The Avalanche hope to rebound from a disappointing effort against the Canucks on Saturday. The 2nd place Avalanche (16 pts) face the 3rd place Flames (15 pts) in a key divisional matchup. Some might even say "must win". Both teams lost on Saturday.
The Avs have won the first two meetings this year, even though the Flames had leads in both games. Both games went beyond regulation. The Avs have outscored Calgary 8-6 (7-6 when you take out the shootout goal). Not surprisingly, the Flames have won 53.3% of the faceoffs in the two games so far. With the man advantage, the Avs are 1 for 9 and while the Flames are 0 for 10. Calgary has outshot Colorado 70-57.
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As scheduled, Jose Theodore will start against the Flames. He's 2-0 against Calgary this year, with a 1.52 GAA and a .966 save percentage. That's all good news. What's the bad news? Adrian Dater thinks Theodore will become our number 1 goalie again soon. Now, where did I leave those Tums? He's been good...but even casual observers of the team know that he can unravel in a hurry. Hopefully, tonight's not the night for that to happen.
The Avalanche lost on Friday, which means one thing: Quenneville will be changing the lines again. From the Dater article above, it sounds like the first two lines will be:
- Sakic - Wolski - Svatos
- Stastny - Smyth - Hejduk
Dater thinks that Jaroslav Hlinka may be a healthy scratch, and that Jeff Jillson might finally get into a game (someone finally heard my cries).
As far as injury news goes, Karlis Skrastins appears to be ahead of schedule, and may return to action next week. He's been practicing, but without contact. Meanwhile, Jordan Leopold has begun skating but is still a ways from returning - mid to late December.