Well, I give it about 2 more games before I let myself officially throw in the towel. Don't get me wrong, I'll still want them to win as many games as possible but I don't want to hang onto false hopes of making the postseason.
It was typical Avalanche hockey as they scored a barrage of goals in the third period but it just wasn't enough to make up for scoring no goals in the first two periods. And it wasn't Gaborik or Rolston that finished them off. Hall, Smith, White and Koivu scored for Minnesota. If you say "Who?" to the first two names and give a "Oh, him" to the last two, you're not alone. It was Adam Hall's 6th goal of the season and Wyatt Smith's eight goal...of his career...that got the Wild jump-started and off to a 3-0 lead at the end of the second. The Avs made a valiant effort in making it 3-2 but another brief defensive breakdown led to the 4-2 goal from Koivu. Svatos got them back within 1 but they couldn't get the goal to tie it.
Unfortunately, I was mired in work and wasn't paying a terrible amount of attention so I won't make too many comments regarding players or particular plays. It actually didn't seem to be too bad of a game from the Avalanche but they were just sluggish in general. No boneheaded mistakes that I saw but no real urgency in their game either. Maybe they haven't looked at the standings lately.
Paul Stastny continued his impressive run by adding 2 assists to his current point total. Likewise for Andrew Brunette. Together with an assist from Sakic, those 3 continued their latest point streaks. If it wasn't for these guys jump-starting the offense, I shudder to think of the type of games we would have been suffering through.
Brad Richardson made the most of his time on the top-line as he scored the Avalanche's second goal. He's still not a first-line player, but he's done well for the time being. I certainly think it will help his development more than playing on the fourth line. If Richardson can become even a second-line center, couple that with his penalty-killing prowess of late and you have quite a player on your hands. It should be interesting to see how he continues to grow over the next couple seasons. Hopefully it's still with this franchise.
The Good
- fighting until the end
The Bad
- needing to fight from behind
The Ugly
- Pavol Demitra (the bald head creeps me out)
Friday, February 23, 2007
Post-game vs Minnesota - Feb 22, 2007
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2 Comments:
The game-winning goal wasn't so much the result of a defensive breakdown as it was just bad luck. The Avs had the Wild on their heels and the puck comes to Finger at the right point for a one-timer. His stick shatters on the shot and leads to a 3-on-1.5 (0.5 cuz he didn't have a stick) going the other way. Both D-men made valient efforts to break up the passing clinic going on with Koivu, but didn't really have a chance.
Still, good teams don't get screwed with bad luck, cuz they wouldn't dig themselves into 3-0 holes. Just another example of the Avs teasing the fans with a possible win. Still the effort was there in the 3rd and the Stasny line was on fire. I just don't understand why it takes two periods for that to happen.
Hopefully the upcoming fire sale will only include vets like Klee or maybe Arneson, and none of the younger players. Unfortunately, there's nobody to take the big albatros that is Theo off our hands...
Shoot, I had marked down the broken stick as the third goal, not the fourth. But yep, like you said, you can't blame bad luck when you let yourself get down 3-0.
If Giguere is smart, he'll sit fairly tight. Klee and Arnason, possibly someone like Mclean, Rycroft or even Laperriere, could be out the door. Hopefully everyone else is off limits, especially the youngsters.
Even Svatos should stay since he likely doesn't have much trade value and not much bargaining power for a new contract. Might as well see if he can come back strong next year.
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