The Avalanche this week went 2-1, both of their wins being by 1 goal (and one in overtime) and their loss being a blowout. Overall they played pretty well this week, other than a portion of the game they lost, and managed to climb back into the playoffs for now. They as of this writing currently sit in 8th, 4 points behind LA (though with 2 more wins - LA has 10 OT/SO loss points this year) and sit 1 point ahead of Minnesota who have a game in hand on the Avalanche and 2 points ahead of Dallas who have 3 games in hand as well as 2 points ahead of Calgary and Phoenix. They sit 2nd in the division, a full 8 points behind Vancouver who also has a game in hand.
@ Dallas : After hearing that the team needed to play a full 60 minutes it was good to see them come out and do so in an important game. They controlled much of the play throughout. The first goal came on a play which may or may not have been offsides but the puck hopped on Lehtonen's stick behind the net where Stastny took it, controlled it, and sent it out front where Jones would put it in the net. The Avs would only allow a single shot on net by the Stars in the first period. The second wouldn't see any scoring though the Avs kept pressuring the Stars throughout. The third saw the Stars not get much going on the PP and McClement had a good chance shorthanded but shortly after the penalty ended the Stars would tie it up. The Avs would soon get another powerplay however and a point shot by EJ would be redirected perfectly by Stastny to go back ahead. The end of the game (and much of the 3rd as the Avs only had 4 shots) the Stars came on strong and had great push as they finished 6-on-4 with Winnik in the box but Giguere stood tall and shut them down and the best chance the Stars had they couldn't control a cross-ice pass on to shoot on a temporarily empty net.
@ Phoenix : This game seemed a lot closer and more even than the score ended up being, at least in the beginning. The play seemed fairly even and the team traded goals in the first and then it was up to Smith to keep it that way. He had a pair of great saves on Stastny, first with the pad and then reaching back with the glove to absolutely rob him, keeping it tied. He would also make a great save on a tip by Mueller from point blank as well, and overall he made the difference early. On the other end the Coyotes made the most of their chances putting the puck in the net, but it was definitely Smith's play that allowed the Coyotes to get and build on the lead. Shane Doan coming of his first career hat trick again played like a man possessed and had a great game, getting two goals and striking iron later missing a second straight hat trick by a matter of inches. Coming in the Coyotes had lost 9 of 11 but in this one after the initial saves by Smith they would be solid late and eventually turn it into a blowout, 6-1. Varlamov didn't have a good game and avoided post game interviews and Sacco stated he needed to be better. The Coyotes would play the game without having a single penalty called against them, but this wasn't the difference in the game, the difference was definitely one team burying chances and the other getting robbed by a goalie playing well until they fell apart at the end.
vs. Florida : With just their 2nd of 3 home games in the month of January the Avs had another chance to get themselves back in the playoffs. This time the came out to play against the Panthers, a team they have historically been very good against. O'Brien would be back in the lineup and Hejda would sit with a minor groin injury, and Giguere got another start in goal. The game started a bit tenative and the only goal would be O'Byrne's as he would get a stick to replace his broken one on the PK only to find it in his feet and while trying to move the puck out of the crease it would deflect in for a 1-0 Panthers lead. Starting in the 2nd the Avalanche started to carry the play and despite not getting anything on an early powerplay it would be a point shot from EJ that would come back out to Mueller who seemed to have all the time in the world with no one around him. He would skate in a bit looking for his opening which he found between Theo's pads. The goal was his first since April 4th of 2010 against the Sharks (the same game in which a hit from Blake into the boards would start his concussion problems) and he became the 22nd Avs player to score this year which is still shockingly 4 below last year's number. The Avs would continue to carry the play until Weiss made a great move between Quincey and O'Byrne and the only move the defense could make cost them as O'Byrne's stick ended up tripping Weiss who then fell and as Giguere stopped the puck initially Weiss slid into him, pushing the puck into the net. The goal stood up, rightfully so, after a lengthy review and after the Avs had a great chance to tie it in the last minute but couldn't. Giguere still wasn't pleased with the call so before heading off the ice he skated to the refs, said a few words, and skated off. Things looked bad for the Avs as yet another bad luck play would go against them just 20 seconds into the third as a puck caromed off bodies in front straight to Kopecky who gave the Cats a 2 goal lead. The Avs didn't back down though and before long Mueller would get his second off a great one-timer on the powerplay (with a great screen in front by Landeskog). Flash would get a great chance later after the Avs killed a 4 minute high stick penalty as he walked in alone but Giggy stopped him, and then with time running short Mueller would feed Stastny whose first shot was stopped but would get his rebound and tie it up (though some fans thought it was Muellers and a few hats hit the ice). The game would head to overtime where the best chance came for Florida with Elliott giving up the puck leading to a 3-on-1, however Giguere stopped the shot and soon the puck would end up back in the other end on the stick of the Avs' MVP O'Reilly who would beat Giguere 5 hole. Overall it was a good comeback and great job by the team of not getting down after some bad breaks to get two important points. Mueller was huge, with a 3 point night and being a crossbar from a hattrick, and Giguere made some huge saves in matching his win total for all of last season at 11. The win was the 6th for the Avs after trailing after 2, tied for tops in the league, and extended their league leading 1 goal win total to 17. Their record against the East is now 10-2 on the season.
