Trying something a little different tonight. Let's do a running diary of the game.
No Stastny tonight, lasted 5 minutes in the morning skate
1st Period
Looks like it’s going to be Guite’s line going against the Sedins tonight
19:00 Good pressure early by that line and by Hejduk. Good pace so far
For as many guys the Avs are missing up front, the Canucks are missing 4 defensemen
15:00 Pace has settled a bit, Sedins are doing a good job controlling the puck in the Avs zone. The Avs can’t get it out
14:00 Daniel Sedin almost buried one. You can’t run around and leave him open in front
13:30 Pyatt just missed!! Svatos comes down one on one and gets a good shot on Luongo
Good first 5 minutes for the Avs, but the tide has turned a little bit
11:40 Matt Cooke with a nice hit on Hannan battling for the puck in the corner
11:05 Finger gets a good shot from the point on Luongo. Good traffic in front
10:50 1-0 Avs!! Svatos scrambles behind the net, good move on Byron Ritchie reverses field and slips a wraparound through Luongp’s legs. Arnason must have jammed it in
10:23 Theodore makes a save on a point blank shot in front by Ritchie. He was wide open on a pass from behind the net
9:09 Avs are keeping the pressure on, Guite walked right out in front, Luongo shut the door this time. Doesn’t look like the Avs are going to try and sit on this 1-0 lead like they have for most of this year
8:41 2-0 Avs!! Hejduk buries it from 8 feet out. Good work by Brunette behind the net with a guy on him to get it out in front, off of Hlinka to Hejduk.
7:21 Kesler has a good rush sets aup a chance by Pyatt off the post!!! Theodore scrambles and the puck goes wide. Bad 1st rebound by Theo
4:30 Theodore is not handling shots well, even soft ones
2:55 3-0 Avs!! Svatos buries it from his knees. Talk about fighting for the puck. Wolski, Svatos and Arnason all out-muscled a Canuck to keep the puck alive and eventually bury it
1:15 The camera man is having a hard time keeping up with the action. It’s a little irritating.
End of the First. The Avs couldn’t have asked for a better period, home or away. All four lines played well, fought hard and created chances on Luongo. While the Sedin line had a couple good shifts, and Pyatt hit a post, the Avs controlled the period, especially down low behind the net and in front of Luongo. Plus they buried the good chances they had. This was probably a better period than the first against San Jose Wednesday night. Hopefully the Avs can continue this, unlike Wednesday, and keep putting pressure on the young defense of the Canucks. Luongo looked a little shaky at times on long shots. He needs to sure up and control the rebounds better because he isn’t getting a lot of help. Theodore has done the job so far, but even with a 3-0 lead I’m not comfortable.
Sedin line -2 in 1st
2nd Period
18:40 Sedin line once again controlling play in the Avs zone, no great chances though.
The Avs forwards really bunch down low leaving the points WIDE open
16:22 Good work and forechecking by McCormickon a seemingly innocent play draws a holding penalty on Linden
15:55 2 on 1 Hejduk and Brunette, Hejduk toe drags and…. shoots high. Avs finally able to set up and get another good chance by Hejduk all alone in front. By the way, courtesy of Peter McNAbb, Hejduk has 29 goals in 51 career games against Vancouver
Avs 0-1 on the PP
13:20 big hit by McCormick on Climber.. He and McLeod are making their presence felt tonight
12:50 Laperriere sets a pick on Salo creating a two on one, and it’s whistled down. Interference on Lappy
12:23 PP Goal VAN 3-1.. Shot from the point by Salo tipped by Guite, Henrik Sedin able to bury the rebound
That goal picked up the Canucks, they had a good next shift
10:45 Canucks starting to throw the body around a little bit. I smell bad things happening
9:10 Edler almost loses it in front of Luongo. That will NOT make a coach happy
8:50 Theo fumbles another long shot. He is not good controlling rebounds on high shots. He may have the worst glove hand in the league
The Avs have had a lot of space in the neutral zone tonight and have been able to carry the puck into the Canuck zone with little opposition
The pace has slowed a little bit since the Vancouver goal, but the Avs aren’t sitting back as much as they did against San Jose
4:17 Brunette working hard behind the net draws a penalty on Naslund. Kind of a weak hooking call
Avs going with the three centers up front on the PP (HEnsick, Arnason, Hlinka)
3:19 4-1 Avs!! Wow!! Svatos carried the puck in, dropped it off to Liles who one touched it to Clark for a one-timer that kind of fluttered just under the cross bar past Luongo. It’s a power play goal
2:59 5-1 Avs!! Arnason makes a nice play to get the puck in fron, and Svatos comes barreling in to put it past Luongo, gets buried and draws a penalty for it after the play
The Avs are on the PP, but the Canucks are getting the scoring chances
:54 Fresh out of the box McIver gets into a scrap with Lappy. More wrestling for position than punches thrown.
