Game 64: Avalanche At Calgary, Preview And Open Thread

I'm not too upset about losing some 1st round picks, Avs are horrible with their first rounders.  We have always done better in the second round.  Yes it will feel good to see Foppa and Footer back in the Burgundy, but I hope we get more than warm happy feelings.

Get Footer on that power play tonight!  Can't hurt right?

Caps up 2-0 on the Wild after one.  

Now that the trade excitement is past, I am back to reality. Q is wasting the talent on what should be a dominant team - and the avs need a damn good record to even make the playoffs.

I heard on the radio that Foote has a police escort from the airport to the arena.  He won't be in the game until some time during the first period.  I dont think I have ever heard anything so strange.

Salei is arriving in Montreal sometime tonight and is supposed to meet the team tomorrow in Vancouver.

Flames feed on Center Ice Online tonight.  This should be particularly annoying.

Foote still not yet in the Saddledome according to the Avs' announcers.  He might show up later, but nothing for sure yet.

Puck dropped.

Jose Theodore in net tonight as usual.

Adam Foote has entered the building.  He looks sharp in his suit sans tie.

Sauer goes off for delay of game.  PK better get this crap done.

Ryan Smyth scores off the backhand, beats Kipper's glove hand.  

It barely made it in but was a definite goal.

Avs putting some great pressure on the Flame-Outs here.  They're playing the puck control game they need to be playing.

Unfortunately it won't last long.  The Avs will remember that they have the lead and they'll stop playing offense.

Godard and Parker.

A lot of hangin' on, Godard goes down, but a clear draw.

Flames' announcers just said that Quenneville doesn't need to make the playoffs to keep his job.  Because of injuries.

Holy shit I wish somebody would have watched a few Avalanche games this season.

Stastny just hit Iginla and got the best of him.  Nice takeaway.

Sakic gets called for holding behind the play.  Lame, Joe, lame.

Avs back on the PK.

McLeod is running his mouth big-time tonight.  He's just trying to get beat up now.

Liles got flattened along the boards by Eric Godard with a high shoulder.

The teams are pushing and shoving and talking shit.

And now Foote is headed to the bench!

The pressure is all Calgary now.  They're peppering the net and shoving everybody around.

Theodore's kept his cool.  He's got the cane out.

Flames' announcers are saying Leopold got away with interference but I didn't see it.  

And the Flames work 'em over and score.

1-1

Foote on the ice.

Calgary is owning the Avs now.  The Avs can't clear the zone.

The first period started good enough, with the Avs dominating the puck and getting a great goal by Ryan Smyth.  But the second half was all Flame-Outs, and they got a goal for themselves.

Adam Foote's been on the ice, but it was a tough shift and Colorado had trouble clearing.  Theodore's been solid.

The refs are going to let the flames do whatever they want.  Liles never touched the puck when he got creamed.

It's so weird to hear the first "a" in Mazda said like "cat" instead of like "dog."

It's a Mahzda!

Looks like Theodore's got the cane out.

-- Joe

ROFLMAO!!!! That's what we should start calling it when he plays well. Either he has the pimp cane out or he doesn't lol, for those who don't know what we're talking about; Theodore's pimp-cane.

Foote on the ice to start the second period.

Phanouf's hard shot took out Liles---it hit him in the knee and now he's down.

Aucoin out for shamelessly boarding Lappy.  What a coward.

Avs now bound to score like five goals on this power play.

Sakic at the point again, like that's going to help.

there goes the pp, duke off for tripping

Liles appears to have shaken off the vagina sickness.  He's back on the bench.

McLeod dropped the gloves and wanted to go with Phadouche, but the coward waved at the refs and wouldn't go.  I can't believe anybody takes that dude seriously.

The puck clangs off the post behind Theodore but doesn't go in.

Now the Avs get another PP.  Hopefully this one lasts longer than 10 seconds.

Not that it matters.

you KNOW Forsberg will help our pp, because there's no way it can get any worse.

Phaneuf's douchery knows no bounds.

Dion's getting picked on by the Avs now.  He's crying to the refs.  "He pushed me."  "He wants to fight me."  "I'm scared."

Suck it up.

A carbon copy of the missed chance Stastny had in the last game.  The rebound came right to him but it was spinning and hit his skate instead.  No goal.