Speaking of Mueller he was in a recent SI article. They mentioned the gear he is wearing to protect himself now. "These days, Mueller wears bigger shoulder pads along with a custom-fitted helmet that loops around his ears to better cushion his head and neck. He also dons a tinted visor that cuts down on the reflection from the arena lights, which at one point really affected him." Mueller had a number of great quotes in the article including "You don't practice, you don't see the guys -- you almost feel like you're not part of the team. But now, coming in every day, being a part of everything, it's a great feeling. It's long overdue." Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/hockey/nhl/01/19/avalanche.peter.mueller.return.ap/index.html#ixzz1k0ekap8M
Brandon Yip who has been a healthy scratch much of the season and has no points in 10 games was placed on waivers and then picked up by the Nashville Predators. After bursting on the scene as a rookie he fell back to earth last season and this season just hasn't looked like a good fit in Colorado. Best of luck to Yip in Music City.
The Avalanche are currently pretty healthy having seen a number of players return to action of late. Hejda is the latest injury and that is a minor groin problem. Hishon continues to work out but is still not back on the ice and is seeing the Monster's doctors, and the only other notable injury currently is that of Matt Duchene who remains out with a knee injury and Cedric Desjardins in Cleveland who is still out.
Not much to report on Avalanche prospects this week but Garrett Muers, a 5th round pick last year, continues his near point per game pace in the OHL for Plymouth. Duncan Siemens started well but he and the Blades team are struggling of late prompting one writer at the Bleacher Report to ask the question if he is a bust, which in my opinion it is way too soon to answer that question, but to be fair to the question Siemens was recently a healthy scratch as well after missing a morning pre-game meeting.
Following the Stars game both Morrow and Landeskog were interviewed regarding the big hit Landeskog laid on Morrow and the scrum at the end of the game. Some good quotes out of it as Landeskog said "I thought to myself, 'Ooohh, Mr. Morrow is going to want to get even.'" and Morrow gave Landeskog respect saying “Got a lot of respect for him already. He plays the game hard and honest. The play at the end really had nothing to do with him. Not sure who crashed in, but I just saw a skate blade going at my eye and I lost it. But he plays hard, plays physical, and plays honest. I expect a great career from him.” http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/2012/01/14/tough-guys-talk-after-avs-2-1-win-over-stars/9371/
Dater prior to the game against the Panthers was out doing his normal thing and came across an interesting tidbit. It appears that had the Avalanche not signed Giguere they were on the verge of bring back Theodore to back up Varlamov. Personally I am very happy with Giguere who is playing great and am glad that we ended up with him rather than Theo. http://blogs.denverpost.com/avs/2012/01/19/if-not-for-jiggy-avs-backup-likely-would-have-been-theodore/9395/
Mike Chambers recently had an article in the Post following the 6-1 loss in Phoenix in which he said Varly needed to be better in and out of the game after being waved off when asking for an interview from him. Varly understandable wasn't pleased with his performance and Chambers perhaps made more of a deal out of it than it was. Sacco of Varlamov's performance simply said that while they could have been better in front of him he needs to be better.
A recent article in the Post focused around Giguere and the season he has been having. The article was a good read, but the most interesting part of it revolved around talk about a goaltending coach. When asked about it Giguere stated he'll be there anytime Varly needed to talk but he needs a coach as well. "I think every team should have a full-time goalie coach." Giguere had said, continuing by saying "I still don't understand why we don't have a full-time goalie coach." Sacco of course is happy with how McLean has handled duties between Colorado, Lake Erie, and the prospects, but it still seems that the goalies would like to have a full time coach. http://www.denverpost.com/avalanche/ci_19763370
Following Taylor Hall's recent freak accident in which a teammate stepped on his head and cut him open in warmups the Avalanche could become the first team to mandate that their players wear helmets during pre-game warmups... http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2012/01/19/avalanche_helmets/
I think anyone who knows me, or reads these, knows that I'm a huge fan of O'Reilly and am thankful we got him at 33 rather than Detroit at 32 at the draft. The Post again had a good article on the Avalanche MVP and youngest person to play 200 games for the franchise and still has until February 7th before he even turns 21. http://www.denverpost.com/avalanche/ci_19740776 Btw, common nicknames for him include "Radar", "Factor", and in one post game interview of one of the defensemen (and I can't remember who right now for the life of me) he was called "the Fac-Daddy" which is just horrible...
O'Reilly continues to lead the Avalanche in scoring with 35 points while he and Stastny are tied with 13 goals for the team lead. Landeskog leads the team in +/- at +11, and also leads in shots (140) and hits (119 - tied with O'Byrne). O'Reilly has fallen to 3rd in takeaways but only trails Toews and Datsyuk, pretty good company, and has fewer giveaways than both of these players. (Toews btw beyond just coming up and taking the lead in this stat with 67 sits at 61.4% on faceoffs in 938 attempts. Add this to his 48 points and +16 with only 14 PIMs and that's pretty dang good...)
Landeskog currently sits 3rd in hits for all rookies (1st among forwards), 1st in takeaways (37, 12 more than 2nd), 1st in shots, 7th in points, and tied for 4th in +/- just +2 behind 1st.
Interesting stat courtesy of MileHighHockey...
-Anderson and Elliott combined for 15 wins for the Avalanche last year. This year in half a season (plus a little) they already have 39.
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