In The Cheap Seats

Ugly.

Very Ugly.

That describes the sloppy game (which more resembled pinball than hockey). It describes the 16 minor penalties, from Laperriere’s retaliation penalty in the first to Liles’ interference pick to kill any chance at a rally in the third. It describes the officiating (many calls were warranted, but there were several week ones in there as well). It describes Michael Handzus’ hair (wtf, dude?). But, most of all, it describes the goaltending of Jose Theodore.

You might want to cut Jose a bit of slack, considering Colorado left him facing Chicago’s powerplay for 1/4 of the game. But that was an awful performance, with the added distinction of getting worse as the game went on. There simply is no excuse for a goalie in the NHL to look like Theodore did last night, let alone one making a bagillion dollars. Dreadful. Simply dreadful. I can’t talk about it any more…

Quick Hits

• 487. Colorado’s NHL record sellout streak finally came to an end. The Avs have sold out almost every game since coming to Denver, going back to November of 1995.

• Ken Klee has been a nice surprise on the blueline. Expected to be a 7th defenseman, Klee led all skaters in minutes (25:29) and blocked shots (5). Klee is tied for the team lead in +/- this year. Sadly, he’s at +1, one of 4 Colorado players not in the negative. *sigh*

• Patrice Brisebois has put a couple of decent games together in his own end, and scored the first goal by a Colorado blueliner this year. Unfortunately, he was on the ice for 4 of Chicago’s 5 goals.