Game 71 Preview: Avalanche at Ducks
by David Driscoll-Carignan on Mar 21, 2010 6:00 AM MDT
in Game Previews
16 comments
 |
 |
 |
| Colorado Avalanche |
6 MT / 8 ET / 1 GMT |
Anaheim Ducks |
| 40-24-6 | March 21st, 2010 |
33-29-8 |
| 86 pts | Honda Civic Center |
74 pts |
| 5th in West |
Anaheim, CA | 11th in West |
As with a lot of these previews, I prepared this last night. Normally I have a chance to update them in the morning, but due to other plans I won't be able to do that today. So, the numbers above and below don't reflect any games on Saturday, most notably Columbus at Nashville, Los Angeles at the Islanders and Detroit at Vancouver. Although it says "5th" above, the Avalanche could be anywhere from 5th to 7th this morning.
Regardless of what happened last night, the Avalanche will still be playing for 5th place tonight, but they will need St Louis to beat Nashville this evening to help their cause. At least I think that's how this all shakes out; keeping track of all the different parameters is a tad overwhelming.
As for the game at hand, the Avalanche visit the Ducks tonight in the first of yet another set of these exhausting back-to-backs (still two more to go after this one). Each team has a regulation win in the series this year and each team has overcome a 2-goal deficit to do so. The Ducks scored 4 3rd period goals on December 22nd to win 4-2 in Colorado and the Avs scored 4 goals in a 20-minutes span on March 3rd to win 4-2 in Anaheim.
The Avalanche should have Ruslan Salei and Cody McLeod healthy for the game. I hope I don't come across as too unkind when I say that neither player could be described as "indispensable" this year, so I'm not sure how much of a boon this will be for the team. Meanwhile, two players who have had more of an impact - Stephane Yelle and Ryan Wilson - aren't expected to play (at least as of this writing). Olde Yeller (bruised knee) isn't making the trip to California while "Mitch" is day-to-day with a mild concussion suffered in that fight with Jamal Mayers on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Brandon Yip, David Jones and David Koci all skated on Friday, although there is no timetable for the return of any of the three. And Ryan Stoa has been returned to Lake Erie. Again.
Mike has the recap tonight, so, please, do not feed the trolls. Magic numbers (again, these don't take Saturday's games into account):
| Rank | Team | GP | W | L | OT | PTS | GR | MaxPts | Avs Magic# |
| 1 | Chicago | 70 | 45 | 19 | 6 | 96 | 12 | 120 | 34 |
| 2 | San Jose | 71 | 43 | 18 | 10 | 96 | 11 | 118 | 32 |
| 3 | Vancouver | 71 | 44 | 24 | 3 | 91 | 11 | 113 | 27 |
| 4 | Phoenix | 71 | 44 | 22 | 5 | 93 | 11 | 115 | 29 |
| 5 | Colorado | 70 | 40 | 24 | 6 | 86 | 12 | 110 | |
| 6 | Los Angeles | 69 | 40 | 24 | 5 | 85 | 13 | 111 | 25 |
| 7 | Nashville | 71 | 40 | 26 | 5 | 85 | 11 | 107 | 21 |
| 8 | Detroit | 70 | 34 | 23 | 13 | 81 | 12 | 105 | 19 |
| 9 | Calgary | 71 | 36 | 26 | 9 | 81 | 11 | 103 | 17 |
| 10 | St. Louis | 70 | 33 | 28 | 9 | 75 | 12 | 99 | 13 |
| 11 | Anaheim | 70 | 33 | 29 | 8 | 74 | 12 | 98 | 12 |
| 12 | Minnesota | 71 | 34 | 31 | 6 | 74 | 11 | 96 | 10 |
| 13 | Dallas | 70 | 30 | 27 | 13 | 73 | 12 | 97 | 11 |
| 14 | Columbus | 71 | 29 | 31 | 11 | 69 | 11 | 91 | 5 |
| 15 | Edmonton | 71 | 22 | 42 | 7 | 51 | 11 | 73 |
16 comments | 0 recs |
Turn Your Head and Cough: Avalanche Health Check Up
by Paul's Coffey on Mar 20, 2010 9:19 AM MDT
in News
29 comments
The Avs will get a boost of energy and depth back this Sunday as Cody McLeod (foot) and Ruslan Salei (torso) should return in Sunday's tilt against Anaheim.
