Pre-Game
Hey, DirecTV didn’t screw up tonight. Looks like I get to watch my first game in almost 2 weeks. Rogers Sportsnet feed tonight – Kevin Quinn and Ray Ferraro. As usual, I expect a very-Oilercentric skew from these fine gentlemen.
Dwayne Roloson vs Peter Budaj tonight.
First Period
20:00 Arnason, Smyth and Svatos start the game, with Hannan and Cumiskey back.
18:48 The next line is Sakic, Wolski and Brunette. Liles is back with Finger and Clark & Sauer already made an appearance. That means either a scratch for Skrastins, or 7 forwards. I’m assuming the former.
18:11 As expected, Jarsolav Hlinka is playing with Hejduk and Stastny tonight. Well, for the first shift anyway.
17:19 McCormick, Guite and Richardson form the final line. No Smith (GASP!) or Parker tonight. Good decision from Quenneville.
17:13 McCormick gets the first real chance of the night, with a couple of stabs against Roloson.
17:12 Ray Ferraro: “The Avs powerplay has been terrible”. You can say that again, bro.
16:35 Good defensive play from Scott Hannan.
15:57 Liles pinches in and gets a shot down low against Roloson. We need more of that.
15:46 1-0! Stastny wins a draw in the Edmonton zone. He kicks it to Sauer, who cycles it behind the net to Hlinka. Hlinka fights off a defender (Staios), carries the puck around the net, and fires it towards on net. Roloson stops the shot, but the rebound goes right to the stick of Hejduk. #23 scores early in game 23. Yep, I’m a dork.
15:30 2-0! Stastny steals a Hemskey pass at center ice. He carries in, dishes to Hejduk, Hejduk drops it to Clark who rifles a one-timer past Roloson.
 14:59 I may be wrong, but I don’t believe Edmonton has a shot yet.
14:33 Guite fed Brunette in front, which could have been goal #3.
14:08 And Sakic tried it this time.
13:59 And again. This seems to be a theme tonight – an Avalanche forward getting deep and dropping to a late guy trailing in. I don’t know that the Avs have taken this many one-timers from the point all season long.
12:44 Hannan fails at an easy clearing chance (shocking, I know). I leads to Brodziak getting a wide open net to shoot at. He rings it off the post. The Avs luck out.
11:55 My wife is the one who noticed that the ice looked crappy, and asked if there was a basketball game last night. Turns out, there was. She’s very proud.
7:27 The flow has evened up a bit. Actually, it’s tilting a bit towards Edmonton a bit.
5:36 Smid gets dumped behind the net by Finger
5:08 Arnason lets a shot go. Roloson gets contact on it, but the puck trickles dangerously torwards the goal line. Rollie is able to pounce on it at the last minute.
4:59 Hannan gets a shot on Roloson. I mention this because Clark, Sauer and Liles all have shots as well (I think).
4:45 Hannan and Stortini The Mouth-Breather get involved in a little shoving after a whistle. They had another even more minor greeting a bit earlier.
4:32 Q seems to be using the Stastny line against the Hemskey line. So far, it’s worked out very well.
2:07 Arnason gets nabbed for holding, after he tries to get a piggy back ride from an Oiler in the neutral zone. Dumb penalty.
0:00 The Avs kill off the penalty, and finish the 1st period up 2-0.
2nd Period
18:30 Cumiskey is way down low with the Sakic line. He drops it off to Brunette. Brunette gets two good shots on Roloson. Roloson makes 2 great saves on Bruno.
17:37 Roloson has been peppered with shots so far. The top 3 Avalanche lines have had solid chances against him.
17:09 McCormick checks Stortini, but is then dropped to the ice by Raffi Torres.
14:53 If I’m not mistaken, Cumiskey has been out every time Hannan has been out there at even strength. In past games, Clark would replace him in some key points of the game.
14:48 The first appearance of the night for the powerplay. Wolski and Clark are on the point, with Arnason, Svatos and Smyth up front. I’ve read that this is what they’ve been doing, but it’s still odd to see it in action.
13:18 The “2nd” unit is the normal Hejduk, Brunette and Stastny with Sakic and Liles at the point.
12:26 The Oilers kill of the penalty. Steve Staios celebrates by going to the penalty box.
