Game 53: Avalanche 6, Blues 4

by Joe @ MHH on Feb 3, 2008 4:29 AM MST in News Comment 16 comments

Games against the St. Louis Blues have quickly become goal-scoring orgies for the Colorado Avalanche. After a relatively normal 4-1 loss on October 12, the Avalanche have beaten the Blues twice, by a combined score of 15-9. In two games!

The last Avs victory against the Blues, a 9-5 explosion on December 9th, came at the expense of backup goalie Hannu Toivonen. Manny Legace, the talented starter for St. Louis, was sitting out due to injury. Legace has always been an Avalanche-killer, and going into last night's game, he had a 12-1-0 record and 1.85 GAA when facing Colorado.

Finally, the Avs figured him out. In a back-and-forth affair that ended with a 6-4 Avalanche win, Colorado beat Legace five times on just 23 shots. TJ Hensick led off with the opening tally just 5:28 into the first period. He would also score a power play goal one minute into the third.

Other goal-scorers for the Avs were Jaroslav Hlinka, Tyler Arnason and Ben Guite, who scored two of his own. Both Wojtek Wolski and Cody McLeod finished with two assists.

Peter Budaj wasn't quite as strong in net against the Blues as he was the night before against the Red Wings, but this time he got the W while stopping 28 of 32 shots---still not a poor performance, but definitely not superb. Regardless, it was enough for the Avs to get two extremely valuable points from the Blues, who now trail them in the playoff chase by five.

The Avs' next game is Monday night back at home against the surging Phoenix Coyotes, a team that went 9-4-1 in January and is now just two points behind Nashville for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They will be tough to beat.

Stars of the Game:

TJ Hensiiick (2g, 0a)

Wojtek Wolski (0g, 2a)

Dan Hinote (1g, 0a)

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Re: Game 53: Avalanche 6, Blues 4

"Finally, the Avs figured him out."
Last night Legace looked like the goalie I remember when he play in the IHL for the Las Vegas Thunder...full of holes.

Now if only the Avs can find a way to stop their former players from scoring on them as well as solving the Bryzgalov problem.

by Americanario on Feb 3, 2008 10:02 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

Re: Bryz

They'll get their chance against Bryz on Monday night. Let's hope for the best.

by Joe @ MHH on Feb 3, 2008 10:13 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Budaj

Was fucking awful. No way around it. Your ridiculous bias aside, he allowed two VERY weak goals, another rather weak goal, and one solid goal.

Very bad game for Budaj. Looks like the same inconsistent Budaj we had prior to JoeTed stealing the #1 job.

Budaj is a good goalie, but he's never been consistent.

Hensick was the balls. I said before the season began that he was going to be the balls, and people scoffed. They said he wasn't ready. I said all he needs is ice time and that playing with good players would certainly help. They gave him ice time, and he flourished.

He's the fastest player on the team, by far. More importantly, he's able to PLAY as fast as he is. He stickhandles well, sees the ice well, and as a result he's a very good playmaker. It was weird seeing him scoring goals last night, because he is and always has been a playmaker first and foremost. Very similar to a young Chris Drury.

by Thomas on Feb 3, 2008 9:36 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

Hmmmm

OK, yes Budaj did let in 2 soft goals, but at least he made the big saves when he needed to. Probably Theo starts tomorrow though, if he's OK that is.

Hensick might be the fastest on the team right now, but he is in no way faster than Kyle Cumiskey. Cumiskey is the fastest player I have ever seen play in the NHL, and he's still a rookie.

by Mike the Avs Fan on Feb 3, 2008 10:46 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Hmmmmm

I agree. Kyle Cumiskey is the fastest player on the Avs, if not the entire league. His speed is insane.

by Joe @ MHH on Feb 4, 2008 9:45 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Nope.

Hensick is faster than Cumiskey. Cumiskey is fast. Hensick is faster.

More importantly, Hensick can play at full speed. Cumiskey can't.

That's Cumiskey's downfall, just like it was for Mathieu Dandenault (he was drafted as a offensive finesse forward and has become a defensive defenseman) and Shean Donovan.

by Thomas on Feb 4, 2008 9:53 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

You wanna bet?

Let's call them up and have them go head to head shall we? Hensick has nowhere near the speed of Cumiskey. With Cumiskey, you can actually physically see the speed. With Hensick, he doesn't impress me as much, I can't see his speed, he seems like an average-speed guy to me. Sometimes I look at Hejduk rushing down the wall and it seems as if even Hejduk is faster than Hensick. Although that's not true, but Hensick really isn't as fast as you think, definitely not as fast as Cumiskey.

by Mike the Avs Fan on Feb 4, 2008 11:20 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: You wanna bet?

