Clark sucks, doesn’t he? It isn’t just me right? And I mean “sucks” as in “has no business being in the majors”.

Hendricks/Porter/O’Reilly – this line scored the first goal and were great defensively. I think that that assist was also Porter’s first NHL point!

He had 5G and 5 assist in 34 games during the 2008-09 season for Phoenix. But congrats to Porter on his first point as an Avs player.

Then in the waning minutes Peter Stastny put in another power play goal.

You mean Yan, right?

Good recap but a few things off like Paul rather than Peter, pk rather than pp against kings pp, porter has scored in the NHL so not his first point except maybe with the Avs… And I think that’s it

Playing against players like Kopitar and the Sedins shows us that we really need to rework the D for next year. Stop backing off at the blue line and also find another body or two who can punish them down low and out mustle them. Unfortunately we may have to look at FA for such a D.

Tinted fucking visors. That is all.

Also- Mueller scoring during the shootout while Wolski has missed all FIVE that he has had with Phoenix is the icing on the cake.

Coyotes and Sharks and Ducks, oh my… Huge games coming up.

Did he score 5 hole? Was so fast i couldn’t even see properly. Also doesn’t it seem Mueller has a skill to scoring 5 hole? I remember looking up his play on youtube after the trade and about half his goals caught the goalie by surprise between the legs. He’s done so for us a couple times now as well, and not always on the hardest of shots. Ninja.

But, surprisingly, the Avs didn’t try and close up defensivley. They didn’t resort to constant dumps out of the zone but instead tried to keep possesion and it led to some great back and forth action. In fact, everything looked to be going quite well until Brett Clark took a penalty for holding.

I don’t know…getting outshot 14-3 in the 3rd and 5-0 in the OT doesn’t sound like possession hockey to me. And in the 3rd and OT it seems like the Kings were buzzing a LOT.

I just wish the Avs would do a little more of what gets them those early leads and go for the jugular more often. Granato’s style was to sit back with leads…it led to disastrous results. Quenneville’s style was to sit on leads, and it led to (and still does often in Chicago) disastrous results.

I guess I am just sick of seeing a team limit shots for 2 periods every game…only to be outshot by double digits and blow leads in the 3rd. I HATE that style of hockey. (Which cost us a point in LA, and nearly cost another one last night)

But I see us and the Kings as the two teams truly built for the future. I think they are playing above their level right now, especially scoring wise, as are we, but these two teams are going to be good for a long time.

Let me just offer a comparison:
Bryzgalov: .921,2.28, 8 SO’s, 1790 saves, PIM: 2
Anderson: .921, 2.53 7 SO’s, 2029 saves, PIM: 16

First off, Anderson you are the man. Who has 16 PIM as a goalie. I wonder how many calls you have drawn in return.
These two goalies are very similar. The more I look at at numbers the more i realize Anderson is a top 10 goalie in this league right now.

You know what the Kings do on the PowerPlay that I would love to see the Avs do? They use the point shots of Doughty and Johnson, yes.

BUT

They also use TWO people to screen a goalie. (Usually Handzus and Smyth). Those last two goals if you watch the replays over and over, Anderson was screened on both side of the net. The only way he makes stops on those is if the shooter puts it right in his chest.

There are teams I get jealous of now and again. THAT made me jealous last night

on his 50th point of the season!

Joe Sacco,
Hey dude, your defensive philosophy late in games in which you are up sucks. I would suggest having a light one man forecheck but at least try to slow them up through the neutral zone, you know rather than have all 5 guys in the defensive zone for the remaining part of the game. Unless you want them to lie down on top of each other in the crease thus clogging the goal, but if that really is part of your plan you should get a sumo player or two then you can still ice some skaters. But that would be bitching.

This is the one I made awhile ago:

I just love South Park.

I think that Clarkie earned himself a permanent seat in the press box last night. His penalty was horrible. (FWIW, it was the same kind of stupid penalty that sent a game against Phoenix into overtime last season; Paul Stastny broke his arm killing that penalty.)

And here’s the record each team needs from here on, to get to the assumed magical (official) point total of 95***:

   1. Chicago Blackhawks**
   2. San Jose Sharks**
   3. Phoenix Coyotes**
   4. Vancouver Canucks 0-7-1
   5. Los Angeles Kings 2-7-1
   6. Colorado Avalanche 3-6-0
   7. Nashville Predators 3-5-0
   8. Detroit Red Wings 4-5-0
   9. Calgary Flames 6-3-0
  10. Dallas Stars 8-0-1
  11. St. Louis Blues 9-0-0
  12. Anaheim Ducks
  13. Minnesota Wild
  14. Columbus Blue Jackets
  15. Edmonton Oilers

I think this is the most eloquent and poignant thing I’ve read from Dater in a long, long time:

The bottom line with this team seems to be: they don’t feel comfortable in a conservative mindset. They have young, eager forwards who want to push it. But when they get pulled back and told to play a dump-and-change game and be overly cautious, it seems to sap their spirit.

His answer:

If I’m Joe Sacco, I think I just say "OK guys, I don’t care if we give up a lead, we’re going to do it a different way now at least. I don’t care if it results in an odd-man rush occasionally the other way, but we’re going to just keep doing what we were doing, with the mandate to get in on the forecheck, try to force turnovers and, essentially, act like we’re behind."

For once in I don’t know how long, and if you can believe it, I agree 100% with Adrian Dater. You might want to mark this day in your calendar, folks.

Read the rest of the article here. (This whole bit will be repeated in a fan post, so feel free to comment here or there, in a box or with a fox, in a house or with a mouse, you get the picture.)

St Louis wins v Kings tonight! Yay Blues! Unfortunately both Nash and Phx get a point as that goes into OT.

Enjoyable game to attend only because the ending turned out right.

First period – excellent, two second periods not so much.

But take the shootout win over no win any day.