McLeod looks like he wants to fight just about everybody.  He went after Langkow.

And the Flames' announcers are all over Alex Tanguay.  There was a trivia question about him and now the special word for the night is Tanguay.

Well, that sucked.  A few chances for the Avs, but the PPs were horrible as always and Kipper's decided to build a wall out of Dion's discarded douche bottles in front of the net.

The Flames were all up on the Avs early.

Adam Foote being interviewed now.  I suddenly feel like I'm 22 again.  Footer's glowing.  And sweating.

This period is awfully tight.  And very "chippy".

Just eight minutes left to go in the third period.

If the Avs are going to come back, they should probably do it soon.

Flames called for tripping on Marek Svatos.  

Another useless power play for the Avs.  Maybe they'll allow another shorthanded goal.

2-2 with six minutes left to play.

Sauer has played very physical tonight.  He's had some good hits.

Foote is out there directing his d-mates.  Seems like something the Avs blueliners have needed for a while: a true leader.

Avs are showing some real heart tonight.  They're getting scrappier as the minutes tick down.  I guess it's because they don't have a lead.

Well, the Avs have secured at least one point.  That helps, but they'll really need to win this sucker in OT or a shootout.  They're not going to catch Calgary, but they need to beat St. Louis, Nashville and Vancouver in points overall.

Two points tonight are a must.

Great chance by Sakic in the slot.  He put the moves on Langkow and just got caught up in traffic down low.  The Avs are really pressing.

Time to bring out Arny, its an OT PP.

Avs go on the PP and Iginla is the one called!  Hot damn, there's no better chance to win this than right now.

DOOOO ITTTTTT!!!

win

Smyth to Stastny!!!

A huge OT win for the Avs!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

THAT'S THE SHIT!!!!!!

YES!!!!

Wow, Smytty to Stasnty ftw!!!!!!

Backhand pass from Smyth was right to Stastny's stick, and you know he wasn't going to flub this one.  Wide open net, easy goal.

Is this team back?  Is this team a contendah?

They definitely showed some more heart tonight, and Foote fit right in on defense.  

Just think: Ruslan and Foppa aren't even on the team yet.

I just got home in time to see the last minute of OT play! Foote was on the ice ALREADY? Wow, they barely had time to get his name on a jersey. I'm so glad we WON yesssssssssss!

They are showing the 27 times Foote shut down Iginla.  And sometimes Hannan.

Thats why we got Foote back.  Hannan was billed as a Foote type player, has been only mediocre, so they go out and get the real thing.

Foote seemed to fit in well, Liles was making some pretty sick breakout passes, guys named Wolski, Svatos, and Hejduk were taking some hits, but were also winning some battles late in the game, we had a Scott Parker sighting, and Cumiskey got an early start on his flight back to LE (I don't think he touched the ice in the 3rd).  

Sakic seemed to be getting up to speed, the RPM line had some good chemistry as the game went on and they were SHOCKED!! still together.  Theo did well, got a little help from the posts, but I'll call that good positioning.

On another note, I've been fairly neutral on the Flames' announcers being more excruciating than a root canal and have even managed to see some upside to Phadouche's style of play at times, but after tonight, I'm firmly in the "Flames Announcers Suck" and "Phadouche is the douchiest douche in Doucheville" camps.

Detroit lost in a SO to the Oil, Minny got blown out by the Caps, and Dallas smacked St. Louis in the mouth.  I'm pretty sure all of those played in our favor on Jibbles favorite "chance of making the playoffs page."

3 stars;

1. Regehr???????? WTF?????? HE DID NOTHING! If you're gonna put in a flame, put Lombardi, he was on fire.

2. Liles, pretty good.

3. Stastny, also a good game

But what about Smyth? Hejduk? Theodore? I mean, those guys played better than Liles/Stastny/Regehr.

Anybody watching alititudes postgame??  Sandy Clough responded to the bloggers response to his attack on fans who think coach Q is failing.  

I missed part of it since I was in the kitchen, but Sandy made a better defense of coach Q, but still not great.  But I distinctly remember him saying something about credibility.  

Hey Rookie, do you have tivo?  I saw you had a good transcript from the last game of what was said exactly.

Phadouche had his truck stolen earlier in the day. Sucked in.