11:32 Shots right now are 27-3 Colorado.
11:16 And the score right now is 3-0. Sakic’s wrister from the slot beats Roloson. Sakic has all the time in the world to take that shot, and Roloson really has no chance on it. After 25 futile PPs, the Avs finally score with the man advantage.
9:31 Another Edmonton penalty. Robert Nilsson for hooking.
8:30 There’s some pushing and shoving after a frozen puck. Staios and Smyth wrestle each other to the ground, and get matching minors. The “funny” part was Smid and Arnason exchanging shoves. Smid seems to want to fight (remember he took on Rycroft for his first career fight last year). For a millisecond, Arnason looked like he was going to oblige, but it didn’t materialize.
6:44 Stortini and McCormick almost get to dance, but they get separated before any fun stuff can happen. The physical stuff seems to be growing tonight.
5:23 4-0. Cumiskey steals the puck at the Colorado blue line. He leads the rush(!), drops to Sakic on the left wing. Sakic drops it back Wolski in the slot, and Wolski one-times it past Roloson. It looks a lot like Clark’s goal.
4:21 Stortini and McCormick are on the ice again. Stortini follows McCormick all over the place, and doesn’t even pretend to be doing anything other than goading McCormick to fight him. No dice.
3:22 Wolski with a high stick on Cogliano. Edmonton gets another late-period PP.
1:20 Pitkanan with a hold on Guite just after the Oilers kill it off. Once again, Guite draws a heck of a lot of penalties.
3rd Period
20:00 Mathieu Garon starts the 3rd period, after Roloson faced 36 shots in the first two periods. Certainly nothing wrong with Roloson’s game tonight. Garon, by the way, is one of the few free agent goalies I would have liked to see the Avs land this summer. He’s played very well this year.
18:32 Shots were 36-9 going into the 3rd. It wouldn’t shock me to see the Oilers get some momentum back in the 3rd. The Avs aren’t exactly great at keeping the pressure on in games like this.
16:41 Hey, look at that, it’s Stortini checking McCormick hard into the boards.
16:14 Cumiskey trips Stortini. Oilers on the PP.
11:50 Hannan stands up Stortini
11:50 But Cumiskey is slow to get to the loose puck. Torres out hustles him, gets the puck, steps in front, and scores. Budaj’s shutout bid is over. 4-1 Colorado.
11:09 Brunette gets called for high sticking.
10:50 Richardson springs Ben Guite. Guite races in on Garon. Garon makes a desperate save on Guite.
10:05 Clark is limping after taking a shot off his foot
9:22 As I thought, this period is all Edmonton so far.
8:59 Ryan Smyth gets sprung on almost a carbon copy play of the Guite play. Garon makes the stop, and Staois hooks Smyth as well. Finger is the guy to start this one.
5:50 Edmonton scores again. 4-2. Grebeshkov fires it from the point, and Shawn Horcoff deflects it just in front of Budaj. Not shocking at all.
3:52 Svatos steers Pitkanen hard into the boards.
2:25 Garon is off for the extra attacker. Get Sakic out there.
0:00 Oddly, I’m not sure Sakic got on the ice at all in the last few minutes there. Oh well, no matter. The Avs win 4-2. Not a stellar 3rd period, but the effort over the first 2 is what really matters.
It’s about freakin’ time. Why can’t we come close to this effort every night?
Q finally got the 4th line right, and he finally put Hlinka where he belongs. That was our best line, by far.
And Hannan finally hit someone tonight - twice! Sure, he was bluffing about actually going with Stortini, because he’d get his head knocked off, but at least he pretended to be interested in the game. That’s a start.
Budaj’s gotta start again Friday, doesn’t he?
God I hope so, I’ll be at that game
you’re going to get to see those awesome jerseys in person!
(no, I don’t mean ours)
Best lines of the year, with the right goalie in net. I’m just giddy that it finally happened. Smith offers nothing but filler for what this team has. Everyone on that fourth line offered something tonight and as a bonus it freed up Hlinka to play on a line he plays well with.
The only line I don’t care for is Smyth, Arnason and Svatos. It lacks any true playmaker, but guys who all drive in to the crease for their scoring. I can’t think of a great solution to this except it’s better to have three great lines and one oddball line.
