Pre-game vs Boston - Mar 6, 2007

After a short sabbatical, I'm back at the pre- and post-game reviews. I'm sure you were all on the edge of your seats wondering where I had gone. I just needed some R&R; from things before I broke down into a heap in the corner. And that short sabbatical happened right around the time that the Avalanche decided to head on a 3-game winning streak. Let's hope I don't screw up their shot at the first 4-game wining streak of the season by writing this post.

Even with a 3-game winning streak, the Avalanche still find themselves 10 points out a playoff spot. No matter how fast they dig, the other Northwest teams dig just as hard, if not harder. And it doesn't hurt that all inter-divisional games seem to go to OT lately. However the Avs aren't letting that get them down as they still see themselves as being a part of the playoff hunt. It doesn't hurt when Joe Sakic himself comes out and publicly says as much. I'm sure it bolstered the team a bit to see him say publicly what he has likely been saying privately for some time now.

Another thing that could be bolstering the team is the outstanding play from Peter Stastny lately. He's on a 15-game point streak and can tie a franchise record with a point tonight. That franchise record is held by none other than his father of course. I wonder if I had changed my last name to Stastny at an early age, if I could have excelled in the NHL. Because obviously it's just the last name that's carrying them all: Peter, Paul, Mary..I mean Marion, and Anton all had steller careers. Shane Stastny has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? By the way, I know it's Paul but I just thought I'd see if it riled anyone up that I used the wrong name in ther first sentence.

There was a good article in the RMN today about Milan Hejduk's latest run. He should easily hit a 30-goal season and could possibly rack up 70 points in total. That's a large improvement from last seasons less-than-stellar numbers. Of course, it's no 50-goal season but he looks to be on track for a very large turnaround next year. I'm going to predict a 40-goal season from him next year. And again, if I'm wrong, I'll edit this post and pretend I never said it. The Internet makes us all 100% accurate. Because if it's not on the Internet...it never happened.

Injuries
Brisebois - back, LTI
Leopold - wrist, IR
Turgeon - calf, IR
Svatos - groin, day-to-day
Skrastins - knee, day-to-day

Kobasew - elbow, IR

Hot
Stastny has 12 in 7, Hejduk has 7 in 4, Guite has 4 in 4, Rycroft has 4 in 5, Finger has 3 in 3.

Kessel has 4 in 2, Bochenski has 3 in 2, Savard has 13 in 9, Sturm has 7 in 6.

Cold
Clark has 0 in 4

Chistov has 1 in 5, Ference has 0 in 11.

Goaltenders
Peter Budaj - 21-15-4, 2.81 GAA, .905 save pct
Tim Thomas - 28-20-4, 3.06 GAA, .908 save pct

Standings
Colorado - 32-29-5, 4th in NW, 9th in West
Boston - 32-28-5, 5th in Northeast, 12th in East