This past week the Avalanche only had a handful of games, however there was plenty to talk about. In addition to the games there was a trade to talk about, the first with perhaps more on the way before Monday's trade deadline. This move brought about some very interesting quotes from the departed. As for where the team sits in the playoff picture they are only two points out of 8th place, having gone 2-1 this week, but also struggle to gain any ground as it seems every time a Western conference team takes the ice they get points win or lose. Only 4 points seperate 8th and 13th in the West right now, but Phoenix has given themselves a bit of breathing room being 5 points up in 7th and tied for the division lead.
@ Edmonton : The Avalanche have been awful against the NW division this year. Of the teams in the Northwest they have the best record, even better than Vancouver, against teams outside the NW, however in division they are horrible. To start this game it looked like the Avs were once again flat, but so was Edmonton. Also "flat" seemed to be the croud. Perhaps it is the feed but I have never heard a building that quiet ... other than when I played rec league hockey I guess. After a few poor powerplays for the two teams the first was winding down when O'Reilly hustled back and intercepted a bad pass from Dubnyk behind the net. He fed it out to Olver, but instead of firing on net with Dubnyk back and from a bad position he instead fired it back to EJ who sent a laser to the back of the net. This was EJ's third straight game with a goal. According the to Altitude announcers (and I didn't double check this) this is the first game since Jan 14 versus Dallas the Avalanche had a lead after the first period. The second started a bit better for the Avs and Olver continued on with his very impressive game combining with O'Reilly and Landeskog for the second goal of the game. O'Reilly would get his third assist of the night on the powerplay as he and Stastny would combine to set up Landeskog for a 3-0 lead. O'Byrne would later take a holding call that was unneccesary and make it worse when he would get a crosschecking penalty just moments later giving the Oilers four minutes of PP time. The Avalanche did a great job on the kill and Varly was strong, however shortly after Jones would put the Oilers on the board. Olver would continue his beast of a night later in the third using his 5'10", 170lb frame better than many bigger throwing a huge hit on Cam Barker. The last half of the third seemed to go on forever as icing after icing was called. Olver combined with O'Reilly would have another couple chances, showing he really belongs in Denver and not the AHL as best he could, but the game would end without any further scoring resulting in a win for the Avs in the Northwest. Olver with a goal and assist and 3 hits really made an impression and it is good to see him playing so well especially given the concussion that cost him the first half of the season before he finally got back into games for Erie, and O'Reilly continued to truck along with 3 assists, and Landeskog had another strong game.
@ Winnepeg : With Duchene back from his longest layoff from hockey since he was 12 and broke his leg the team looked to take on a Jets team in their own playoff hunt. The game was the first for the Avalanche in Winnepeg since March of '96. Oddly every time Duchene touched the puck he was getting booed however, and after a while the Altitude announcers stated that the Jets choose one guy to be the bad guy every game and boo him each time he touches the puck. Not something that I care for honestly. The first ended up 0-0 despite a few chances and a double minor high-stick call on Stastny. Not long into the second however Kane would send a backhand shot on net that would get past Varly. The shot didn't look all that dangerous nor did Varly looked screened, but it went in none-the-less. Just a minute later the Jets would double their lead. The Avalanche would later get a couple power play chances, and while the first resulted in nothing the second would see Landeskog getting a goal, his second straight game with a PP goal. However the Avs would give up another goal less than a minute later. The third period started off with an early PK which they kill, but after a great chance by Hejduk showing his hand eye coordination batting a puck out of mid air on net on his backhand, the would go on the PK again and this time Ladd would take advantage putting the Jets up 4-1. Midway through the period O'Brien catches Kane with a clean, hard hit. Kane however wasn't happy and chased O'Brien to the other end and other side of the ice and jumped him, knocking him down, and proceeded to start throwing punches even while the linesmen were pulling him off. He did get two minors, however he likely should have gotten more up to and including a game misconduct for that play. However the Avs would take the 4 minute PP to try to get back in the game, however during the first one Quincey would take a penalty. As the game wound down McLeod decided it had been too long since his last fight and went at it with Thorburn (hit and cut with the earlier high stick). He would get an extra two in the scrap and Little would put things away for the Jets scoring on the ensuing PP. Landeskog with another night of shooting the puck set the Avs rookie record for shots in a season with over 20 games to go, the previous mark being held by Paul Stastny (his 28g-50a for 78point rookie season is still one of his best, though in 09-10 he did have 79 points). The franchise mark of 232 is held by Peter Stastny, and Landeskog is currently on pace for 251.
