Colorado Avalanche Recaps

Avalanche at Wild, Game 19 Recap: Lucky Bounce Goes Wild Way, Avs Lose 1-0

By Derek B Nov 17, 2011, 8:45pm MST

When the game got started I had a feeling it was going to be a grind-it-out type game. Sure enough that's how it started. It took over 4 minutes for either team to get their first shot on game.

Just after the first shot was taken, Matt Duchene was sent off on a rather weak tripping call to say the least. Nevertheless, the Avalanche were able to get the penalty killed off and get back on the attack.

The first period is just over halfway over and I'm REALLY fighting to find something to write about the game so far.

Hey! Something happened just before the end of the period! Matt Duchene was hauled down from behind as he was breaking to the net with just 25.3 seconds to play and sent the Avs red-hot road power play onto the ice. There will be some carry over power play time for the Avs to begin the second period. Shots in the first period were 8-6 with the Wild leading the way.

As the second period got underway the Avs came out well, but were unable to convert on the carry over penalty from the first period. Colorado appeared to come out of the intermission having made some adjustments to try and generate more shots/scoring opportunities. It definitely worked as the Avalanche outshoot the Wild 12-4 during the second period. Had it not been for a tremendous save by Jean-Sebastien Giguere, than a great play by Jan Hejda to tuck the loose puck under Giggy, it could have very easily been 1-0 at that point. Had that gone in, it may have been what the Wild needed to suck the life out of the Avalanche.

As the second period was coming to a close, the Avs were getting a lot of sustained pressure and were just a couple great saves away from taking a lead into the 2nd intermission.

As the third period got underway I just had this feeling that this was going to turn into a 1-0 game. It started to look more like a reality as the Avalanche were unable to convert on their 2nd power play of the game. The Avs really never got set up and didn't have any great chances either.

The middle of the third took a little bit of an interesting turn as there was 3 or 4 solid hits by both teams including a solid hit by David Jones on Wild rookie Justin Falk, who took exception to the hard hit and proceeded to get up and instigate a fight with Jones. Falk was only hit with an extra two minutes for roughing and not an instigator. Still, the Avs were unable to cash in on the PP, only managing to get 2 shots on the man advantage. It was David Jones' second fight of the year, who ironically has as many fights as Cody McLeod.

Then it happened. The Wild got a pretty ridiculously lucky bounce right onto Devin Setoguchi's stick with 2:34 to play and he buried it. The Avs pulled Giguere with just over a minute to play, but to no avail. Wild win an absolute snooze-fest 1-0.

MHH Avalanche 3 Stars of the Night

1 Jean-Sebastien Giguere (Gave his team every opportunity to win)
2 Matt Duchene (Lots of great chances)
3 Brandon Yip (Making first appearance of season and looked good)

Lines

1 Duchene-Stastny-Hejduk
2 Winnik-O'Reilly-Landeskog
3 Yip-McClement-Jones
4 McLeod-Galiardi-Lindstrom

1 O'Brien-Johnson
2 O'Byrne-Hejda
3 Wilson-Quincey

Quick Hits

1 Avs still having a hard time scoring. While I want to blame this one on playing the Wild, it's happened too often this year.
2 J-S Giguere has really been playing well this year. Gives his team a chance to win every night.
3 Brandon Yip made his first appearance of the season.