Colorado loses again, but it’s not for lack of effort. The Avs have been playing very good hockey recently, but it isn’t showing up in the standings. Colorado is 4-7 in their last 11 games. Even worse, the Avalanche are 2-7 against NW teams so far in the 2nd half. It doesn’t take a calculator to realize that simply wont work.
The Avs, like they’ve done all year, are leaving too many points on the table. Colorado has just 2 wins fewer than the 8th place Flames. But, Calgary, despite their horrible OT record (1-9) has gotten there enough times to get points. The Avs have lost more 1-goal regulation games than I care to count. Colorado has just 14 points from OT, 11th worse in the West. That’s a far cry from their opponent, the Wild, who have an amazing 35 points in OT this year.
There’s been talk of changing the scoring to do something about the so-called “3-point games”; 8 of 12 games in the NHL last night went to OT. Twelve teams lose, but eight of them gain a point in the standings for doing so. To remedy this, there’s been talking of changing the scoring a bit by awarding 3 points for a regulation win, 2 for an OT win, and 1 for an OT loss. The idea is that each game is worth the same, which make sense. In practice, though, it doesn’t change the face of the standings much. Under the 3-point proposal, all 8 playoff teams in the West would be unchanged. All that would happen would be a shuffling of the order slightly. Personally, I don’t like either system. If it was up to me, teams would play a 10 minute sudden death OT. You win, you get two. Lose? ZERO. If it’s still tied after 10, each team gets a point. (And, fwiw, if you drop all shootout points from the existing standings and convert them to ties, it still doesn’t change the 8 playoff teams). I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent here, but I guess the bottom line is that, no matter what the point system, the Avs need to convert close games into points in the standings.
Highlights from the game:
15:17 Stephane Veilleux gets called for tripping on Jeff Finger. Finger is on his way to 17 minutes of ice time and a much better game than his NHL debut on Tuesday.
12:12 My notes have Budaj making a notable save on Marian Gaborik here. Obviously, I was hopped up on too much medication, because Gaborik doesn’t register an official shot until the 3rd period.
10:58 Colorado has 3 defensemen on the ice (John-Michael Liles, Ken Klee, Kurt Sauer). That’s not enough. Lile’s clearing attempt gets stopped by C Todd White. White passes to Mark Parrish who somehow finds a wide-open Adam Hall who backhands it into the net. On the play, the Avalanche outnumber the Wild in front of the net, but still allow a guy to get open. Painful to watch. 1-0 Minnesota.
8:13 I’m going to get this out of the way now, and never dip into this well again, so enjoy this one time opportunity: Mark Parrish gets Fingered against the boards. Glad to have that out of the way.
6:45 Penalty on Mikko Koivu for holding. It’s the last Wild penalty of the game (Colorado doesn’t convert on either opportunity).
5:20 Shorthanded, Pavol Demitra and Gaborik get a 2-1 breakaway with Sakic as the only man back. Sakic holds his ground well, and Demitra hesitates too long before getting a poor shot off. That very easily could have been a goal.
1:52 Brunette has a great chance coming in from behind the net, but Minnesota G Niklas Backstrom makes a sprawling save to keep out the puck.
:50 Interestingly, Karlis Skrastins is without his usual partner Brett Clark. Klee is out there instead. Here’s what I don’t get: It’s late in the period, the draw is in the offensive zone and Colorado needs a goal. The Sakic line is winded…but Joel Quenneville leaves the Hejduk/Stastny line on the bench in favor of the Arnason line. Hejduk has been terrific lately in these situations - 2 goals in the last minute of the period in the last 4 games, and 1 other stellar chance. In addition, your best offensive defenseman (Liles) is also glued to the bench. Strange.
2nd Period
20:00 Jeff Finger starts the period on the ice.
13:36 Paul Stastny goes down to block a shot. Love this kid.
13:17 Klee and Skrastins are together again.
12:00 Jeff Finger records his first NHL shot. Backstrom makes a stick save on the shot from the point.
11:44 Minnesota gets called for Too Many Men. And then the refs change their minds. Altitude never showed a proper replay. Shocking, I know.
10:37 Peter Budaj makes a strong save to keep Colorado in it.
10:00 And another strong save.
5:47 Minnesota is doing a great job funneling the Avs away from the front of the net. All of Colorado’s chances so far have been from the side, which Backstrom is stopping easily.
5:38 The inevitable “Wild record with and without Gaborik” is shown.
