(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
The Avalanche played a solid game from start to finish including some superb goaltending from Jose Theodore, some solid defense from the whole squad and a lone goal coming from Wojtek Wolski. The main reason Wolski is back in the lineup is the injuries to Ryan Smyth and Marek Svatos so it's good to see him get a bit of the monkey off his back.
Fingered
Jeff Finger returned to the lineup last night and Jordan Leopold found himself watching from the press box. Some people were curious why Leopold was out rather than Sauer but Sauer answered that question with solid, phsyical play last night against a big and tough Ducks team.
Davey Jones Locker'
Seriously, his name is David (Davey Jones) and he's actually got a locker. How cool is that? Ok, yeah, it's not that cool. However the play of Davey Jones has been extremely solid of late. He had a couple games where he was playing on a line with Joe Sakic and that really seemed to break him out of his shell.
His first couple games with the club he was a bit tentative and you could tell he was really trying to prove himself. But after playing wing with Sakic, he appears to have settled down and is worrying about the game, not about whether he'll be back in Cleveland tomorrow.
He's solid, he's got wheels and he appears to have some decent hands. He better not be fooling us all because I'm starting to expect big things from him a couple years down the line.
Hyperbole and Hijinx
I don't mind Haynes and McNab as an announcing duo but I do wish they wouldn't sugarcoat everything. Last night Peter McNab declared that Peter Forsberg's return against the Canucks "Could not have been a bigger success." Well...he could have scored a goal. Or two. Or three. That would have been a bigger success. As it was, his return was very good but to claim it couldn't have been better is just blowing smoke up people's you-know-what.
And it appears that the duo wasn't communicating well during breaks last night because it wasn't until the dying minutes of the third period that Haynes finally called #39 on the Ducks as Doug Weight rather than Sami Kapanen. McNab had to have caught that slip up on one of the dozen times Haynes made it so why didn't he give him a quick shout during a tv timeout or intermission?
Lines
Forsberg-Sakic-Hejduk
Wolski-Stastny-Brunette
McLeod-Arnason-Jones
Parker-Guite-Laperriere
Notes
- Theodore made great point blank saves on both Perry and Getzlaf which I felt was a nice statement after all the hype those two (deservedly) got
- who told Liles that shooting from the point on the PP is ok? (it's about time!)
- the Avs didn't back down from the Ducks physical game and having Finger around certainly helped
- what was with Hejduk going offside so much?
- Jonas Hiller played a great game
Related Links
In the Cheap Seats Recap
Denver Post Recap
RMN Recap
Ducks Run Amok
1 Comment:
Shane---Just a few random thoughts from the game last night:
-Thought of you when Parker totally whiffed on that pass after the puck had been on his stick for a couple of strides. 2 shifts, 1:40 worth of ice time, and one whiffed pass. What do you say to him after the game, "Way to hang out dude?"
-Is it me or does Finger look like Skrastins after debuting the visor last night. It looked just like him from where I was sitting. Haven't watched in on my DVR yet, but I'm curious.
-And does Salei look like Liles' uncle? I do a double take every time they show him on the jumbotron.
-I also ran into a Ducks fan last night who had the rally towels with him and everything. Very important that you bring those to the visiting arena. He had a #15 Ducks jersey on. When I walked by him I realized that the name on the back was spelled "Getzalf" instead of "Getzlaf." Classic. I couldn't make this stuff up! I wonder if he even knew. I didn't bring it to his attention because I refuse to talk with people who bring towels to games. Unacceptable.
Post a Comment