vs. Los Angeles : With the newly aquired Downie who took Quincey's #27 the Avalanche looked to gain ground on 8th place LA who sat 4 points up. The Avs had won the previous 3 games against the Kings in the season and it would be apparant early that they would continue that streak and sweep the Kings. On his first shift with the team, Downie who started beside O'Reilly and Landeskog would begin throwing his weight around with a good hit on the forecheck. Not long into the game a good cycle with Winnik sending a pass to Olver would open things as Olver's shot would beat Quick short side. Not long after that Clifford with time and in control in his own end sent a perfect pass to Stastny behind his net who would beat a surprised Quick with a wraparound. Now they didn't give Clifford an assist as he was a King, but they should have with that perfect setup for a goal. A bit after that Downie would get his first penalty as an Avs on a weak call but the Avs who were good on the PK all night would kill it, and then after doing so the Avs would take a defensive zone draw, rush up the ice, and O'Reilly would center a puck that would go off McClement and into the net. The Avs would take a 3-0 lead into the 2nd and Bernier would try his luck against an Avs team that has been good against Quick all year. The team would be short a defenseman however as EJ would not return after only playing a handful of minutes in the 1st but suffering back spasms. The Kings had a great chance to get into the game as Stastny sent a horrid pass in front of his own goal creating a scramble that ended up with King (who in my opinion was the best Kings player on the night with good presence and some good chances on net) getting robbed by a quick glove from Varlamov down low. A bit later the choppiness of the game resulted in a lot of shoving and yapping as all 10 players on the ice got into little scrums that went on for a while and ending up with several penalties and an Avs power play. It was short lived though with Landeskog taking his first bad penalty of the year that I can remember, pulling down Doughty in the offensive zone. He would come out of the box though and while out with Duchene and Stastny would take a pass and drive the net. The rebound would somehow be sent into the net by Stastny though as Johnson (the Kings' version who would later be sent to Columbus in a trade) hauled him down. Into the third the Avs seemed content to not pressure (though Stastny had a great chance for the hat trick walking out of the corner to the front of the net with the puck) and sat back allowing the Kings to get some good chances, however outside of a blast from Doughty at the point that may or may not have been re-directed on its way into the net Varlamov was great making some big saves and the team would hold on for a 4-1 win. Olver has 3 points in 3 games since being called up. The win was Varlamov's 16th on the year, a new career high for him. The season sweep of the Kings was the first for the Avalanche since moving to Denver.
This week it was Erik Johnson doing his part in the community. He skated with members of the Colorado Sled Hockey program and the National Sports Center for the Disabled.
The auctions for the camo jerseys from the Military Appreciation Night will be ended the day of this writing. As things sit in the morning with a half day still to go some of the big dollar jerseys are Landeskog ($1230), Sakic ($1120), EJ ($1045), Stastny ($1020) and Duchene and Hejduk ($820 each). Highest still remains O'Reilly at $1370. The jerseys, along with a handful of signed game used sticks and gloves, currently are at a total of nearly $18000 with proceeds going to the Kroenke Sports Charities.
At the end of the week, prior to Friday's game against Columbus, there was a number of roster moves made by the Avalanche. van der Gulik was placed on waivers with the intent of returning him to Erie, Galiardi will return from his injury (fun little note from MHH twitter is that even though Gali had on the no contact jersey he was initiating as if he weren't ... don't think he knows how not to play that game), EJ was listed as day-to-day due to the back spasms which meant Tyson Barrie was called up as well (Elliott is also up after the Quincey trade), and Peter Mueller will make the trip and is now day-to-day as well. Desjardins, whom I wouldn't mind getting a chance in the NHL at some point (but when if with this team with Varly and Giguere being signed through next year), was sent back to Erie as well.
As for the Avalanche, nearly everyone reports that the Avalanche could be very active and they aren't done. It was stated that only a few people are not in play, and we can speculate on some of those names (O'Reilly, Duchene, Landeskog, Varly), but Dater reports that Stastny is also one of those not in play. Of course all this talk about everyone being available lends some support to Quincey's comments after his arrival in Detroit.
Speaking of Quincey, the defenseman after being traded to Tampa for Steve Downie and then moved to Detroit (Detroit's offer didn't interest the Avs so Yzerman stepped in and gave the Avs what they wanted and Detroit gave them a 1st round pick for Quincey) had a few choice words about the Avalanche. The most "interesting" (I use that word as different people would describe it differently) is...
""Everyone is ready to get shipped out any day," Quincey said. "There’s a lot of guys, their bags are packed beside the door, and they wouldn’t be unhappy to go – trust me. I know I had a big smile on my face, and all the guys were jealous. I think there’s a bunch of guys that were pissed off they weren’t in a package deal.""
The Avalanche have a top 10 powerplay in the league but have the fewest powerplays and least time spent on the powerplay this year (283 minutes ... over 140 minutes less than 1st place Philly). They also have only had 2:01 of 5-on-3 the entire season at this point.
With some time off this past week for the Avs in a thin schedule Landeskog took to his Twitter to answer some questions from fans for about 20 minutes one day. It really was kind of nice seeing the personality of Landeskog (as much as one can) through his replies and interaction with people. Hard hitting questions such as if he was a good singer ("ask my teammates... Definitely a no."), favorite ice cream flavor ("cookie dough"), favorite place to eat in Kitchner ("Daily Grill in Waterloo"), roommate ("Erik Johnson, my personal babysitter"), favorite shootout move ("Close my eyes and shoot!"), favorite player to hit ("Erik Johnson in practice") and what it's like to have a twin sister ("I'm 35 minutes older, most important minutes of my life! Thanks mom") were the bulk of the subjects, but it was still entertaining and nice to see that relaxed side of him with fans.
To highlight the Avalanche struggles offensively this year one just has to look at stats. First, Hejduk who is reliably consistant hasn't been scoring well this year. His streak of consecutive years with 20+ goals is in jeopardy as he only has 13 with 21 games left in the year. He needs a goal every 3rd game to continue that streak. The team's leading goal scorer, Stastny, sits ranked 78th in goals scored in the league this year. The leading point scorer O'Reilly (45 pts) sits 51st in the league in that catagory. Right now O'Reilly is the only player on pace to reach the 60 point mark on the season and he, Stastny, and Landeskog are the only ones on pace for 20 goals ... and that just barely. This team needs consistant scoring, thus many fans wanting management to go after a big name free agent on the wings this coming off season.
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