The Week That Was the Avs 12/23-12/29

Wow, this week has really gone by fast. Just looking through things this morning and realized that it was already Friday so I'd best get to recapping the past week for the Avalanche. This past week the team tied the consecutive home wins streak in Avalanche history at 8 and also matched the franchise record of 8 home wins in any given month, also at 8, en route to a 3-1 record for the week. The recent Avs winning ways have them back to within a point of the playoffs, though they currently have played more games than all other teams but Minnesota and Carolina which have also played 39 as the Avalanche have.

vs. Tampa Bay : (2-1 W) The Avalanche came into this one having tied the previous team record for home wins in a row (not franchise as the Nordiques had won 10 straight) and after this one the squad did something that not even the Roy/Sakic/Forsberg teams did, win 8 straight at home. Both goalies played good games in this one and Giguere was strong again keeping the Avs in things despite an early goal. The PK was big and O'Reilly had a big goal to tie things and eventually in overtime after some back and forth Duchene would fire one on net from nearly behind the goal line, aiming for the inside leg of Garon, caroming in the winning shot from a horrible angle. The Avs were nearly 75% on faceoffs on the night led by Stastny's 19 of 22 and O'Reilly's 11 of 15. There was also an interesting line by the Lightning PBP guy according to MHH (as I didn't listen to that feed). "Great line by Rick Peckham, the Lightning's pbp guy, on the Avs' young team: Most team's need a powerplay quarterback; this one needs a babysitter."

@ Minnesota : (4-2 W) Rather than flying out on Christmas day, instead the Avs flew out the morning of the game skipping the morning skate entirely. It seemed to work however as the Avalanche snapped a 9 game road losing streak and extended the Wild losing streak to 7 in a game that was well played from beginning to end. The game started with some good hitting but a dangerous one just 5 minutes in by McLeod resulted in a game misconduct and a 5 minute power play for the Wild (more on this one below). Spurgeon, the recipient of the hit would leave the game as well with a leg injury. The Avs would do a great job on the kill but in the final minute would finally give up a goal. The game would be tied 2-2 but the Avalanche behind strong play from O'Reilly would take the lead in the third off a great feed the Hejda coming down the middle and eventually add another for the 4-2 win. O'Reilly, in this the 37th game of the season, matched his points totals of each of his first two seasons in this game at 26. Van Der Gulik, who was back after missing a game to become a new dad, had a pair of points as well. The win was the 5th in a row for Colorado, the first time since 2000-01 that the team had two seperate 5 game winning streaks in a season.

vs. Winnepeg : (1-4 L) The Avalanche started out strong in this one, controlling much of the play and outshooting the Jets. However a bad pinch by O'Brien led to a 2-on-1 which ended with Kane putting a perfect wrist shot past Giguere to go up 1-0. An early penalty in the 2nd led to a 2-0 Jets lead but the Avs seemed to settle after that until a breakaway by Kane again. Giguere was able to stop this one but in the play after the Jets got to the puck and centered it to Kane who got his second of the game as he beat his man to the front of the net. A mishandled exchange between Giguere and Elliott behind the net early in the third would end up in the back of the net however and while the Avs would add a late goal they would lose 4-1. They had chances but the Jets pounced and scored on thiers where the Avs didn't and that was the difference in the game. Not a horrible game for the Avalanche but a loss all the same.

vs. Phoenix : (3-2 W) The Avalanche matched a franchise record for home wins in a month with this win, but it was costly. Matt Duchene, playing in his 200th game in the NHL, left the game after playing less than 3 minutes with a right knee injury that "looked bad". Avs fans wait for news, hopefully good, as he will be re-evalutated today. Jan Hejda also had a bit of a scare last night as he was elbowed by Torres in the head after falling strangely to a knee on the ice. Torres will likely get a talking to, especially since he got off scott free for another incident in his last game, but thankfully Hejda was able to return to the game later though he said after the game he wasn't 100%. He also said that he played with Torres and he's a "great guy" but "that is not right and someone's gotta tell him to stop doing that". The Avalanche started the game very well, jumping out to a 2-1 lead with goals from Porter and from Stefon Elliott, but Boedker of Phoenix just as he did to tie it at 1 would tie it at 2. While frustrating that the score was tied 2-2 the Avalanche were playing a strong game and that 2nd goal was on only the 10th shot of the game for Phoenix and both were good shots. Besides the tieing score the highlights of the second were the dirty elbow from Torres and a penalty shot for OEL of the Coyotes, a shot that was put wide. Phoenix would play a stronger third but Varly would stop all 15 shots and before long Landeskog would take a check from Yandle, Kobasew would work hard down low getting stopped but getting the puck back and feeding it to Landy in front who never stopped after the hit and would bury what would end up being the game winner. Hunwick and Brad Malone would be the healthy scratches in this one as Kobasew returned from injury and Quincey was finally allowed back into the lineup after the loss to the Jets. Quincey added to his team defender leading points total with an assist in this one and Kobasew's work led to the game winning goal.