When Lappy gets back, he would look great on that third line with Guite and McCormick. That would be a line that leaves bruises. Richardson could go to the Smyth line and honestly, I think you make Arnason the odd man out. But that’s not what Q will do, he will sit McCormick. There are much worse mistakes than that but after rolling out the right lines last night I have hope.
Let me ask you fellow Avalanche fans, isn’t it time we gave Theo a
second, third, fourth, fifth, sixthis it seventh? chance?[...] My notes on the game can be found here. [...]
I’ve always liked Svatos…but, honestly, I see him more and more as the weak link on every line he plays with. I just don’t think he’s a good fit for any line combo on this team…
“I’ve always liked Svatos…but, honestly, I see him more and more as the weak link on every line he plays with. I just don’t think he’s a good fit for any line combo on this team…”
agreed. yes he puts the puck in the net, but his line mates hardly ever do. I am firmly in the “trade him while he still has value” camp. If he can be packaged with Arnason, so much the better!
speaking of, i still don’t understand why Arnason is on the PP and not Hlinka. one can pass, one can’t. how hard is this?!
I thought the Svats machine (damnit That’s his nickname people start using it, I’m trying to get it to catch on
) clicked really well with Stastny and Hejduk. Smyth doesn’t click with that line at all.
But yeah Smyth-Arny-Svats Machine line just doesn’t work. Smyth seems to be the odd man out because Sakic-Bruno-Wolski clicks and so does the Czech line. (Stast, Hejduk-Hlinka)
That third line is weird though. Maybe Smyth-Richardson-Svats would be okay, but you really want Arnason paired with Guite/Smith and McCormik/Lappy? Might as well healthy scratch Arny then.
If Forsberg gets healthy and we can lure him back we could have a 3rd line of Smyth-Forsberg-Svats Machine and a 4th line of Lappy-Guite-Richardson. Now that would be a special lineup
Arnason’s PP numbers since he’s joined the Avs have been absolutely brutal. I don’t really get that one either.
I was thinking Svatos as the healthy skratch but then I figured that Svatos is even more consistant than Arnason and Richardson plays the center position well and logically would make Arny the odd man out.
The gorilla in the room are Skrastins and apparently, Leopold again some time soon. Who’s the odd man out there?
i would think Cumiskey goes down again when Leopold is back at full strength. He’s still young, and until Liles or Sauer (god forbid we don’t re-sign him) goes away, he’s probably better off developing in LE.
as for forwards, what about…
Wolski / Sakic / Bruno (can we just never break up this line again?)
Hlinka / Stastny / Hejduk (clear chemistry here. let it gel, please Q!)
Smyth / Richardson / Svatos (speed, scoring, toughness. could work?)
Arnason / Guite / McCormick (will Arny try harder w/other hard workers?)
my preferred move would be Svatos and Arnason off the team completely, but whatever.
Echo?
/DrFrankensteinvoice
Svats Machine, Svats MA-CHINE
[...] Milan Hejduk and Joe Sakic each had a goal and two assists to help the Colorado Avalanche beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-2. [...]
The gorilla in the room are Skrastins and apparently, Leopold again some time soon. Who’s the odd man out there?
man, if it’s the Leopold from earlier this season, I don’t want to see him on the ice at all. That can’t be how he really plays, can it?
Teh Doc,
That sounds good to me, I think Richardson is better on faceoffs for the 3rd line and he can be a playmaker for Svatos and Smyth. His defense is better than Arnasons etc… I think Arny would waste away on the fourth line more than usual. When Lappy gets back he’s the odd man out on that line but I’m 90% positive Q would sit McCormick. Which is a shame because Cody brings something intangible to the club out there.
Last night, Granato clearly gave McCormick the cease and desist on dropping the gloves and he did so. There was no reason to give Edmonton any life at all with a fight. However, guys were still trying to place some hard checks and Edmonton was getting out of position for a little while there. Lappy, McCormick and Guite is a hard hitting line with good to great defense, good to mediocre skating and great to fantastic energy. I’d just love to see that line play a few shifts.
Another reason I put the Svats machine (happy?) over Arny is that Svatos does have some crunch time mojo and offers something on the power play. He’s someone I’d want on the ice for shootouts too.
Extremely.