I'm still kind of scratching my head a bit, wondering if I really saw what I just saw. I've decided that this was some sort of Freaky Friday puzzle, and I'm supposed to find all the things that weren't normal about the game. Let's see how I do...

• The Avalanche started slowly and, get this, got better as the game went on! (I could stop there and that would be freaky enough. But wait, there's more).
• The Avs won the faceoff battle (handily: 54%-46%)
• The Avs outshot the other team
• The Avs outshot the other team in the 3rd period
• The Avs outshot the other team in the 3rd period by a wide margin (18-4)
• The Avs got better defensively as the game went on
• Brett Clark and John-Michael Liles both played excellent, in both ends of the ice (okay, this might be a little hyperbolic, but I sure did love seeing Brett Clark rub out Alex Tanguay in the corner).
  
• Speaking of, those two played terrific on the powerplay and both were firing bombs from the point
• Scott Hannan and Kyle Quincey did not play well, and were probably the two worst d-men out of the six
  
• Darcy Tucker had a whale of a game
• The Avs won a goal review
• Antero Nittymaki is, apparently, a bona fide NHL goaltender. He's the only reason this was close.
• Craig Anderson stopped the first attempt in the shootout
• Wojtek Wolski scored in the shootout (first time time this year)
• The Avs actually played one of their more physical games of the season

Did I get them all? So many things in this game that I'm just not used to seeing; forgive me if I've missed a couple. Oh, and, Marek Svatos left the game midway through the 2nd period and did not return - but that doesn't fit into any of the bullet points above.

Big, big game on Sunday as the Avs host the Flames; winner gets 1st place in the Northwest.