Avs Talk - A Colorado Avalanche Blog

The Colorado Avalanche continue their seven game road trip tonight with a game against 20-cent and his Chicago Blackhawks. Unlike the last game against Nashville, I'll be able to watch this one in HD. It's amazing what an HD-snob I've become. I recently downgraded my cable package to drop non-HD channels because every time I tuned in to them, I got annoyed that they weren't in HD. And hey, I'll save myself $30/month whichs sounds like the amount of money you need for a trip to Vegas! The flight + hotel part, that is. I can't be held accountable for the rest of the money I might spend (lose) there.

So now that you know even more about me, how about I get back to the hockey talk, eh?

Last two games

I haven't provided a full recap of the last two games but they weren't terribly impressive. Those last two games felt more like the Avalanche I expected. Some defensive gaffes, some blown leads and some exciting play from Matt Duchene.

Seriously, what does the kid have to do to get himself a goal? I'm worried that all these close chances are going to frustrate him, leading to more missed chances. Hopefully he's getting some good psych counselling in the locker room!

Last game against Nashville saw T.J. Hensick and Ruslan Salei draw in the lineup at the expense of David Koci and Brett Clark respectively. With Jordin Tootoo out of the lineup for the Preds, it was an easy choice for Joe Sacco to give Hensick some ice time. As for Salei, it was likely an attempt to figure which of the overpaid third-line defensemen were more valuable to the team. I'd say Clark is winning so far after a rusty performance by ol' Rusty.

Hensick surprised me with his speed and physical play. Could it be that coach Sacco is instilling a sense of work ethic in a player who was labelled as "Arnason 2.0"?

In the end, there's nothing to be disappointed about by this team starting 2-1-0 with 10 goals for and 5 goals against. Even with a blown lead against Nashville, Sacco is ensuring the team will learn from their mistakes. And that's the number one thing for a squad like this to do.

This game

I haven't given this game much thought as I had some bad news on Friday which took up most of my brain power. Well that and me deciding to re-read the whole Final Crisis series today to take my mind off things. Yes, that includes all the direct and indirect tie-ins. And in case you were curious, it's much better the second time around.

So tonight, I'm going to sit back, relax and enjoy an Avalanche win. That's right, I'm calling it.