Truckin' got my chips cashed in. Keep truckin', like the do-dah man
Together, more or less in line, just keep truckin' on.
- Truckin', Grateful Dead
Are they ever going to stop? The Avalanche continue to roll, topping the Flames 3-2 in Calgary, becoming the first NW division team to beat the Flames this year. This, despite going down 2-0 just 1:10 into the game on a couple of fluky goals (well, in my opinion it was one bad goal and one fluky goal, but the result was the same).
Last year, you could have switched the channel at that point - I understand there was a baseball game of some importance? - but this is not last year. The Avalanche worked hard and battled back. David Koci got his first goal of the season (and second goal of his career) when Brett Clark's wicked point shot deflected in off his arm (welcome back to the land of the useful, Brett). Later in the first, David Jones won a battle for the puck in a scramble in front of the net. It took the Avs just 15 minutes to dig out of the hole.
I didn't see much after that, to be honest, as I drifted off into my sweet, sweet slumber. It doesn't look like the Avalanche had many shots (32-14 Calgary) and given that Craig Anderson was the first star, I assume he stood on his head for the team. Sadly, I did not get to see Wojtek Wolski embarrass the hell out of the 6 Calgary Flames on the ice. Thankfully, it's recorded for posterity below.
The "surprising" Colorado Avalanche now have a 5 point lead on the rest of the Western Conference. With 22 points, they are just shy of a third of the way to last season's point totals. That's quite a fluke they've got going there...
ADDENDUM: Joe here. T.J. Galiardi left the game early last night after suffering an ankle injury. He didn't return to the ice against Calgary. The good news is that Coach Joe Sacco doesn't think the injury is serious, and the fact that Galiardi was able to test out the ankle before eventually leaving is a good sign that the damage isn't major.
Coach Sacco also had this to say about the astounding 2009-10 Avalanche:
"There's no quit in the room," said Sacco. "You get in those situations, play back-to-back games on the road, there's a good hockey team here waiting for us, but there's no quit."
...
"There's a good feeling going on, the guys are pulling for each other, they're working hard. The guys really believe they can win right now, doesn't matter if the situation is we're down 1-0 or 2-0, we have that feeling that we can come back at any time," Sacco said.
And just in case you hadn't heard, 10-1-2 is the best start in Avalanche history.