Unfortunately, Ryan Wilson's status has been updated to "mild concussion". The rookie D-man suffered the injury (his second concussion of the season) in the bout against Jamal Mayers last Wednesday. He will be evaluated on a daily basis, but was able to work out off ice on Friday.
David Jones (knee), Brandon Yip (shoulder) and David Koci (hand) all skated before the Avs practice on Friday, but there is still no timetable for their returns - sorry Koci fans.
29 comments | 0 recs |
Avs Sign Mike Carman
Carman will join the Lake Erie Monsters. He spent four years at the University of Minnesota. He was a third round pick by the Avs in 2006.
The Avs' Magic Numbers
by David Driscoll-Carignan on Mar 19, 2010 6:00 AM MDT
in News
66 comments
*Warning: drowsiness-inducing numbers talk is about to take place*
In Thursday's preview, I talked about the Avalanche's magic number with Calgary as being 17; any combination of 17 points by the Avalanche or 17 available points missed by the Flames would guarantee that the Flames can't pass the Avs in the standings. It's calculated by taking the maximum number of points that the other team can attain this year and figuring how many points the Avalanche need to get to reach that level. Technically, 17 points just assures the Avs from tying the Flames, but I'm ignoring tiebreakers for now (since wins is the first one). If you want to be a stickler, add 1 to each number.
Today, I've calculated the magic number for all the teams. I'm including teams above the Avalanche in the standings, as they Avs can technically still catch each of them. And I'm including the Oilers because I know Derek Zona from Copper & Blue will be reading at some point today. But, really, this really just boils down to the Avs clinching a playoff spot. Once the magic number for 6 more teams drops to zero, the Avalanche are in (again, with the tiebreaker disclaimer above applying).
| Rank | Team | GP | W | L | OT | PTS | GR | MaxPts | Magic # |
| 1 | San Jose | 69 | 43 | 16 | 10 | 96 | 13 | 122 | 36 |
| 2 | Chicago | 69 | 44 | 19 | 6 | 94 | 13 | 120 | 34 |
| 3 | Vancouver | 70 | 43 | 24 | 3 | 89 | 12 | 113 | 27 |
| 4 | Phoenix | 70 | 43 | 22 | 5 | 91 | 12 | 115 | 29 |
| 5 | Colorado | 70 | 40 | 24 | 6 | 86 | 12 | ||
| 6 | Los Angeles | 68 | 40 | 23 | 5 | 85 | 14 | 113 | 27 |
| 7 | Nashville | 70 | 39 | 26 | 5 | 83 | 12 | 107 | 21 |
| 8 | Detroit | 69 | 34 | 23 | 12 | 80 | 13 | 106 | 20 |
| 9 | Calgary | 70 | 35 | 26 | 9 | 79 | 12 | 103 | 17 |
| 10 | Minnesota | 69 | 34 | 29 | 6 | 74 | 13 | 100 | 14 |
| 11 | St. Louis | 69 | 32 | 28 | 9 | 73 | 13 | 99 | 13 |
| 12 | Dallas | 69 | 30 | 26 | 13 | 73 | 13 | 99 | 13 |
| 13 | Anaheim | 69 | 32 | 29 | 8 | 72 | 13 | 98 | 12 |
| 14 | Columbus | 70 | 28 | 31 | 11 | 67 | 12 | 91 | 5 |
| 15 | Edmonton | 70 | 21 | 42 | 7 | 49 | 12 | 73 |
Standings were grabbed before the start of play last night. So, with the Wild's loss last night to Nashville, the Avs' magic number against Minnesota drops to 12.
