Tonight is the Avs final preseason game (aka the final non-televised Avalanche game of the season). Budaj got the start. The NHL stats are screwy again (the have 6 Avalanche forwards starting a shift 39 seconds into the game), but I think I’ve got it sorted out:
- Sakic, Wolski, Tucker
- Stastny, Hejduk, Smyth
- Willsie, Arnason, McCormick
- Guite, Laperriere, McLeod
- Foote, Clark
- Salei, Leopold
- Hannan, Tjarnqvist
Foote (along with Lappy) is wearing the A; I think it’s safe to assume he’ll be the guy to inherit Andrew Brunette’s assistant captaincy.
No Ledin tonight - is that a good sign or a bad sign for his chances?
UPDATE: here’s the shift chart for tonight’s game
Little suprised we don’t see Liles.
especially considering he didn’t play the last 10 minutes of Friday’s game…
slight groin issue, mcnabb says.
No Jones, nor Hensiiick tonight either. Doesn’t that mean the decision has been made on them? and which way are they going?
Personally I think Jones is staying and Hensiiick is going back to Eire, until that first injury.
Hmmm, Svatos didn’t play either, I hope he’s ok.
Best news of the night:
CHICAGO (AP) - Ryan Smyth’s power-play tip-in at 3:07 of overtime lifted the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-3 preseason win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night.
Smyth had a tip-in goal! On the powerplay! Last season, I remember him scoring about 2 tip-in goals all year. For a player whose bread & butter is tipping in pucks in front of the net, last season was just horrible. I hope this early preseason trend continues and Granato keeps putting him where he belongs, in front of the net, not behind it.