Even though I tossed my hat into this silly debate already, I really need to point out that unless Hensick and Cumiskey race head-to-head or have a long, straight stretch of ice on which to be radar-gunned, none of us really knows for sure.

by Joe @ MHH on Feb 4, 2008 11:27 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Budaj

I promised myself I wasn't going to respond to any more of your comments because you're kind of a brick wall to talk to, but I'll bite on this one.

Budaj is a good goalie, but he's never been consistent.

Though he was pulled from one game during that time, Budaj was extremely consistent during the last 19 games of last season. You conveniently ignore The Streak every time you mention him---like he wasn't the bedrock of the team's futile run for the playoffs in 2006-07. That's certainly not fair, but you can do whatever you want.

I also find it amazing that you defend Jose Theodore by criticizing Peter Budaj's consistency, as if Theodore has been the least bit consistent at all over the past four seasons, for either team he has played for. The fact that he's just now starting to show some stability is not evidence that he has been or will continue to be consistent.

And as for bias, I admit that I like Peter Budaj more than Jose Theodore, but I'll also admit that I like Jeff Finger more than Scott Hannan, and I like Paul Stastny more than I like Tyler Arnason. I'm not sure exactly why I have to be unbiased in my appraisal of any of the Avalanche, even if you can cherry pick some statistics here and there and make a case for one being a better performer than another.

Last time I checked, I can have whatever bias I want. You're certainly not without your own, and I don't fault you for that. I know that defending Jose Theodore online in any forum that hasn't banned you is something you take very seriously, but it's really not that big of a deal. So what if I think Budaj is better? I can certainly cite evidence to support my case, just as you can cite your own evidence against it. Ultimately, it doesn't matter.

Unless of course you're being paid by Theodore, which I still think is a pretty good explanation of your dedication to defending him. I didn't even mention him at all in this post, and yet you still bring him up.

All I said was that Budaj wasn't great, but he wasn't awful either. I've seen him be really awful, like when he allowed two goals on four shots the other night. Allowing four goals on thirty-two shots is not awful.

...

Wow. Why did I even bother writing all of this? I will now return to my policy of ignoring your comments.

by Joe @ MHH on Feb 4, 2008 10:00 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Budaj

I will now return to my policy of ignoring your comments.

Hey we have the same policy! Go figure...

Mike @ MHH

by Mike @ MHH on Feb 4, 2008 11:53 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Hey

Last year was last year. This year is this year. If you want to live in last year, go right afuckinghead. I'd rather live in the here and now.

Budaj played well down the stretch last year, but then so did the entire team.

As for JoeTed's consistency, I have been the first to admit that JoeTed wasn't the least bit consistent from the end of the Anaheim series in 05-06 until the stretch that saw him take over the #1 job recently.

JoeTed has shown remarkable consistency lately (not to mention the consistency he showed pre-lockout), while Budaj never has before and certainly isn't showing any now.

You're welcome to have any bias you want. Nobody's stopping you. But you have to take that into consideration when you post, and don't pretend that you are being the slightest bit rational when you compare someone to your golden boy.

I have no use for bias when it comes to Avs players. I only like a couple guys on the team, and you would never be able to guess who those guys are because I don't let my personal preferences for players get in the way of rational thought.

I defend JoeTed because you ignorantly bash him for absolutely no fucking reason other than that everyone else does. You don't even know why you don't like him, you just know that the company line is to not like him, so you bash.

Budaj was awful when JoeTed went down, very good the following game, awful the following game, and a fucking train wreck tonight. That's you letting your bias cloud your judgment again.

by Thomas on Feb 4, 2008 10:52 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Re: Hey

This is the last time i get involved in a debate with you but that's not the point.

The point is you said last year's last year and it doesn't matter and you'd rather live in the here and now which is fair enogh. Then you go and contradict yourself by saying Theodores played consistent hockey this year AND THE CONSISTENCY HE SHOWED PRE-LOCKOUT. For someone living in the here and now and saying previous years mean nothing why did you bring up something that happened over 3 years ago.

by Savage33 on Feb 5, 2008 1:16 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Uh...

No contradiction at all.

Theodore has a history of consistency, then a period of inconsistency, followed by this current streak of consistency. Occam's Razor would tell you that there was something wrong with him during that period of inconsistency, and that whatever it was, it's gone now.

You, on the other hand, are all about the games down the stretch last year, thinking that how Budaj played over that 20 game stretch is somehow relevant to this season in any way.

by Thomas on Feb 6, 2008 6:27 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

I didn't want to do this

but you pretty much called me out.

First of all i never mentioned Budaj in any way in that post so clearly i'm not all about the strecth last year. I'm not gonna lie, Budaj is one of my favourite players in the NHL and i personally would love to see him retire an Av and have his jersey hanging next to Roy's but that's just wishful thinking on my part.

Secondly anytime you say previous years or events don't count for anything and then bring up someone elses previous years is contradicting yourself whether or not he has a history of something.

by Savage33 on Feb 7, 2008 2:43 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs