so instead of up 3 they are up 2, but the team only gave up 3 shots in the first. In the second the Avs got in penalty trouble and fell behind as their penalty kill continued to struggle, however Duchene having said in an intermission interview that he'd like to make up for that miss scored again in the 2nd and the Avs came back. The third period would see Duchene score once again, his first career hat trick, but the Avs would lose the lead late again and we would go to Overtime tied at six. In overtime the Avalanche finally fell to another bad bounce. The game had tons of excitement, some great goals, some flukey goals, neither goalie was particularly good, and the Duchene on wing experiment was a success with Dutchy getting his first hat trick and adding an assist for his first four point game.
vs. Calgary : Porter was in for Lindstrom who was the healthy scratch of the night. Things got off to a great start as Duchene on the wing assisted in winning the face-off getting the puck back to O'Brien who put the puck on net where Stastny got the rebound and scored less than a minute into the game. That would be it for the Avs though as the Flames. Later in the period the game was tied as a puck deflected off Wilson's ankle and the change in direction beat Varly. Not far into the game trying to get the Avalanche going again Sacco returned Duchene to the center position again despite having scored 5 points in less than a game and half on Stastny's wing. The Flames would get another goal off a shot that was wide but bounced off a Flames chest and in the goal, and later Kipper was saved by his defensemen later on a shot that had beat him but his d-man was standing behind him to make the save. The rest of the game didn't amount to much and the Avalanche again lose. The Duchene experiment on the wing appeared to be working but didn't last long. Sacco wasn't very telling when asked why and only time will tell if we see it again.
vs. Detroit : Hunwick dressed as a 7th defenseman as Galiardi and Porter are healthy scratches. Duchene was once again a center in the game despite having some success on Stastny's wing, and the Avalanche again appeared to be a team that wasn't very threatening. In the beginning they kept it somewhat close and had a couple of chances that could have gotten them going, first with Stastny getting a puck low in the zone but by the time he was able to corral it with the goalie out of position he was too deep and could only throw it across the open net and then when the puck came to Winnik right in front of the net but Winnik was unable to get a good shot away or get it off the ice and Howard was able to make a kick save. After that never really made a significant push and Detroit looked in control the rest of the way. Lidstrom would start their scoring and the Mule, my least liked player in the league after Bertuzzi because the guy always kills the Avs, would add a hat trick. (Franzen is the guy if you remember in the 2008 playoffs against the Avs had two hat tricks and nine goals in the four game series.) Landeskog would get his first NHL PP goal and Hejduk would get another later, but this game was never really in doubt. The defense for the Avalanche continue to put up points though now having 14 straight games with points. Varlamov was pulled after his third goal, the first time the Avs have pulled a goalie this year, but he hadn't played horrible either. The hightlight of the game for Avs fans, other than Landy's goal, was probably a great open ice check by Wilson on Zetterburg. Wilson is really a skilled open ice hitter and regularly catches guys with good, clean shots.
In Wednesday's practice Mueller was again skating on a line with Duchene and Jones. Following the practice the players had a "Players Only" meeting. After the Thursday morning skate however he was ruled out for the game against the Islanders. Sacco also announced that Hunwick would again sit, as would McClemment as Galiardi and Porter are back in. Giguere who will start against the Islanders came out and stated that this was a must win game. That while ups and downs will happen this team needs to turn it around now and that starts at home with this game.
In Post writer Adrian Dater's blog he states he has no evidence but "whispering" (meaning nothing really) around the league is that pressure is starting to mount on Sacco and Sherman with the team's recent slump. http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/2011/11/08/postgame-avs-red-wings-hard-questions-close-to-being-asked-about-saccosherman/8794/ Dater also goes on to write for SI about why Ian Laperriere deserves to be the SI Sportsman of the Year (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/magazine/sportsman/11/07/ian.laperriere/). Much of the article talks about what a great man he is, particularly in the case of one young girl named Ellie. The article is definitely worth the read even if his nomination in the catagory is suspect seeing he hasn't played in as long as he has. There is no question just what kind of player and more importantly what kind of man Ian Laperierre is though and he'll always be one of my favorites.
vs. Islanders : You could show your support for those lost in the Lokomotiv tragedy by purchasing a red silicone "Love for Lokomotiv" remembrance bracelet from the “Avs Better Halves” at the game on November 10. 100% of the proceeds will go to the foundation created in honor of the fallen team. In addition to this the Avalanche recognized a handful of select veterans before a moment of silence recognizing all of our veterans. Officiating in this game was pretty poor at times, and I'm not one to often criticize. A couple of examples are when it appeared O'Brien was going off for slashing but then the refs talked, got on the phones, and soon the Islanders also had a pair of players in the box because McLeod had been cut with a high stick that initially didn't look like it would be called. Later O'Brien cut in center ice and lost his footing flying down to the ice and the Islanders would get a tripping penalty though the stick of Rolston wasn't within a foot of O'Brien. The Avs had a couple early chances with Stastny poking home a loose puck but not before the ref could lose site of it and blow the play dead and with Winnik later picking up a loose puck and hitting the post, but the Islanders would strike first, the first 3 times in fact, of which none were softies allowed by Giguere. Giguere would later take a puck in the throat or chin but after brief attention would stay in the game and made some huge saves including some on breakaways and one with a second left in the game as well. The Avs battled back and goals from Stastny, Hejduk, and Hejda (his first for Colorado) would leave the game tied going to OT, but not before the Avs had to survive a goalie interference penalty which Winnik argued heatedly about. Personally I think it was a good call because he didn't appear to be bumped that much and the goalie was out of the blue to make a save, but Winnik didn't agree. However crashing into Montoya yet again (Galiardi had ran him over earlier and Landeskog had gotten in his face as well) got inside his head as in the overtime he took a frustration penalty after being let off for grabbing Hejduk's stick just moments before. It wasn't much, just turning to watch the puck behind the net but he stuck the but end of his stick out and into the jaw of the Av crossing in front of the net. Quincey would get his first PP OT winner on that power play to give the Avalanche the win that Giguere said earlier they must have. David Jones had his first career fight, Galiardi had a career high 6 shots, and Landeskog delivered 7 hits in the game. The 51 shots was a season high for the Avalanche and tied the 2nd highest total for the team since moving to Denver. ...Even after the OT loss the Islanders can still feel good in that they are 7-0-3 in their last 10 meetings with the Avalanche now. The Avalanche on the other hand are now 5-0 against the Eastern conference thus far in the season.
