The Avalanche won for the 2nd time in two games, beating the Panthers 4-3 in a shootout. Following a comeback win on Saturday against the Hurricanes, the Avs seem to have salvaged their sinking season for the time being.
The Avs were coming off a brutal three game stretch where, for once, they got brilliant goaltending from Jose Theodore. The offense, though, was anything but brilliant and the team managed just one win (and 3 goals) in those 3 games. This weekend, we did not get brilliant goaltending from Jose Theodore (unless watching 50′ slapshots zip into the net is your idea of brilliant). Thankfully, we found our offense under a cushion in the couch…and not a moment too soon. The Avs put up 8 goals over the weekend (9 with the shootout goal). That’s our 3rd highest 2-game output of the season (10 is the top, which we’ve managed twice).
vs. last year:
Marek Svatos scored again - his 10th goal in 11 games. To say that he’s been carrying our team offensively is an understatement. He has 10 of the 26 goals we’ve scored in those 11 games, or 38% of our offensive output. His 2nd period goal (a PP goal at that) was his 20th on the season, tying him for 18th in the NHL along with guys like Sydney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Not bad for a guy Altitude identified as “Erik” Svatos in a promo last year.
Svatos’ goal was the first time the team managed to convert on the powerplay in 9 games. Joel Quenneville seems to be sticking with two defensemen on the point. While 1 PP goal in 9 games is nothing to write home about, the team does seem better on the PP of late. With two guys back there who know when to activate, when to switch sides, who can keep the puck in to continue the play and can get the puck on the net, we seem to be on the verge of getting back to respectability. On Sunday, John-Michael Liles was not used with the first unit - that honor went to Jordan Leopold and Brett Clark. Liles played on the second unit with Jeff Finger. I’m a big fan of the improvements Liles has made to his defensive game (I don’t think he gets anywhere near enough mention in that area), but his offensive dropoff this year is extremely vexing.
Last year, almost all the fighting fell on to the shoulders of Ian Laperriere. He had 17 fighting majors, while Mark Rycroft had 3 and Jeff Finger had 1. This year, six different players have been involved in fights, and all six have been involved in fights in the last 3 games (Jeff Finger, Cody McLeod, Cody McCormick, Laperriere, Scott Parker and, of course, Brett Clark who tussled with Ollie Jokinen in the first period). I’ve become so accustomed to other guys fighting that I was surprised for a second to see Lappy involved in his first period fight with Steve Montador.
Game Notes
Notes are here
Lines
Memo to Joel Quenneville: Would it kill you to stick with the lines you start the game with? For the 2nd game in a row, Cody McLeod started out with the Stastny line and, for the 2nd game in a row, he was moved off by the start of the 2nd period for Andrew Brunette. He finished on the same line he finished Saturday on - a line with Jaroslav Hlinka and Cody McCormick, a line I have dubbed the McLinka Line. I absolutely love having the Codys on a line together - seeing them causing trouble is a little bit reminiscent of the Hanson Brothers.
- Stastny, Brunette, Hejduk
- Arnason, Wolski, Svatos
- Hlinka, McLeod, McCormick
- Guite, Laperriere, Parker
Quick Hits
- Jeff Finger assisted on Svatos’ PP goal. It’s the first PP assist by a defenseman other than Liles or Clark since Patrice Brisebois’ assist in game 30 last year against the Hurricanes - a 97 game stretch.
- Tyler Arnason continues to be abysmal in the faceoff circle. He was 5 of 17 (29%) in the game.
- Officially, there were just 17 hits in the game. Are the scorekeepers even watching these things?
- The Avs improved to 6-1 against the Eastern Conference.
Next Up
The Avalanche finish up their southern tour on Tuesday against the Lightning. After that, their next road game is February 1st.
The power play finally scored. It was an ugly goal, but it happened due to the point guys (Finger in this case) shooting the puck on net and two guys (Wolski and Svatos) crashing the net for rebounds. On the shift right before the goal, Clark had three blast that hit Vokoun, but the Avs just couldn’t get on the rebounds. If we can keep this style of play going the power play is going to get going.
I was surprised to see Theo in net. Part in due to playing the night before and having less than 24 hours between games. Partially because he had played four straight games and three in 5 nights. And lastly because two of the goals scored by the Hurricanes were pretty soft goals (the goals by Cole and Stillman). He was better last night, but the weaknesses in the armor are reappearing; with the exception of the shoot out.
Good to see Brunette, Stastny, and Hejduk giving Svatos and Wolski a little help with the offense the last two games as well.
I thought one of Bruno’s goals came just as the PP expired. While it doesn’t count statistically, it’s worth mentioning because it was, in essence, a PP goal. Maybe more time had gone by than I thought, but i thought he scored 2-3 seconds after the PP expired.
Although it’s pained me greatly, I’ve been watching some Red Wing hockey (recording and FF to the best power play in the NHL). Their power play is just so dynamic because they are changing angles all the time. The defenseman are almost never parallel to each other up top of the blue line. The Avs have set up their power play like a five on a dice. Two up top, one in the middle and two down low. The Red Wings on the other hand are like a five on a dice but turned so it’s point up with one guy on the point and four guys lower down. They constantly rotate that thing back and forth. Of course Holstrom is one of a kind on that PP but Lidstrom is all over the place and puts pucks on net.
Finger has a good, accurate shot. It’s not a howitzer by any means but it’s usually on net. He took that shot from a great angle. With the defensemen out on the point, things have been a lot more dynamic and I think it will get much better. I think they have a lot of work to be one of the better PPs but if they keep that up they shouldn’t be competing for one of the worst PPs in the NHL.
With Arnason you do have a guy that puts the puck on net, I’ll give him that. He can’t give you anything on the PK and he’s garbage in the face off circle. He’s not going to forecheck and he’s not really going to fire anyone up on the bench. Could Hensick, Richardson or Jones do these things for you and give you other benefits? I think so, but I will say that Arnason is good in traffic against teams that haven’t seen him before. Other NW defensemen who have him scouted will just body him off the puck and that will be that. In the playoffs it would be even worse.
I’m kind of surprised I haven’t had anything to yell at Skrastins about lately. I will say that Karlis hasn’t let me down with my favorite drinking game of “take a shot every time he falls down”. I’m not getting quite as plastered as when I was on the Tyler Arnason face shot game. It took me two Comas to figure out that Arnason always wears the Tyler Arnason face.
Other than the time he went to take a slapshot and fell flat on his face as the puck came outside the zone this weekend, right? (I can’t remember which game this was in because I watched them nearly back-to-back)
“I will say that Arnason is good in traffic against teams that haven’t seen him before. Other NW defensemen who have him scouted will just body him off the puck and that will be that”
except for the Oilers, of course.
Excellent point DD. I still can’t figure that one out.
They suck?
I think you may have the nail on the head there.