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.

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?

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?

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.

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 think one was actually Arnason.