This week saw the Avalanche crawl back into a playoff position and then with a pair of losses saw the 7th spot slip away as well as the 8th as Minnesota jumped them in the standings. The week also saw JS Giguere taking over as the #1 goalie on the team and playing well but having the guys in front of him let him down with poor defensive zone coverage, turnovers, and odd man breaks. Overall headed into the All-Star break they sit only a point out of the playoffs but also only 2 points ahead of three different teams whom all have at least 1 game in hand on the Avalanche.
@ Los Angeles : For Avs fans on Altitude this game had a horrible start as the Nuggets were in second overtime boring everyone waiting on a real game to start, and then they talked about the Nuggets for a short while before actually joining the Avs game in progress. The teams would each get a couple power plays in the first but neither team could do much with them and we would come away tied at 0 still. The Kings would open the scoring in the second with a goal by Kopitar as the initial shot would leak through Giguere leaving Kopitar with a can't miss tap in, however a bit later as they were in a line change McLeod who got cut with a high stick in the first would break up ice, take a great pass from Elliott, and put one past Quick on the breakaway. Mueller who was good all night and has been since his return would again get into things tipping a Galiardi shot for the 2-1 lead. The Avs were controlling much of the play through the first two and it carried over into the third, but Brown managed to ring one of the post to nearly tie it. The Avs would add the put away goal on Landeskog's 10th of the year on the powerplay with under two minutes following a Quick penalty for slashing and then hold on to the lead getting themselves back into a playoff spot. Mueller's game winner would be his 10th of his career, increasing the ratio to about 1 out of every 5 goals he scores wins a game.
@ Anaheim : This game is a prime example of how a team can play a very good game only to have misuces defensively cost them. Early in the first the Avs came out strong and drew an early penalty, however an Elliott pass to O'Reilly bounced over his stick and led to a breakaway from Bobby Ryan who would score shorthanded. Later the Avalanche would fall behind by 2 as Getzlaf would bury a rebound down low on a shot that was initial a no goal but review showed it did just cross the line. A bit later on the Avalanche would have a poor line change and Getzlaf would fire the puck down the ice to a streaking Ryan who would get his second of the game on another breakaway. The Avalanche to that point had outplayed the Ducks in every way except for putting their chances in the goal and giving up breakaways to the Ducks. In the late stages of the game the Avs would finally get on the board with a couple of quick goals from O'Reilly who pounced on a turnover to beat a surprised Hiller and then one by Hejduk showing great hands getting a rebound and getting it back on net, but despite the late push and some great stops by Giguere (including yet another breakaway for Ryan) they couldn't get tied back up. They outshot the Ducks 45-18 but the quality of chances definitely belonged to Anaheim. It was a good game for the Avs outside of a handful of defensive miscues that really cost them this one. This was Giguere's first career loss against Anaheim but this one wasn't on him in any way. Giguere has fully taken over the #1 spot in Colorado with excellent play and a couple of poor games from Varlamov and along with his solid play has shown as leadership rivaling even captains around the league.
vs. Minnesota : With a chance to build some space in the playoffs with a win over the visiting Wild who sat just 1 point back the Avalanche came out and played a poor game with bad coverage in their own end and hung Giguere who has become the team's starter out to dry with numerous breakaways. Perhaps some of this can be attributed to the team being without their leader on the ice as O'Reilly fell ill before the game and he had to sit, allowing Elliott to avoid the first scratch of his career as 7 defensemen were dressed. However even with 7 defensemen the Avalanche could have used an extra one on the ice at all times as they seemed unable to control the puck in their own zone and Minnesota had a number of great chances and only a great performance again by Giguere kept this one close. The Avalanche would get on the board first though as a poor angle backhander by Galliardi would go top shelf. It would also give Landeskog 3 game point streak with an assist on the goal. Minnesota would come back to tie it on a PP goal however. Late in the first the Wild would strike again as they would get a breakaway which Giguere would turn aside, however the Minnesota player would follow the puck to the boards and with a quick peek over the shoulder and a defender on him would feed it back out front where Heatley beat all the other Avs to the front of the net and would score. Poor defensive play and backchecking not only let the initial breakaway happen but also let the second guy come in clean. Early in the second Winnik did a great job shielding the puck near the blueline to not only hold the puck in and keep posession but also move down the boards where his wrister trickled through the goalie and as it turned and was rolling wide Kobasew jumped in and tapped it home to tie things. Later in the second the Avs would end up killing another penalty as Winnik was pushed into the boards from behind, so he went back at Falk and the two scrapped. Winnik got an extra minor for a slash to start the fight while the boarding went uncalled. Much of the rest of the game it felt like the Avs were just hanging on thanks to Giguere's play as much of the action was around his net. About half way through the third the Avs would give up their 5th breakaway goal in the last couple games as all five players were at the opposing blue line with O'Brien trying to carry the puck in only to have it poked off his stick. It would lead to a 2 on 0 going the other way which was buried and would be the game winner. The Wild are now 9-0-2 in their last 11 in Denver.
Does anyone remember a little incident 8 years ago between Moore and Bertuzzi? Well with things nearing a trial this year finally things have taken another interesting turn. It was reported that "a financial reward has been promised to Bertuzzi for dropping his suit against former Nucks coach Marc Crawford." The article linked here also goes on to state that Moore's lawyer is arguing that this move will impact how he can try the case now that the two sides have gone from fighting each other (going so far as to receive the right to conduct two separate neuropsychological examinations of Moore - tests which Moore's lawyer has stated violated court guidelines) to playing nice and that he won't have testimony available that he would have before. The judge in the case is considering it Moore's lawyer can study the agreement or not. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/david-shoalts/bertuzzis-side-agreement-adds-wrinkle-to-moore-lawsuit/article2312475/
Ryan O'Byrne has created a youth hockey camp in BC which will take place in August called the Ryan O'Byrne Charity Camp. All the profits from the camp will go to KidSport Victoria. O'Byrne on the 26th of January joined local youth in BC for 30 minutes of skills and drills. http://www.islandsportsnews.net/home/1149-ryan-obryrne-creates-youth-sports-society
During the All-Star break only Landeskog will be taking part in the festivities. While most of the other Avs haven't stated what they will be doing Varlamov will be spending time in Aspen, as will Daniel Winnik. Galliardi meanwhile will be in Cabo with ex teammates Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk, as mentioned in tweets by those three.
Calvin Pickard of the Seattle Thunderbirds on Sunday broke the career saves mark in a 42 save performance (though Seattle still lost 3-2). He, following that game, sat at 6959 career saves in the WHL and he also sat at 6th in games played in his career and 3rd in minutes. He still has two months of games to add to these totals. It has been amazing the number of times I've read something along the lines of "Pickard made 42 saves in the 3-2 loss and was 'x' star in the game" while following the Avalanche prospects. Pickard took to is Twitter thanking fans for the congradulations and also thanking another group... "Thank you everyone! Couldn't have done it without fantastic shot counters " His brother Chet also had a tweet on the subject... "I think @cpickard1 should learn how 2 control his rebounds after becomin @TheWHL all-time leader in saves,paying off shot counters #congrats"
In the AHL the Monsters have been without Desjardins who was playing very well for them this season. He will also miss the AHL All-Star game, however another Monster has gotten a late invite. Tyson Barrie, the Monsters leading scorer, will join the game. He is leading all Rookie AHLers in points and is 5th among defensemen.
The Denver Jr. Pioneers will represent the Avs at the Quebec International Pee Wee Hockey Tournament. The kids got to practice with the likes of Giguere, Hejduk, and Elliott on the Pepsi Center ice. http://video.avalanche.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=0&id=152515
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