I'm gonna do something a little different for a MHH recap tonight.  I'm gonna give you my running notes of the game. I don't have timestamps or anything because that would require real effort so don't get your hopes up.  Still, here's the undiluted thoughts of a sometimes contributor IN REAL TIME!!!

Pregame:

• Got the Edmonton feed (CBC Hockey Night in Canada) tonight on Center (Centre) Ice
• Smurfiform sighting! FML.
  
• Great anthems!!
  
• Mark Lee and Kevin Weekes calling the game tonight. I like Kevin Weekes as an analyst, not sure if I've ever heard him as a color guy.
  

1st period:

• Wolski-Dutchy-Yip as starting line then SoS/Galiardi/Stewert, Liles scratched for Clark, 3rd-Svatos, McLeod, Radar aaaaaaand 4th is Durno/Tucker/Koci?!?!? He's still on the team?
• Weekes working hard to sell Deslauriers as a competent goalie. "Look he made routine save. That shows promise." Watch him dominate tonight now that I've made that comment...
• Two Three bad giveaways by the Oilers in the first 3 minutes. Defensemen pinching early and often.
• Svatos misses a wide open net. Then Wolski fumbles a pass. The Avalanche Experience.
• Kevin Weekes likes Brandon Yip. Alot.
• Tucker's line has a great shift. Yep, hurt to type that.
• Ryan Wilson destroys Cogliano.  Maybe the Old Ryan is back?
• Visnovsky breaks up a Svatos pass on a 2-on-1 to negate a scoring chance.
• I'm hearing a ton of "Yip", "Svatos" so far and not a lot of "Stastny" or "Stewart".
• I'm convinced The Baron has been stripped of his land and title and is no longer allowed to shoot the puck by the landed gentry.
• First PP of the game as Quincey get called for a slash as he tries to deal with multiple wrap-around attempts and then taps the EDM forward for the penalty.
• Canada's viagra commercials > US dick pill commercials.
• Wanna know if your PK is working? If the PP unit takes an icing, your PK is working.
• Hannan drops the Hobbit Hammer from the point on the SH chance and Deslauriers makes a save.
• First PP killed. Quality work by the PK units.  I think the Oil managed one shot on that opportunity.
• I might see that Bruce Willis/Tracy Morgan buddy-cop movie. I might even laugh at it. I probably won't tell anybody though.
• Another good Wilson hit on the blue line, this time on Horcoff.
• Edmonton's giveaways are of such an interesting variety and regularity.
• Avs on the PP-let's see what happens...shots from the point, Holy Crap!! Stewart working hard. Great work by the top unit, but nothing going in...second unit working well too.
• Horcoff can't handle the Yips and gets called for holding. 1 second of 5-on-3. That 5-on-3 was shorter than a documentary on French war heroes. (That's for structuralpoke).
• Lots of shots from the point, unfortunately nothing actually on net....and that's the end of the period.

Avs outshoot Oil 12-4 in the first, dominant except for the one penalty. Need to cash in on the last minute plus of the carryover in the 2nd period. Good pace, but lots of sloppy hockey from the Oilers.

Duchene interview at intermission:

Question: "Why are you having success after struggling in the first half of the season?" Answer: "I'm playing smarter." (I'm paraphrasing of course)
The Mrs. just hooked my up with some hot chocolate at intermission. And that's not some veiled fetish reference.

SoS is 2nd in the league in faceoff attempts. Cool piece on SoS and his faceoff intensity during the intermission. We can file that under "Something that would never be shown on Altitude."

2nd Period:

• No shots on goal for the 45 seconds of PP time to start the 2nd.
• 32-5 in the first period for the Avs in shots taken (includes blocks and misses). That's 20 blocked/missed shots for the Avs.
• More turnovers for the Oilers in the early part of the 2nd. Good pressure from the Avs. Hell, Foote is pinching...
• Deslauriers makes another great save on a odd-man rush from Duchene's line.
• Tucker: Let me dot the 'i' on Oilers for you Mr. Goalie.
• Mike Ricci!!!! Still has the same haircut.
• Andy makes a good save on a rare Oil shot. Looks a little deep in his net though.
• I hate cream cheese. I hate green cream cheese even more.
• Franken-line sighting: Gali/SoS/Tucker.
• Koci IS big.
• Now a McLeod/Radar/Svats line...
• Wilson misses a hit, but still breaks up the play.
• Another dinger by Duchene!!!!!!! Great move off of the turnover, even better patience. Too much Swedish, not enough Finnish.
• THE BARON FROM DUCHENE!!!! NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Weekes: "You can only play with fire for so long."
• Avs spending a ton of time in the Oil zone after the goal. Gali/SoS/Stewart back together. Deslauriers is earning his money tonight facing shots from all angles and lots of skilled players.
• I would own the shit out of a Hybrid Lexus. Then I would donate the shit to a compost center.
• Pat Quinn ripping the Oilers a new one during the TV timeout. Good times.
• 22-6 shots in favor of the Avs.
• "It's a feeding frenzy now for the Avalanche!"
• Duchene's line is flying tonight. Oil having real trouble with Durno in front of the net too.
• Weekes is right, Andy should have come out and played that puck on the previous rush. Poor decision to let it go.
• Decent shift by the Oilers' top line. Winning some battles in the corner.
• Hannan on a rush?
• Chances are 18-3 in favor of Colorado according to CBC.
• Lots of bouncing pucks in the second half of the 2nd here.
• No call on the obvious trip by Comrie on Duchene.
• 2-on-1 for Oil, no dice. 3-on-2 the other way because it appears some Oilers are celebrating the scoring chance.
• Save by Andy on a short breakaway from the Oil captain (Moreau).
• Stewart too cute and stripped of the puck by Visnovsky.
• Bad turnover by Wilson, but Gali bails him out.
• Great puck movement between SoS and Stewart in the last couple of minutes of the period.
• Two great chances by Svatos in front of the net, one on the backhand.
• Shots are 29-12 Avs after two.

