It’s the Edmonton broadcast tonight. I just can't seem to hit the Altitude feeds lately.
Roloson vs Budaj to start
1st Period
20:00 Sakic Smyth and Svatos start tonight.
18:54 Hejduk's great pass breaks Stastny in all alone. Robert Nilsson has to hook him to keep him from scoring. Avs get an early PP
18:17 Sakic turns it over on the point. Twice.
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16:51 The PP ends. Colorado had a couple of chances, but didn't get much in the way of sustained pressure.
16:16 The 4th line comes through again. After a couple of near misses, Finger fires it from the point and Lappy deflects it past Roloson. It's Lappy's first of the year. It's early, but so far the Oilers D looks a bit rough. 1-0 Colorado.
15:00 Budaj stones Horcroff
14:24 Penalty on the Avs. Hooking on Scott Hannan. Glen Healy says "More than likely he'll go off for the full two minutes, considering the dreadful Edmonton powerplay." Ouch. I mean, I know they're 30th an all, but that's still an ouch.
12:36 Apparently, "Colorado has a real tight box". That's hawt.
12:04 Some guy named Brodzniak scores. Finger wiffs on the clearing attempt. Reasoner intercepts, passes to Cogliano. Cogliano takes it wide of the net and passes it back to whoever that Brodzniak guy is. He scores past a sliding Budaj.
11:25 Budaj seems a little shaken up after taking a shot off his shoulder.
10:31 I haven't seen who the 12th forward is tonight – I have yet to see either Hlinka or Parker.
9:03 Terrific forecheck by Woslki. He forces a turnover and it leads to a scoring chance for Stastny. The line keeps the puck in the zone and gets 4, maybe 5 solid scoring chances before Roloson finally freezes the puck.
8:06 2-1 Colorado. The Oilers turn it over to Lappy on the boards. He dishes it down to Brunette behind the net, who slides it in front to Arnason right in front of Roloson. Arnason scores.
7:32 2-2 Colorado. This one has all the makings of that wild one last year. Horcoff finds Gilbert sneaking in towards the circle, and Gilbert bangs it in off the post.
6:35 Hejduk gets nailed for interference, putting the Oilers back on the PP.
6:40 I haven't seen Hlinka out killing penalties or on any of the EV lines, so I'm assuming Parker is playing tonight. By playing, of course, I mean sitting on the bench for all but a few shifts.
6:22 Geez, this is lame. Hemskey gets the puck at center ice. 3 Avs are there – Sauer, Clark and a forward. No one tries to put a body on him, and Hemskey just skates in and shoots it. Budaj is expecting a dump in, and gives up a sloppy goal. 3-2 Edmonton.
5:09 Budaj is tested again. This time it's Cogliano. Budaj stops it, but doesn't look for comfortable doing so.
3:37 There's been a Scott Parker sighting (he lines up Hemskey for a check but misses)
2:54 The 4th line has another strong shift. Stortini tackles Ben Guite to put the Avs back on the PP. Is it me, or does Guite draw a ton of penalties?
:48 The Avs keep the PK on the ice for the entire 2 minutes. Colorado doesn't score on the PP, but look really good.
2nd Period
20:00 Avs start on the PP because of a Penner penalty at the end of the 1st.
19:22 Horcroff almost scores shorthanded.
18:50 The Avs continue to look good on the PP, but can't convert.
14:36 Superb defensive play from Marek Svatos. Avs break in 4 on 3 with Cumiskey joining the play. Sakic is on the left wing, Svatos is going up the middle and Cumiskey is to Svatos' right. Sakic centers beautifully, but the puck somehoe misses the stick of both Colorado players. The puck turns over and the Oilers get an odd man in the other direction. Horcoff has the puck, he drops it back to a wide open Nielson. Svatos gets back just in time to lift Nielson's stick, and the puck turns over again.
14:14 Wolski gets two solid hits on Gilbert on the forecheck.
13:41 I believe the puck has been centered approximately 652 times by the two teams tonight. The score is actually low for the number of chances both teams have had.
12:57 Another PP for Colorado. Staois for hooking.
7:55 Torres puts in what seems like his normal one good shift of the game.
7:19 Cumiskey gets called for holding the stick
3:15 Clark blocks a Gilbert shot with his face. He's hurt, but ends up blocking another attempt with his skate before lumbering off.
2:21 Finger levels Penner, but Horcoff slips in on Budaj. Budaj makes a great save.
1:53 Hemskey breaks in and Budaj makes another strong save and Liles helps by sweeping the puck out of the crease before it can trickle over the goal line.
:13 Torres has a point blank chance, but Budaj robs him.
3rd Period
During the 2nd intermission, Kevin Lowe visits the TSN booth and tries to sign Glen Healey to a $50 million offer sheet
17:40 Laperriere scores and clips Roloson in the head with his stick on the follow through. Healey doesn't like the "interference" even though the puck was in the net long before any contact was made. 3-3.
16:06 Cumiskey gets a solid check on Brodzniak.
14:10 Avalanche penalty. Stastny high stick.
13:46 Wyatt Smith gets away with one – he looked like he tripped Denis Grebeshkov right in front of everyone.
13:06 Lappy breaks in shorthanded and fires the hat trick attempt off the crossbar. How crazy would the crowd have gotten if that had gone in? Lappy, hat trick, shorthanded, potential game winner?
9:11 I'm not sure that Laperriere has come off the ice in the 3rd.
8:33 Chris Cuthbert heard me, as he just said the same thing.
6:57 Budaj robs Torres again.
4:58 Laperriere gets decked behind the Edmonton net by Ladislav Smid. The Avs have come close to scoring several times, but haven't quite been able to get it past Rollie.
4:38 Guite is out with Smyth and Sakic instead of Svatos
2:32 Hemskey and Stoll are in 2 on 1. Sauer makes a terrific sprawling sweep to poke the puck away.
:45 Cogliano gets a chance but can't get the shot off
:13 The Oilers ring one off the post. We're going to OT.
OT
5:00 Stastny and Hejduk take the first OT shift.
4:23 Sakic and Wolski out next.
3:38 Arnason and Brunette.
2:59 Hannan sneaks in and Bruno finds him from (where else) behind the net. Roloson makes a good save.
2:48 Stastny and Svatos this time. I don't believe Smyth has been out yet.
2:20 Ha! There he is, out with Sakic.
1:59 And he almost scores.
:6 Liles has about 19 shots in the last minute of OT. Unofficially.
Shootout
Both teams are perfect in shootouts this season, I believe.
Wolski, Smyth and Sakic for the Avs. Gagne, Hemksey and Torres for the Oilers.
Man, there's nothing more exciting than finishing up a sudden death overtime and then stopping while the Zamboni comes out to clean the ice. That's exciting stuff. Tonight, we get to experience it twice, as Craig MacTavish complains about the job they did with the ice the first time around.
Wolski scores. Sweet deke.
"Let's see what Gagne has up his sleeve!"…um, nothing. Backhand stoned by Budaj.
Roloson makes a pad save on Smyth.
Hemskey shoots wide. Sakic can win it here.
Crossbar. Torres needs to score here to keep it alive.
He does. 5 hole.
Svatos now…beats Roloson over the glove.
Reasoner up…Budaj stops it. Colorado wins. Wild game.