66 comments | 0 recs |
Deader's New Role
Video up at nhl.com
3 days ago
Mike @ MHH
20 comments
0 recs
Game 70 Recap: Flames finally find a way to survive the Avalanche, win 3-2
by Paul's Coffey on Mar 17, 2010 9:50 PM MDT
in Avalanche Recaps
168 comments
Denver, CO
The Avalanche's three game win streak came to a halt tonight when the Calgary Flames came into Denver and beat the Avalanche for the first time this season, by a final score of 3-2.
The loss leaves the Avalanche in 5th place in the West, 5 points behind 4th place Phoenix and home ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and just 1 point ahead of Los Angeles who holds two games in hand on Colorado. Calgary still sits out of the playoffs in 9th place behind Detroit.
This was a HUGE game for the Flames as they fight to stay alive in the heated Western Conference playoff race. It was also a huge game for the Avs, but what can you do? The two teams will face each other one more time this season.
In the first period, the Avs received an early power play and decided to make some awful decisions. First, the 1st PP unit skated off the ice as the puck went deep into the Avalanche zone. The Flames eagerly hopped on the lonely puck and threw it in front of the net, creating a strange bounce that Anderson had to pounce on. The 2nd PP unit faired even worse was even stupider, as Kyle Quincey failed to keep the puck in the zone and the Avs graciously coughed it up to Rene Bourque who flew down the ice and beat Anderson with a quick wrist shot, for his 4th shorthanded goal of the season, on a wide open breakaway.
After that the game opened up for a bit with Duchene weaving his way through everybody and creating some breathtaking chances, before Nystrom scored the Flames 2nd goal (on only their third shot) on the heels of some good hard work down low by the Flames -- where was the Avs coverage on that one??
With about 6 minutes left in the first period, Durno took another one of his dumb offensive zone penalties (good tough effort, but caveman dumb). The Avs responded with a decent, focused penalty kill. And Durno himself bounced back well, but we'll get to that later.
Ryan Wilson and Jamaal Mayers dropped the gloves for a good bout at the 3:23 mark (probably in retaliation to Wilson's BIG hit earlier in the period). Wilson landed some hard punches at the start of the fight, but then Mayers came back with a big bomb that ended the fun. Bad news for the Avs, Wilson did not return after that hard punch. Hopefully it was just a precautionary measure and not concussion related. The period ends 2-0 Flames.
To start the 2nd, the Avs continued to look like a team in the second game of back-to-backs as the Flames carried the play. Anderson was forced to make a good stop on Nystrom on a breakaway to keep it a 2 goal game. The Flames attempted a lot of long passes in this game, no doubt trying to take advantage of the Avs' fatigue. Stastny took a hooking penalty which resulted in the Flames breaking their 0-14 power play slump when Bourque buried a rebound at the side of the net for his second of the night (the eventual game winner) and a 3-0 lead. He was the best forward for either team in the game.
The Avs' third line of O'Reilly, Porter and Svatos threw down a fantastic shift started by Svatos (yes, him) hustling down the ice to negate an icing call. The Avs sustained pressure in the flames zone for a full minute-and-a-half and even got a full line change, but nothing on the score board.
Cumiskey had the best save of the game (to that point) at around the mid point when he got a stick on Bourque's shot from the slot on a vacated net, stopping the hat trick. Thanks RoadRunner. Calgary back up Vesa Toskala had the best save in the game on a Chris Durno breakaway, but Durno would not be denied and scored his 4th of the season on a scramble in front of the net shortly thereafter. The goal was reviewed for a long time, but it was clearly a good goal. Well done Caveman.
Galiardi got called for an "Alex Ovechkin" penalty a little later, but the Avs shut the Flames down on the ensuing power play. Second period ends 3-1 Calgary.
The Avs gave it all the had in the third but just couldn't beat Toskala....until, with Anderson on the bench, Hejduk scored his 20th of the season from right in front after an Avalanche timeout. With just under 30 seconds left, the Avs had a flurry in the Flames' zone, but just couldn't muster that last goal to tie it up, and so the game ends like all other games this season between the Avs and Flames, 3-2, but this time with the Flames coming out on top. Credit the Flames who came out hard in the first and took the play to the Avs who they knew might be a little fatigued from playing the night before and traveling.