Colorado better keep their foot on the gas for the third. This has all the earmarks of one of those games where the Avs are the better team for 99% of the game but find a way to lose.

Comrie interview at intermission: Question: "How do you find the will to live when your team looks so horrible night-in and night-out?" I'm paraphrasing of course.

PJ Stock making fun of Kovy for loafing in the Devils' game. Dead Things blow a 3-goal lead. :)

Are your underarms ready?

CBC suffers from my favorite TV ailment: Commercialtoolouditis.

3rd Period:

• Duchene's line has 13 shots by the start of the 3rd. Wolski has 7 all by himself.
• Good defensive zone FO win by SoS.
• Little miscommunication between Andy and his D leads to a panic icing.
• Yip giving and taking hits tonight. Duchene picking pockets and reading plays very well.
• Good puck movement by Duchene's line. Another good save by Deslauriers. He is reason 1 through 35 why the Oilers are still in this game.
• Quincey is gassed after a long shift and just lets a puck go to Andy instead of skating. It got to Andy about 0.0001 seconds before the Oiler forechecker did. Needless to say, I do not think that was a good decision.
• Lots of neutral zone play now. Avs seem to have downshifted a little. Oilers seem to have decided to execute more than 2% of the time.
• Halfway through the 3rd and Oil just hanging around...
• Svatos gets a great shot on a quick pass up the boards. Deslauriers makes a good shoulder save. Way out and challenging.
• Why do you bother with a mouthpiece, Brett? I mean really?
• Footer takes a holding penalty on Horcoff. Here's the Oil's chance to ruin my night.
• Why are cartoon monkeys in charge of Subway in Canada? Of course subtracting maple leafs from the recipe makes it better! How does this commercial make any sense?
• Another good defensive zone FO win on the PK by SoS. Wolski on the 2nd PK unit. Coach definately has no confidence in him...
• 3 quick chances for the Oilers as Comrie is allowed to casually walk out of the corner and into the slot.
• Hannan takes a delay of game penalty on the PK. Uggggggggggggggggggggggggg. Oilers have 12 seconds of 5-on-3.
• Kill the two-man advantage....good SH chance by McLeod aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Gali (of course).
• Foote makes a sprawling save on a yawning net to preserve the PK opportunity after a bad rebound by Anderson right to Horcoff. Oil net 5 shots on the PP, but no goals.
• Mcleod misses an golden opportunity in the slot. Deslauriers takes the opportunity to show the crowd his flowing locks. He does have some sick flo.
• RYAN WILSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just put the puck on the net and Delorian lets a leaky underarm score the insurance goal with less than 3 minutes left in the game! Apparently his underarms aren't ready. Needs some of that Dove Deodorant.
• "That goal was a result of soft board play by the Oilers," says Kevin Weekes. I like Kevin Weekes.
• Andy puts the puck into the netting to get a faceoff as the Oil has numbers entering the zone. Weekes approves.
• This CBC camareman appears to never have seen a sustained cycle in the corner.
• Empty net with about a minute left....Yip with the EN goal after about three of four Avalanche bad-angle attempts!!!
• Avs Win!! Avs Win!!! Ricci Night overcomes the horror of the Smurfiform!!!!
• Andy gets his 3rd shutout of the season on the Oilers. 6th of the season. Pat Quinn swallows his gum in protest.
• Avs outshoot Edmonton 42-20.
• I don't think CBC is going to tell us who the three stars are....wait, yes they are: CBC says Deslauriers is first star, Dutchy is 2nd, Wolski is 3rd. Is that how it went down at the Can?

Post-game interview with the Baron:

Question: "Why weren't you guys scoring more on all those shots?" Answer: "Their goalie was playing well." Question: "Did it feel good to score?" Answer: "Yes."

Question: "What do you have to say about Foote's save late in the third?" Answer: "I was grateful to see it."

Question: "Are the Avalanche starting to fade?" Answer: "No."

Question: "How do you keep the rookies from screwing up?" Answer: "Coaching."

I'm paraphrasing of course, but just barely. Hard-hitting interview courtesy of CBC sports.

There was a long interview with SoS during the HNIC post-game show, but I didn't catch most of it except a part where they showed The Baron kissing Stastny on the neck after a goal.  WTF?? Sacco up next, but I have got to get some sleep. Also, I'm not sure I can endure anymore questions about my underarm preparedness.

Anyway, there you have it.  Hope you guys and gals enjoyed my version of a recap.  Some of the new guys and I have talked about doing a live blog for a game in lieu of a game thread so it would read something like the above.  Anybody interested in that?