Six games in, and this season is already shaping up to be a bit…odd. The Avalanche started the season by losing games that they should have won. Now, they are winning games they easily could have lost.
We thought the Avalanche would be improved offensively, and that’s definitely been the case. The Avs lead the league in scoring (24 goals) and (might want to sit down for this) are 2nd in the league in powerplay goals (8). The offense didn’t look particularly sharp against the Kings - they only mustered 16 shots against a suspect Los Angeles defense and goalie Jason LaBarbera looked AWFUL. However, they made those shots count. Ryan Smyth scored twice, including his gorgeous game winner in which he turned around LA rookie Drew Doughty. Milan Hejduk and David Jones also scored (although both were nice goals, both were shots that should have been stopped).
Unfortunately, the improvements to the offense seem to be directly proportional to the slide in our defense and goaltending. Too often our defensemen are getting caught in the wrong spot, and they’ve been getting outhustled consistently this year. Our defense is notorious for slow starts and it’s a quality group of players, so I’m hoping this ship gets righted soon. Peter Budaj got the win (his first win since March 13th). He didn’t look as bad as, say, Andrew Raycroft looked against the Stars, but he still doesn’t seem to be on his game. The Kings missed a lot of scoring chances wide of the net, and I feel Budaj and the Avs were lucky to escape with a victory. Hopefully, this win will build up his confidence.
Lines
Tony Granato has yet to change his defensive pairings. I’m glad he’s not overreacting, like we’ve seen in the past. However, something needs to be done to wake the D up a bid. John-Michael Liles has generally been the only one working hard out there.
The ITCS report is up
Quick Hits
- The reported attendance at the Staples Center was 13,891, the 8th lowest NHL attendance this year
- Peter Budaj was making just his 9th regular season start in the 2008 calendar year. He had 76 starts in 2007.
- 15 of the 19 skaters the Avalanche have dressed so far this year have a goal.
- There was only 1 icing called in the game.
Next Up
The Avalanche host the Oilers on Thursday. Edmonton looked off in their opener against the Avs (although the Oilers won), but they’re now 4-0, with 4 1-goal wins to start the year. Meanwhile, that opening Avalanche game has sparked a bit of controversy in Edmonton. If you’re interested, there’s a lot of good commentary about that story.
Who knew Finger would be worth $3.5M?
I may elaborate on this thought later, but I really think the Avs offense this year just further incrimination of Q’s failure to utilize his team last year. Of course this thought frustrates me greatly.
Did you guys notice two Av rookies colliding in their own end last night and falling over each other? Foote and Sakic, I believe.
I don’t know what is up with the D and goaltending. I’d buy into the “new wide open offense approach” yada yada yada stuff but the fact that their PK is horrible and they are so often porous in their own end doesn’t support this theory.
Interesting blog reference. Le Oil wants their press to “play ball.” Just like the Altiboobs. I’m wondering if Av brass will ever threaten to limit AD’s access for his blogology?
I think one was actually Arnason.
My bad, I thought it was Foote and Sakic. Arnason would make more sense, however. I read your blog about the PK and couldn’t agree more. Guite would bring much more to the table than Arnason, and at least gives them one more competent forward on the PK. The Arnason mystery continues to baffle the masses. He has pics of FG and TG painted gold kissing each other? I really don’t get it.
fwiw, I also thought it was Sakic and Foote.
and I’m with you on the D, Bob. I don’t think we’re hanging our D out at all. Last year, our forwards did a poor job helping out and this year I think they are getting back pretty well (even Arnason). The defensemen just don’t seem to have a sense of urgency back there and they are losing the races to the puck.
everyone talks about how the Avs deserved to lose this game, and I’m not sure I agree. I thought they played very well on the forecheck and forced a lot of turnovers. They may not have carried play the way they have in some past games or had as many shots, but they did a lot of other little things that led to the win. And besides the first terrible goal, Boods was solid.
And the low shot total from the Avs had to be expected in the face of what the kings were doing offensively. 3 forecheckers? wtf?
Arnason was the one who crashed/collided into the back of another player. I still haven’t been able to figure out who he crashed into; Hannan and Liles were the defenders and I know that Doughty used Liles to screen his shot. So it could have been Hannan or one of the forwards. The Defense has improved, but needs to improve much more. At least they were still tangling up with the Oilers in front of Budaj and trying to get the puck out of the crease.
Might be a different play we are thinking of. On the one I’m thinking of the puck was already moving to the other end of the ice and Foote and Sakic (I think) collided all by themselves behind the play. The crowd got a good laugh out of it.
But how was it that the LA D, much of whom had much less experience than ours, looked so much more adept at getting the puck out of harms way? Especially on the PK?
it must be two different plays. The Sakic / Foote thing was really early in the game (IIRC)
The Arny one lead to the a goal for the Kings I think.
I was at the game last night…it was Footer and Sakic providing the slapstick humor. And I didn’t hear the end of it for another two shifts!
I finally got back in town from a trip to California and just watched the game.
I’m encouraged by what I saw. The Avs hadn’t won a game when not scoring first yet. That’s out of the way. Budaj got a win and got that out of the way. Budaj didn’t let in any late goals and got that monkey off his back. All of that on the road. I think all of that to be positive developments. That shortside bank shot was a bad goal but it was also a playmaker goal too. I’ve seen Turgeon pull that on Turco and Yzerman do it to Roy. Sure the goalie needs to make that save but it’s a relatively common scoring technique used by some skilled forwards. It wasn’t a backhand five hole shot in the middle of the slot.
I already knew the Avs won before I watched the game and I read your summary also DD. So I kept a close watch on the defense and for my money the weak link right now is the Leopold/Salei pairing. They are having a hell of a time clearing the puck. In addition Leopold is taking some huge forechecks. I thought Foote/Clark did a nice shutdown job on the Kopitar line. Liles and Hannan had a couple of iffy shifts where Hannan did some blind reverse passes to Liles. It’s kind of ironic that Hannan leans on Liles to clear the zone.
If you had to mix up the D pairings I’d like to see Foote with Salei. Leopold with Hannan and Clark with Liles. The Clark/Liles mix is a real soft line but I think they would be surprisingly solid because they both skate well, and can move the puck.
Arnason is an absolute floater and while he’s winning faceoffs he’s not doing much for his wingers in the offensive zone. Put in Hensick or Guite for him and that line will be better. You could even reunite Guite with Lappy and McLeod and let McCormick try his natural position with Jones and Svatos as well. Anything would be better than that current line makeup.
I also happen to think that Tucker is a poor fit for the Sakic line. I’d think Jones or Svatos would do a better job there.