The Avs' third line played very well tonight. Kyle (Kevin) Porter had a good game. He played with speed and appears to be gaining confidence with and without the puck. Svatos also played very well, took the puck strong to the net, and even threw in a nice solid hit for good measure. I dare say he was the Avs best forward of the game (I know I take my very life into mine own hands by uttering those words).
Official 3 stars as selected by NHL.com:
168 comments | 0 recs |
Game 70 Live Thread: Flames at Avalanche
by David Driscoll-Carignan on Mar 17, 2010 6:00 PM MDT
in Game Threads
533 comments
533 comments | 0 recs |
Statistical Conversation Re: Colorado
Feel free to join the conversation today as we gear up for the Flames. Please be civil and remember we aren't M&G or EZ.
4 days ago
Mike @ MHH
10 comments
0 recs
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recent FanShots
Featured Stories
Northwest Standings
Avalanche Schedule
Next 5 Games
@
Anaheim
|
Sun 03/21 | 6:00 PM MDT |
|
@
Los Angeles
|
Mon 03/22 | 8:30 PM MDT |
|
Los Angeles
|
Wed 03/24 | 7:00 PM MDT |
|
@
Phoenix
|
Sat 03/27 | 7:00 PM MDT |
|
@
San Jose
|
Sun 03/28 | 6:00 PM MDT |
Last 5 Games
|
Calgary
|
Wed 03/17 | L 2 - 3 |
|
@
St. Louis
|
Tue 03/16 | W 5 - 3 |
|
@
Dallas
|
Sun 03/14 | W 5 - 3 |
|
Florida
|
Thu 03/11 | W 3 - 0 |
|
Vancouver
|
Tue 03/09 | L 4 - 6 |
1995-96
In the summer of 1995, the Quebec Nordiques moved to the Rocky Mountains and became the Colorado Avalanche. Trading for Montreal goaltender Patrick Roy in mid-season proved to be the move that put them over the top in the National Hockey League. Although the Detroit Red Wings had a record breaking regular season, the Avalanche came away with the Stanley Cup. With the help of stars Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Claude Lemieux and the aforementioned Roy, the Avalanche were able to bring the Red Wings back down to earth, defeating Detroit in the Conference championship. After a four-game sweep of the third-year expansion Florida Panthers, the Avalanche captured their first Stanley Cup in their first season in Colorado.
2000-01
After winning their second President's Trophy in five years, the Colorado Avalanche stormed towards the Stanley Cup. The city of Denver, Colorado, hosted the 2001 All-Star Game, and fittingly sent five players to play in and enjoy the festivities. In a season full of highlights, four-time Stanley Cup winning goaltender Patrick Roy earned his 448th regular season win to break Terry Sawchuck's all-time record. Twenty-two-year veteran and 19-time All-Star defenseman Ray Bourque played in his last season, and was perhaps, the motivational factor behind Colorado's run for the Stanley Cup. Players insisted, however, that they did not want to win the Cup "for" Ray, but win the Cup "with" Ray. When the playoffs began, Bourque announced his and what became Colorado's objective -- simply, 16Ws. With the help of newly acquired Rob Blake, and eventual Hart Trophy winner and captain Joe Sakic, the Avalanche defeated Vancouver, Los Angeles, St. Louis and after a grueling seven-game championship series, the New Jersey Devils to win their 16 games and their second Cup.
SBNation.com Recent Stories
In Association With
Latest Puck Daddy - NHL from Yahoo! Sports
- Walk-on wizard: Shawn Hunwick lifts Michigan to NCAAs
- Video: 'History Will Be Made' campaign debuts with Lemieux, Orr
- Saturday's Three Stars: Wings beat clock again; Rinne blanks Jackets
- NHL.com ready to open the Vault for classic games online
- Friday's Three Stars: Dubnyk finally gets 'W'; Nash nets 2
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