McLeod's hit on Spurgeon in the Wild game many thought would result in suspension. While I didn't think it was malicious I did think it was reckless and would get him a game. What I saw was McLeod coming in hard on the forecheck ready to pin his man to the boards but the Wild player stop feet away from them. Being smaller and given the speed he was propelled forward by the hit, one McLeod didn't push into. While McLeod was a bit dangerous he was also making a play that always happens in games, just that the player going in generally goes into the boards or is better braced for the contact. It seemed McLeod agreed with what I thought he was doing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK7PPA2ZFfs&feature=player_embedded) and Shannahan agreed with my assesment in not suspending McLeod (http://www.startribune.com/sports/wild/136349278.html).

The DP had a pretty good article about Quincey being unhappy about being a healthy scratch after returning from a minor injury and how he wished he wouldn't have sought treatment for his "minor injury" because he wouldn't have missed those couple games and then been held out of another four when healthy. The Avalanche lost so now he's back in the lineup, but says that had they not lost he would likely continue to be scratched. No one likes to see a player lose their job to injury, especially when they should be in when healthy as one of the better players, and things like this make a person worry about players hiding injuries to keep their spot which could result in worse injuries or agrivations of those injuries. http://www.denverpost.com/avalanche/ci_19636512

Another Avalanche is donating his time to the community and this time it is rookie Stefan Elliott who spent time with Colorado Special Hockey on December 29th. http://avalanche.nhl.com/club/gallery.htm?id=26427&navid=DL|COL|home Colorado Special Hockey is an organization that provides developmentally disabled athletes the opportunity to play hockey. This clinic is part of the Avalanche Player Clinic Program, in which Avalanche players visit youth hockey practices throughout the season.

On the prospect front the Avalanche only have a single player in the World Juniors this year and that is Finnish goalie Sami Aittokallio. He hasn't seen a lot of action but upset the favored American squad behind a 38 save performance in a 4-1 win. Garret Muers is having a great season just under a point per game right now and Duncan Seimens despite the Blades slipping continues to have a strong season. Joey Hishon, a previous first round pick, still suffers from a concussion. Tyson Barrie after a bit of a slow start for the Monsters has stormed back and is now leading the team with 20 points in 32 games. Van Der Gulik, despite being in Colorado and playing well there, is still second on that squad with 19 points followed by Hugh Jessiman who's 18 points consist of a team high 16 goals.

Stats of Interest:

- The Avs have the most 1 goal victories in the league this season and are 14-5-1 in 1 goal games.

- O'Reilly continues to lead the league in takeaways with 55 (to only 15 turnovers) but Landeskog is moving up in that catagory and finds himself tied for 10th in that stat himself. Landeskog is also in the top 20 in the entire league in hits as well.

- O'Reilly has also surpassed Winnik as team leader in ice time for forwards per game.

- O'Reilly's 26 points leads the team, followed by Duchene's 26.

- The Avalanche power play which once led the league (and still does on the road) is now 12th in the league. The PK which has been strong of late sits 19th, but is 27th in the league on the road.

Injuries for the Avs remain Jones (groin), Mueller (head), and Wilson (head), all who are skating in full practices without no-contact jerseys. Olver and Hishon remain out with head injuries as well and the latest on first round pick Hishon is that while he continues to do work off-ice, he hasn't been on ice in some time.

Again I encourage people to check out MileHighHockey.com but also ColoradoAvalancheProspects.com which has incredible information about all the prospects and is regularly updated through the week.