After a bit of a flurry by the Canucks, that’s the period
Another great period by Colorado. There have been times this season when they got the lead then sat back and allowed teams to bring the play to them, putting a lot of pressure on the D and goalies. That’s not the case this time. The Avs by far had the better chances this period, and clearly are playing like they want this one. Svatos has 3 points already. As I mentioned earlier, the Avs aren’t dumping the puck as much this game. It’s probably due to the fact that Vancouver is allowing them to carry into the zone.
3rd Period
Curtis Sanford is in for Luongo
19:10 nice chance by Henrik. Thisline continues to go in spurts, and it looks like they just drew a penalty on Hejduk.
18:38 PP Goal 5-2… Sami Salo with a bomb from the point.
Again, the PP goal gives the Canucks life as they follow it up with a good shift
18:02 Wolski walked around the D but had the puck roll off his stick in front of Sanford
17:43 McCormick in a scrap with Luc Bourdon. Bourdon keeps throwing punches after McCormick went down, and boy was he pissed. We could see round 2 later
Hannan called for holding before the fight
17:33 Great save by Theo on Daniel.. This PP unit may be the best I’ve seen other than Detroit
17:20 Salo bombs one off the post. The Avs better keep the puck away from that guy
Whew.. the Avs doged several bullets on that kill. The Canucks are in full control this period
14:44 The Avs needed this whistle. Things were getting a little out of control
Avs can’t get it past the red line
12:20 Wolski gets the first shot on goal of the period for the Avs
10:39 GOOOALL 6-2 Avs!! Hejduk snaps one off from the left faceoff dot
8:59 We have ourselves another fight. This time it’s McLeod and McIver
6:23 Svatos makes a great move, bidding for the trick and fires it over the net
Not much happening
And that’s all she wrote. A little tussle here at the end, but nothing comes of it.
A big win for the Avalanche. The get a road win against a divisional opponent, and move past Calgary into second place in the Northwest. Theodore was good when he had to be, but the real story was the offense. Svatos continues to roll, he now has 24 goals, and it was good to see Milan Hejduk pot a couple as he has been close in each of the last few games. This was the 3rd time since the all-star break that the Avs have scored 6 goals. The most promising thing for the Avs tonight was the fact that the Avs showed the killer instinct that they are going to need coming down the stretch. When they get ahead, they need to put teams away and keep picking up points. It’s kind of amazing that the Avs continue to score a lot with their three best offensive players on the sidelines. The Arnason, Wolski, Svatos line combined for 9 points and continues to be the catalyst for this team.
Numbers!!!
Goals
1 – 7:10 of 1st COL – Arnason (7) from Svatos (6) and Wolski (21)
2 – 11:19 of 1st COL – Hejduk (19) from Hlinka (17) and Brunette (25)
3 – 17:05 of 1st COL Svatos (23) from Arnason (18) and Wolski (22)
4 – 7:37 of 2nd VAN PP – H. Sedin (12) from Salo (9) and D. Sedin (31)
5 – 16:41 of 2nd COL PP – Clark (5) from Liles (20) and Hensick (4)
6 – 17:01 of 2nd COL – Svatos (24) from Arnason (19) and Wolski (23)
7 – 1:22 of 3rd VAN PP – Salo (2) from Raymond (10) and D. Sedin (32)
8 – 9:21 of 3rd COL – Hejduk (20) from Hlinka (18) and Brunette (26)
SOG
Avs: 13-9-2 – 24
Canucks: 5-9-11 – 25
PP
Avs: 1-3
Canucks: 2-3
Western Conference Standings:
Team GP W Pts
1. Detroit 57 41 87
2. Dallas 59 34 73
3. Minnesota 55 31 66
4. San Jose 55 31 69
5. Anaheim 59 30 67
6. Colorado 56 30 65
7. Calgary 56 28 64
8. Nashville 56 28 62
10. Phoenix 55 28 60
11. Columbus 57 26 60
12. St. Louis 53 24 55
13. Edmonton 57 25 55
14. Chicago 54 24 53
15. LA 57 23 49
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