2:39 Some guy I’ve never heard of - Wyatt Smith - makes it 2-0 for the Wild. Again, the Avs find themselves unable to cover everyone. Stephane Veilleux is wide open next to the net while Smith skates with the puck past the faceoff circle. Budaj has to be ready for the pass, and gets beaten by Smith’s shot.
2:11 The killer. Fresh off of the Smith goal, Ian Laperriere gets called for charging. You cannot do this and win. Not against Wild, not against anyone.
1:20 Minnesota converts. If you saw Kristen Huselius sneak in on the backdoor for an easy PP chance in the games against the Flames, you’ve seen this play. It’s exactly the same, but with different players. This time it’s Todd White moving down on the backside without a forward picking him up, and Marion Gaborik finding him with a cross ice pass. It’s frustrating to see this play happen again and again. Other teams obviously have it figured out…why can’t Colorado? 3-0 Wild, and Minnesota is smothering the Avs offense.
Period 3
(The NHL commercial with the “Swedish Twins” - aka Daniel and Henrik - is terrific).
17:04 Marek Svatos is out there for a shift with Sakic and Brunette.
12:16 Clark is paired up with Liles.
9:03 Colorado finally scores. It’s a fun play to watch. Andrew Brunette takes Kurtis Foster hard into the boards. It wouldn’t have shocked me to see a boarding call on it, but there wasn’t a penalty. Meanwhile, that Wyatt Smith guy comes over to stand up for Foster. With two Wild players tangled up with Brunette, it leaves the rest of the Avs a man up. Stastny gets the puck behind the net. His shot is blocked by Martin Skoula, but the rebound goes right to the stick of Ken Klee who deposits it in the back of the net. Interestingly, Klee has more EV points (14) than Liles (12). Also, Klee was again paired with Skrastins on this shift.
7:05 The phrase “blocked by Martin Skoula” is used for the 3rd time in the period. That’s incredible.
7:00 Colorado gets another great scoring chance, but the shot hits the crossbar. Avs are really pressuring now.
6:35 Brad Richardson cuts the lead to 3-2. Ken Klee started the play off by carrying the puck in himself deep behind the net. Then the forwards took over with their standard cycling play before Brunette passed to a wide open Richardson in front. Colorado has gone from out of it to very much in it within a span of just a few minutes. I can’t help thinking, though, that they will ultimately come up a goal short.
6:14 Ben Guite and Svatos have an excellent chance to tie, but Backstrom saves it.
4:34 Liles is tripped. No call.
2:21 The play of the game. Unfortunately, it’s not a happy one for Colorado fans. With the Avs pressuring to tie, the puck gets dropped back to Finger at the point. Finger tees up a mighty slapshot…but his stick shatters. Parrish and Koivu get a breakout, and Finger - without a stick - can do little to stop it. Budaj has almost no chance on the play, and Koivu’s shot is picture perfect. Minnesota goes up 4-2, an insurmountable lead.
1:48 Svatos makes it interesting when he takes the puck from the draw and fires it past Backstrom. It was exciting to watch, but it proved to be too little too late. Colorado loses a heartbreaker 4-3.
EV Lines
Same as Tuesday’s Calgary game. Richardson is looking great on a scoring line. I’m hoping that when Wolski comes back, Richardson will bump Brad May off the 2nd line.
C Sakic, LW Richardson, RW Brunette: 18:42 ATOI (EV), 4 pts (EV), 14 shots, +1
C Stastny, LW May, RW Hejduk: 15:44 ATOI (EV), 2 pts (EV), 1 shot, +4
C Arnason, LW McLean, RW Laperriere: 11:31 ATOI (EV), 0 pts (EV), 3 shots, -1
C Guite, LW Svatos, RW Klee: 11:52 ATOI (EV), 2 pts (EV), 7 shots, -3
D Clark & D Skrastins: 17:46 ATOI (EV), 0 pts (EV), 3 shots, +1
D Finger & D Vaananen: 15:47 ATOI (EV), 0 pts (EV), 2 shots, E
D Liles & D Sauer: 10:21 ATOI (EV), 0 pts (EV), 1 shot, -1
Quick Hits
- Avs are now 8-3 when dressing 7 D
- After giving up 5 PP in an 11 game stretch, the Avs have allowed 6 PP goals in the last 4 games.
- Colorado has had 12 PP chances in the last 4 games, while giving up 18 chances to their opponents.
Two comments:
1) On the first goal, Stastny’s wrap around chance is indeed blocked, either by a skate of Skoula or the side of the net. But, I think the rebound actually comes right back to Stastny, who makes a brilliant off-balance pass out to the point to Ken Klee for the goal. Thats how I saw the play happen - am I wrong?