Peter Forsberg is petitioning the NHL to allow for more games being played during times that would fit into a primetime European TV slot. While the weekdays wouldn't work well the weekends might and other NHLers have commented on this as well. A noon game in Denver would air at 8PM in Central Europe where a current 6PM game airs at 2 in the morning over there. He has already met with the NHL once at least on this possibility according to reports. This translated article has some further information on that as well as some comments from NHLers such as Lundqvist. http://www.microsofttranslator.com/BV.aspx?ref=IE8Activity&a=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aftonbladet.se%2Fsportbladet%2Fhockey%2Finternationellt%2Fnhl%2Farticle13889330.ab
The Colorado Avalanche Sled Hockey team (the Avalanche were the first NHL team to support its local sled hockey team), the adult team, won the first ever USA Sled Classic in 2010 and then won the inaugural National Championships in April 2011. The youth team was fourth in the country. Thursday was sled hockey awareness night with the Avalanche. http://www.9news.com/news/article/228895/345/Colorado-Avalanche-promote-sled-hockey
The Nordiques are serious about wanting a new team. Yes, they have been but they still do and this season Nordiques Nation is gathering fans to take around to 5 away games to show their love of the game. They took 1600 people with Nordiques jerseys on to New Jersey already and have trips to Florida, Ottawa, Detroit, and Boston planned still in this year. http://www.microsofttranslator.com/BV.aspx?ref=IE8Activity&a=http%3A%2F%2Fnordiquesnation.com%2F
The Avalanche had four players make the ballot for the NHL All-Star game. Those four were Matt Duchene, Paul Stastny, Milan Hejduk, and Erik Johnson, and while they are to be the teams top players it could be argued that in reality and not the All-Star world the team's best players at least include Ryan O'Reilly, Ryan Wilson, and Kyle Quincey. Not saying that the four nominated shouldn't be, but there are others who have started the year better for the Avalanche and been more consistant. Personally, and I know this won't ever happen for a guy like this, but I would love to see Ryan O'Reilly recognized for his play each and every shift this season, each and every game ... plus all the work he puts in outside of the game.
Two sites that I would like to plug are MileHighHockey.com who has dialy articles and a great community of posters and writers, and ColoradoAvalancheProspects.com which is ran by a very dedicated lady who is on top of all the Avalanche prospects and how they are doing.
As for how the Avalanche prospects are doing, Muers continues to play solid hockey sitting just under a point per game for Plymouth and Duncan Seimens continues to lead the Blades, 2nd in the East, with 14 points in 17 games thus far. Pickard continues to struggle in net this season but Kent Patterson at the University of Minnesota is 9-1 and has a save percentage of .942 while giving up just 1.6 goals a game. The Monsters continue to struggle and currently sit in the basement of the AHL having scored only 30 goals in 15 games thus far, 5 of those coming in Thursday night's game. Stoa has 3 assists in that time before getting his first goal in game 15, and Malone has just three points. Much of the roster looks like that beyond van der Gulik at a point per game and Elliot, Barrie, and Gaunce being three of the team's top five scorers. Desjardins since returning has looked great giving up only 6 goals in 4 games but still has just a 2-2 record. He has stats of 1.51 GAA and a .950 SV % with a shutout.
Plenty of Avs are getting air time of late with Landeskog being on NHL Live lately and O'Reilly and Giggy both scheduled to be on CBC's Hockey Night in Canada Saturday.
In the Avalanche version of the Crosby watch, after being ruled out of the next two games (as of the time this line was written) his next potential game is now the Versus televised game against the Avalanche next Tuesday.
Interesting Stats as of Friday morning:
-The Avs have the #1 PowerPlay in the league (29.6%) but the 27th ranked PK (73.6%). They have slipped in faceoff % but still sit 2nd overall there as well.
-The Avs come from behind win against the Islanders is the first time the team has come back from a 1st or 2nd period deficit to win. They have not lost when leading after 2 and have just 1 OT loss when leading after 1.
-Landeskog continues to play good hockey and is currently tied for 15th in the league in hits and 3rd in the league in shots.
-O'Reilly only trails Datsyuk in terms of takeaways.
-Danniel Winnik and Ryan O'Reilly are the team's leaders in Ice Time for forwards.
-The defense has scored 41 points in the 16 games this season led by Quincey with 12 points and Wilson with 9. The have had at least a point in every game since the shutout in the season opener against Detroit.
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