Avs Talk - A Colorado Avalanche Blog

The Avalanche pulled off a 5-2 victory over the Kings last night and I wasn't able to watch it. Well, I was "able" to watch it. I just forgot to record it. Last night was our staff Christmas party and while I was playing the British cop from Austin Powers during our dance routine (seriously) the Avalanche were busy beating a team that they should beat. The iPod nano everyone received at the end of the night made it all worthwhile.

It appears, based on other articles, that the Avalanche got themselves into a bit of a hole early on, falling behind 2-0 on a couple turnovers. I can only imagine what was going through people's minds at that point. However the Avs scored 5 unanswered goals, including T.J. Hensick's first NHL goal, to produce another come from behind win.

Ryan Smyth scored a couple Ryan Smyth style goals. He bounced one in off Labarbera's skate and got another one a wraparound after having his helmet knocked off. He also knocked Labarbera out of the game with a rib injury. While Labarbera was down, Smyth went fishing for the puck and broke his stick on Labarbera's ribs. Ouch. I guess even with all the padding they have, there's still a few open spots on goaltenders these days.

Joe Sakic missed the game with a groin injury as did Marek Svatos. Kurt Sauer was out with a neck injury, paving the way for Karlis Skrastins to return to the lineup. And to top it all off, Andrew Brunette was on the ice for just 4 minutes when he had to leave due to the flu. Yowzah. I wouldn't call the lineup "decimated" but that's a lot of injuries/illnesses.

DD has the lines up and we can give each other virtual high-fives on one of the line combos. Which one? Well you'll have to go check out his recap to find out!

Oh, and the Senators lost again yesterday. What's up with that?

Stats
Brett Clark was the ice-time leader with 23:14. Jeff Finger had big numbers with 22:48 spent on the ice. Smyth, Hejduk and Stastny had big numbers with about 22 minutes each with both Sakic and Brunette being out.

Smyth had a 3-point night with 1 goal and 2 assists, Stastny had a goal and an assist and Scott Hannan had 2 assists on the night. Hey look, Stastny can score on the road. As long as the team is playing half decent that is.

Cody McCormick laid out 5 hits on the night in just 11 minutes of ice-time. Liles blocked 5 shots, Hannan blocked 4 and Skrastins blocked 3 on the night. Jaroslav Hlinka even had 2 blocked shots.

Related Links
In the Cheap Seats Recap
TSN Recap
ColoradoAvalanche.com Recap
Denver Post Recap