Not a lot of time for a recap today, unfortunately, so I'll just add a few comments to what will go down as one of the most intense, back-and-forth Avalanche games in recent memory.
First of all, the Avs are a complete mess. Sure, they've now won two in a row, but the defense is sloppy and inconsistent, the goaltending is schizophrenic, and the special teams are here today, gone tomorrow. The one consistent aspect of the club is the offense. Scoring goals is not an issue.
I have to admit, though I have a pretty good track record, I was unbelievably wrong about the weak link of Colorado this season. Only the offense has been consistently good. It's good that at least one part of the team has been reliable and dominant at times, but the rest needs to catch up really quickly.
The Avs got lucky beating the Stars 5-4. Colorado looked dominant early on, especially in the second period, but nearly blew the game completely in the third. Only a Stars goal later disallowed for contact with a hand saved the Avs' asses.
One note of weirdness, besides Brendan Morrow's late-game explosion of douchery, was the third Avalanche goal. Originally credited to Ryan Smyth for his apparent deflection of a John-Michael Liles slapshot, the officials reviewed it and gave the goal to Liles himself a little later in the game. Well, apparently that was wrong, because they have since given the credit back to Smyth. The official scoresheet of the game has Smyth with the goal, Liles and Sakic with the assists. Whatever.
Andrew Raycroft went 26-30 and would have blown the game had the fifth Dallas goal not been disallowed. He's a terrible puck handler and is frequently caught way out of position. Hopefully Peter Budaj is now rested and ready, and can start winning games so nobody starts to think Raycroft has to be the starter. He's now 2-0, but his performances were barely (if at all) better than Budaj's.
The next game for the Avalanche is tomorrow night in Los Angeles.