There was a time in the not-too-distant past when the Calgary Flames owned the Colorado Avalanche. When the two teams squared off, chances were pretty good that the Flames would come out on top. The Avs could manage a win here or there, but they had to be almost perfect to do so.
Those days are over.
All of a sudden, Colorado is the team with the upper hand in the rivalry. The Avs won easily last night, 4-1. Going back to last year, the Avalanche have won the last seven meetings between the clubs. Seven! That’s just crazy. I know it won’t last forever…but I’m sure going to enjoy it while it does.
The Flames didn’t look like threats to win the division last night. They took 6 minor penalties to the Avs one (much to the chagrin of the extremely non-biased Flames announcers Roger Millions and Theo “Mumbles” Fleury). While the Avalanche PP continues to be anemic, all the time in the box made it hard for Calgary to get much momentum going on the 5 on 5. Jose Theodore faced just 24 shots, and, honestly, few of them were difficult. The Avalanche D seems to be over their little hiccup in the Vancouver game, and have returned to the solid form they have been exhibiting of late.
And how about a big hand for our two super sophomores, Paul Stastny and Wojtek Wolski - 1st and 3rd on the team in scoring, respectively. The pair have a combined 25 points at even strength. Stastny is a +5, Wolski is a freaking +9. They’ve been our two best - and most consistent - players over the first month.
Game Notes
My notes - which pretty much amount finding different ways to say that Theo Fleury stinks in the booth - are here.
Lines & Shift Chart
Line and Shift Chart wont be up until after work.
As anticipated, Jaroslav Hlinka sat and Scott Parker played (albeit sparingly, as usual). It was also thought that Ryan Smyth would drop back to the Stastny line and Wolski would move up to the Sakic line, but that didn’t happen (and it worked out pretty well). There was talk that Jeff Jillson might finally play, but that didn’t happen either.
Quick Hits
- Jose Theodore has stopped 44 of 45 shots in the 2nd period this year (a .978 save percentage). Happy, Thomas?
- With his assist, Kurt Sauer now has 3 EV points - 2nd best among the defensemen.
- In 6 games, Kyle Cumiskey has just 3 shots. As a point of reference, in the same number of games, Karlis Skrastins has double that. Karlis Skrastins.
Next Up
The day on, day off thing continues with the Avs hosting the Oilers on Wednesday. It’s the last game of their 5-game home stand.
Other Recaps
Quote: “In 6 games, Kyle Cumiskey has just 3 shots. As a point of reference, in the same number of games, Karlis Skrastins has double that. Karlis Skrastins. ”
You talk as if that is a bad thing? What does it matter if he is not shooting - as long as his defense is strong. We’ve got Liles to take the shots.
i would like to see Cumiskey shooting a bit more, but his offensive value is quite a bit more than just those 3 shots. his ability to carry into the offensive zone has been really nice to watch, and his passing and skating are really nice too.
By far, this was the best game of the year for the Avalanche I thought.
Wolski and Hejduk were fantastic and of course Stastny seemed to break his jinx after getting stoned on a save by Kipper. You all know this because every paper writeup and McNabb quote repeats it. The unsung heroes of the game were much longer than usual. That is a very, very good thing. This is how the 2001 squad looked on more nights than most. Messier, Yelle, DeVries etc…, making good plays and keeping the team rolling. The stars are the stars of course but momentum can be killed in one shift.
I’d like to point out this quote from DD’s game recap:
“13:59 Sarich crosschecks Ryan Smyth in front of the net, and then Kipper slashes Smyth. Neither are called. They do nab Regehr for a slash on Sakic, though. One out of three ain’t bad.”
This is what I noticed, Sakic was flat out pissed. I don’t know exactly what it was but he was as fired up as he gets. The refs didn’t know what to make of it, they looked like they wanted to take a TV timeout just to figure out what the hell to do. To me, the team shifted in to a completely different gear after this. Sakic slid down the slot deeper and took more shots on the ensuing power plays and the whole team started to skate. Smyth parked himself in front of Kipper and didn’t move after the whistle, letting Kipper stay down a few extra seconds or expend the energy of sliding out of the way. I just love this old style of hockey. Smyth almost bought himself a goal by mere inches and an unlucky bounce with his screens. He didn’t show up as a hero on the stat sheet, nor a star in the paper but he played a really important role.
Brunette was all over the puck, Guite played hard and physical all game, Lappy fought and had good puck control, Arnason was backchecking like crazy. Arnason was behind our net a lot and making really good plays on the puck carrier. The whole defensive core played well and were shooting from the point. It’s crazy but Cumiskey just might be the fastest player on the entire Avalanche team. That, and he’s fearless. It’s like watching Roy come out of the net at times. Your heart seizes up and then you wonder how the hell he got away with what he just did. I don’t know if he’s reckless or a freak of nature on skates so he can make up for his positioning. He knows this and understand his limitations.
It was just a thoroughly enjoyable game to watch.
Aaron, I would indeed like to see Cumiskey shooting more. It is awesome to watch him dart around in the Avs’ zone, but I’d like to see some of that skill translated to more chances in the offensive zone. While his unique play back there hasn’t hurt us, I think there needs to be some reward for the risks he’s taking.