Budaj stole another one. For the 2nd time in 3 days, the Avalanche were outplayed by a tough Nashville team but, thanks to solid goaltending from Budaj, came away with the win. In the two games, Budaj turned away 62 of 64 shots to keep his team in the game. The Avalanche won 3-1 to move within 1 point of first place in the NW division.
For all the goaltending antics pulled by Joel Quenneville of late, Budaj’s actually been playing well of late (this is his 6th win in his last 9 starts). With the Avs struggling to put goals in the net, the Avalanche goalies need to be good to win. In games where the team has given up 2 goals or less, they are 14-0-1. Give up more than two, and the team is 4-13-0. For the record, Budaj has given up two or less in exactly half of his starts (9 of 18) and Theodore a bit less than that (6 of 14).
(This is probably more a discussion for a later time, but the zero OTL in 3+ goal games is rather disturbing. 6 of those 13 losses were by either 1 goal or 1 goal and an empty netter.)
vs. last year:
One thing that I think has been key to Budaj is that he’s better in the 1st period. He didn’t allow a goal in 23 first period shots by Nashville, raising his 1st period save percentage this year to 909. It’s his best period statistically, and his good starts are helping his team either get off to a good start, or stay in the game until they get rolling. I’m going to expand on this a little more tomorrow at MHH. But, until then, I’d ask: When you are getting outplayed in the first period, do you want Budaj (.909) or Theodore (.864) in net?
The Avs started out slowly against Nashville, getting outshot 17-5 in the first period (the Avalanche had just 5 shots despite having 2 PP opportunities). Budaj was sensational, though, and kept the Predators off the board until the 15 minute mark of the 2nd period. By then, Colorado had a 2-goal lead. Early in the 2nd, Paul Stastny joined Ryan Smyth on a rush, and took a few steps to gain separation Dan Hamius just as Smyth was feeding him the puck. Stastny’s one-timer beat the suddenly-beatable Chris Mason to give Stats his 953th goal of the season (oops, sorry, just his 14th). Later, former Manchester Monarch Jerred Smithson missed a check on Marek Svatos, and then failed to pick him up as Svatos circled in front of the net, fired, and then blasted home his own rebound to put the Avalanche up 2-0. The Preds finally beat Budaj when Martin Gelinas’ backhander rebounded right back to him on the forehand side giving him a relatively easy scoring chance. That was all they’d get, though. Jordan Leopold essentially iced it for the Avalanche when his shot from the blueline through traffic beat Mason midway through the third.
So, there you have it. The Avalanche were outshot 32-16 and were generally outplayed for much of the game. But the steady play of Peter Budaj gave them the win. Imagine that.
Lines
No game notes for this one, but I do already have the line report up. The Avalanche injuries continue to pile up, with Brad Richardson now out with a shoulder injury. TJ Hensick replaced Richardson in the lineup (and played an oh-so-sparringly 7:39). The Avs went with 7 defensemen again. How marginal does Scott Parker feel at this point - he was the only healthy player not in the lineup, and he’s getting passed over to put an extra defenseman on the ice.
As for the injuries, Adrian Dater has a lot of information on them (summarized below):
- Joe Sakic skated yesterday, but did not make the trip to the West Coast
- Kurt Sauer’s neck injury is actually a concussion. These can be difficult injuries to recover from, and there’s no time table at all for his return. Tough break for a guy having a good season
- Tyler Arnason has a fractured wrist, and he’ll be out about 4 weeks.
- Brad Richardson - the 3rd center on this list - is expected to miss 7-10 days.
Meanwhile, John-Michael Liles skated off slowly for the 2nd straight game (this time after an awkward collision with Andrew Brunette). While he returned to both games, he’s got to be feeling some pain somewhere.
Quick Hits
- Nashville’s Pete “Bubba” Webber and Terry “The Lisp” Crisp have to be two of my least favorite announcers in the NHL. I did like two aspects of the broadcast, though. One, I like when they talk to the Pred’s backup goalie (generally Dan Ellis) on the bench during the game; it’s always interesting. And two, that intermission piece on the training of Nashville’s ice girls was, um, enjoyable to watch.
- Cody McCormick, Ben Guite and Ian Laperriere each had over 15 minutes of ice time.