2) On the “play of the game,” when Finger’s stick broke, he was back skating towards his own net. Skrastins had the other man breaking in, why didn’t Finger just floor the Wild player who had the puck? Skrastins had the pass to the other man covered.
Instead, Finger gave the guy with the puck pleanty of time and sunk back into the middle of the ice with Skras. The puck carrier had all day to make a great play. It seems like Finger could have played the puck carrier more physically, knowing that Skras was also back with him.
two good points, Brad.
you’re right on the first goal. I’m working from my notes from the game which, um, aren’t the most detailed; usually just a couple of key names to help jog my memory the next morning. I knew that didn’t seem right when I wrote it.
and I certainly agree that Finger would/could have played that better.
Finger was in a precarious situation. Without a stick you simply cannot let a man get by you at all. You are taught this from peewee. Once a player gets behind you without a stick you have absolutely no chance to do anything but take the penalty. Finger is as green a rookie as you can have. He did what his training told him to do I would assume; 1) Don’t let him get by you and 2) Try and block a shot. Watching the play Skrastins got in Finger’s blind spot and Finger didn’t so much as turn his head to see who was behind him. I think this is pretty typical of a rookie in that situation. Roy would have told the kid to take away the pass or block the weak side of the net and let me make the save. I don’t know if the Avalanche have had a general on the back line to voice these things since Foote and Roy left. Finger did everything right in that game, even the slap shot that broke his stick was the right play. Unfortunately someone in the Kronke organization has walked under a ladder because that was pure bad luck. With all of that said, Finger still needs some work with 2 on 1s. If that’s the least of his problems I’d say Finger is still much better than I would have expected. His ability to clear his zone is better than Sauer, Vannanen and Skrastins. A significant weakness of the Avalanche back line.
I thought the Avs played a pretty spirited game and were the victim of mistakes rather then uninspired play. The first Hall goal was not only the result of Liles not clearing the zone but also of the defensman letting Hall beat him out of the corner. Bad positioning and reactions from Liles. Is he still hurting?
I like Richardson on that scoring line, I’ve been fairly vocal about that from the start. I will give him credit for his goal but I think he could have had two more. That breakaway that rolled off his stick with no shot on goal was one deke too many apparently. One of the first scrums in front of the net and Richarson knocked a rebound right into Backstrom’s pad. All he had to do was lift the puck a little. Of course that’s all easier said than done. I like Richardson on that line for more reasons than just his ability to showcase his offensive abilities. I like the fact he can do the dirty work on the boards and give Brunette a little help while keeping Sakic in the slot more. I like the fact that Richardson can backcheck effectively and give Sakic more opportunities to lead the breakout rather than get gassed behind his own blue-line and take early line shifts. I like the fact that if Sakic gets tossed from the faceoff circle we have another capable faceoff man and in fact it might be advantagous in the offensive zone to keep Sakic on the slot during faceoffs for rebounds and socring chances etc…
Great comments about Richardson, I agree with it all. I’ve wanted to see what he could do with his offensive talents for a while now.
And, it’s also true that Finger was in a precarious situation. Certainly, without stick any defenseman is in a bad spot, rookie or not. So he was already in a disadvantaged situation.
It’s good you bring up the notion of a “field general” back there on the defensive side, because its certainly a visible hole without Blake and Footer. Finger played it by the book and, like you said, did what his training said. With a little more experience (and maybe skill?), he could have seen Skras was already back and taken the risk to drop the man with the puck. But, experience has to come some way.
What is the story with Kuminsky? He played well when called up a while ago, anybody know why Finger was called up instead of Kuminsky?
(I may sound like I’m bagging on Finger, that is not the case. As has been pointed out here, for a rookie he played a pretty good game in Minnesota. Plus, with a last name like that, how can you not like him?)
I don’t think Cumiskey is out of out favor. I think it’s more a matter of wanting to see what Finger could do after giving Kyle a similar chance.
Also, I’ve said this before, but I don’t see how Liles and Cumiskey would work out in the same lineup for significant amount of time.
I don’t think Cuminsky is out of favor either…maybe it is more of a situation of rookie status. If we bring a guy up for more than a certain number of games…A) we have to pay them, B) they lose a year (or gain it, however you decide to call it) and next time we sign them it will have to be for more (IE. now he’s a second year player instead of a rookie).
Plus it is nice to see what all these can can do with a small stint in the big time. Cuminsky can certainly be a good player and we seen, that. Why not give another guy the chance to see what he can do!