- Leopold, the 7th defenseman, was mostly teamed up with Kyle Cumiskey when he was on the ice.
Next Up
The Avalanche visit the LA Kings on Monday (I almost said hapless, but we pissed off a few Kings fans with our comments in the Marc Crawford story). I’m still on the fence about watching (it’s starts at 10:30 here). On Wednesday, they face Doug Weight for the 3rd time this year, as we visit the Ducks in Anaheim.
Other Recaps
The only non-AP recap (that one’s linked above) I could find was from the Denver Post (Terry Frei)
i’ll be at the game monday, and hopefully in anaheim wednesday… i’ll try to “bring the noise”
I missed the first period, well most of it, so that skews my perception a little bit, but I don’t think the Avs were outplayed, at least not in the last 45 minutes or so that I saw.
They have also quietly gone 4-1 in their last 5, with strong defensive play in the last 3 (IMO anyways)
Well, I’m very happy for Budaj and the team as a whole here. He’s stolen two games on his own with little goal support. He’s had to make some really tough saves and has given the team a chance while the defense has rotated in front of him.
I really like the Stastny line and the Guite line (I’m calling it the Guite line because he’s the only constant on it with injuries etc…). Those are two solid book ends with no defensive weaknesses on either.
Can’t I just be happy with this and enjoy the moment? Yes and No. I really like the direction of the goaltending and the commitment from the forward lines of defensive pressure. These are all great things, including Hannan’s maturity as a leader back on the blue line. Even in the last game against the Preds I could hear him calling out for the puck from the Altitude broadcast. He’s a big time communicator and you cannot underestimate how important this is for a defense.
On the other hand I don’t think the Avs nor fans can get complacent enough to believe that the goaltending has finally stepped up and we can start streaking again. There’s a LOT more work to be done. The way I look at it is that the goaltender shouldn’t have to steal these games. From time to time you need your goaltender to look across the ice and say to himself, “that goalie isn’t letting in more than two tonight, I have to shut the door”. Roy did this throughout the regular season and playoffs. He recognized games in which two or three goals allowed was OK, and those in which is was not. However, Budaj cannot steal wins all season long.
The first and “fourth” lines are carrying some pretty forgettable play by the forwards in between. If it’s not for a un-Svatos like forecheck and great hustle play on his part the last game is a lot tighter than anyone would want. The Brunette/Wolski line hasn’t been the same since Brunette got the flu, Sakic went out and Wolski started playing point on the power play. By now Brunette should be recovered. Sakic is a huge loss for any line but these guys have to really start making their own magic at this point. I’m starting to also believe that Wolski’s confidence as a player is getting tested on every power play shift he’s on. Wolski has a lot of pressure on him by taking over a point roll for the PP that even Sakic struggled with. The PP looked horrible against Nashville and the only chances we really had were when Clark and Liles played a single shift. When Wolski was skating three strides behind a break away shorthanded attempt by Nashville, all I could think to say in my mind was, “Woolly, it’s not your fault”.
Defensively I’m still not convinced. I know that there are a lot of people happy with our defense right now because the scores are low. However, I don’t think the scoring chances are. The seven defenseman rotation is creating chaos in our own zone and the captain of chaos is Karlis Skrastins. He’s taken it to new levels these past two games. He’s switching sides, chasing forwards up the side boards and collapsing in his own crease when the cycle pressure is on. He’s a total train wreck. Leopold has his Spring swing right now and although he’s had a clear or two that didn’t make it out, he’s looked surprisingly better. Hannan looks his best with Cumiskey or Liles playing on his left side and it’s a shame that Sauer is out indefinitely with the concussion because those two would make a really solid stay-at-home pairing for Hannan.
It’s a little more difficult to pin down the forward lines with Wolski and Burnette because of the seven defensemen. I think as predictable as Q is, that he will put Svatos out with Brunette and Wolski because of his shift that he scored on. I think that Hlinka should have that regular shift though, he’s a good playmaker and is much more consistent than Svatos. Anyway, the biggest improvement the team can make is to fix that power play and get the forwards off the point. It’s just depressing to watch. Budaj needs more help on the defensive side (IMO) and some goal support to boot.
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