Game 14 Recap: Avalanche 4, Predators 6

First Period

20:00 - Let's do this thing!

19:04 - Replay of the Tangs injury. Oof. He should know better than running into Landeskog. When our Captain is down around the net, he doesn't move.

17:58 - First save by Varlamov. Very routine. There's not been a lot happening yet for either team.

17:00 - Have I mentioned recently that I love how EJ - Hejda has looked this year?

15:24 - Steal by Matt Duchene, shot by P.A. Parenteau, save by Hutton.

15:14 - Another shot by Parenteau, this time down low. O'Reilly couldn't convert on the rebound either. Pappy's making things happen on this shift.

14:01 - It still depressed me to hear "Shot by Forsberg!" when they're not talking about the Peter variety. Filip just had two shots.

12:40 - Shot by Gabriel Bourque goes high.

12:18 - Parenteau is REALLY buzzing tonight.

11:55 - Nice move in the corner by Duchene. He just passed wide of O'Reilly at the other wing. Too bad.

11:10 - PING! by Stalberg. Very close. We got lucky.

10:24 - Another Nashville post! Oof.

9:45 - The ice has tilted a bit to the Nashville end again.

9:12 - Stastny's line making some noise around the net. Even Benoit had a shot.

8:55 - MacKinnon hit sighting!

8:24 - BEAUTIFUL long pass by Johnson to a wide open Stastny. He fires the puck, but Hutton got it. EJ's playing with a TON of confidence. No way he even would have tired that under Sacco.

6:48 - Goal by Viktor Stalberg. It's his first point this season. A rebound came to Craig Wilson who wrapped around the back of the net and passed it off to a wide open Stalberg just to the right of the slot. Shot beat Varly stick-side. 1-0 Perds.

5:24 - The ice has certainly tilted a bit. The Avs need to start getting more shots on net.

5:00 - Other side of the ice, please.

4:37 - Goal by Parenteau! Duchene steal it in our zone, then heads towards the Nashville end. He then passes the puck around the skates of the sliding defenseman to Parenteau. Pappy taps the puck into the open net!!! 1-1 All!

4:12 - Puck somehow ended up on the top of our net. Can we please keep it away from that entire net area for a while?

3:01 - I've got the moooooves like Jagger.... And also a dude behind our net with a "Go Avs Ladd" sign. I don't get it.

2:40 - Shot by Duchene, stop by the side of Hutton's helmet. It slapped open a buckle. The Slapfight line has been quite good tonight.

2:27 - Seth Jones just got smashed by Ginner behind the Preds net. Bourque then went after Ginner. Nashville's bench is very upset and calling for 5, but Ginner only gets 2 for charging and 2 for roughing. Bourque also gets 2 for roughing. Jones goes to the locker room, and the Preds go to the power play.

2:20 - Diving save by Varly.

1:30 - Nice clear by Mitchell. Apart from that first little go, NSH hasn't sustained much pressure.

52.8 - Goal by Craig Smith. Varly lost his balance while standing. The puck found its way to Smith and he took advantage by putting it top shelf. That's the 3rd power play goal against the Avs this year. 2-1 Preds.

42.0 - Jones is back on the bench.

10.5 - Spiffy moves by Duchene, but he lost control of the puck at the very end. Jones did a pretty good job of defending there.

Avs go into the 2nd down by 1. We traded some decent chances, although Nashville definitely had more. The power play late in the period proved to be the deciding factor. Varly, please stop losing your balance, and Avs, let's get back to playing good defense.... especially you, Wilson.

MHH Comment of the Period:

Second Period

19:00 - Clune hit Mac, picked on Talbot, and had some words with Cody McLeod on that shift. Busy boy.

18:23 - Mackinnon got hit again. Kid's not having an easy start to the period.

17:45 - GOAL BY RYAN O'REILLY!!!!! What a heck of a shot! Varly kicked a rebound way out, and it was picked up by Parenteau. He droped it back to O'Reilly in the slot who just unleashed that puck. 2-2 All!

16:46 - Goal by Paul Gaustad. Forsberg shot it initially, but Gaustad tipped it in 5 hole. That was Forsberg's first even strength point this year. 3-2 Preds.

15:15 - Nice little hit by EJ there.

14:43 - The entire team seems a bit off tonight. I don't know why, but other than Duchene's line, they're just not crisp.

14:09 - Parenteau tripped Stalberg. Preds going back on the PP.

13:13 - Goal by Colin Wilson. Cuts down the left side, puts it past Varly. Hejda couldn't get to him in time. 4-2 Preds.

12:19 - A routine pass manages to bounce off one of our sticks and out of the zone. Just indicative of how this entire game has gone. We've only had 12 shots so far.

10:40 - Another shot by Duchene. That line is the only one making anything happen tonight.

9:15 - Good hustle by Mac driving down the middle draws a penalty. The Avs are headed to the power play.

8:45 - 30 seconds into the PP and we haven't even kept it in our zone. Attaway, boys. I think I need a beer.

8:30 - Avalanche Ale it is. Let's do this!

7:15 - Well, that was depressing. I'm surprised we even got one shot on that. Good kill by Nashville.

6:23 - GOAL BY PAUL STASTNY! McGinn picks off a pass in the defensive zone, then takes it down the ice. Stastny went right to the slot, and Ginner put the puck on his tape! 4-3 Preds.

5:40 - O'Reilly put the shot off the boards behind the Nashville net on purpose and grabbed the rebound. He couldn't capitalize, but it was a spiffy play.

5:10 - Another nice move down by the net by Duchene. Seriously, are any other Avs lines playing tonight?

3:40 - Too Much Man on Nashville. Forsberg's in the box serving the penalty.

3:23 - Another good drive by Duchene and O'Reilly. But alas, no go.

2:53 - 3 shots already in the first minute of PP time. This one is a bit better than the last. Maybe we were rusty?

1:55 - Another shot by Benoit, but the forwards were fairly meh after Slapfight went off the ice.

55.0 - Tip on net by Mitchell! Good save by Hutton.

3.0 - Parenteau loses control of the puck right before our blueline, Gustaud grabbed it, and Nystrom managed to get a shot off. EJ blocked it and was slow to get up. He looked okay once he did, but it certainly stung him a bit.

Well, still down by a goal. But it's only 1 instead of 2 like it was for a lot of this period. We're still in this game at least, even if we've looked fairly meh all night.

Engblom is showing highlights during the intermission show. Good D by Parenteau and O'Reilly, followed by a clip of a goal by the Duchene, O'Reilly, and Parenteau line. Seriously, is anyone else here? These three have been carrying the team tonight.

MHH Comment of the Period:

[After O'Reilly's goal]

NAMASTE!

SuckHouse
Lead Investigator, Steve House Intelligence Team

by SteveHouse on Nov 6, 2013 | 8:40 PM reply rec (2) flag actions

Turd Period

20:00 - EJ in the Box of Shame? For a 10 Minute Misconduct? Looks like he flicked half a broken stick into the crowd. So, in a game where we're struggling defensively, we lose one of our top pairing guys for half the period. Got it. Ugh.

18:09 - Hejda - Guenin is a pairing now.

16:55 - Landy makes a hit, then makes a steal in the defensive zone corner. Nice little play by the Cap. I'd forgotten he was playing.

16:10 - More Avs turnovers. SO. MANY. TURNOVERS.

15:37 - GOAL BY DUCHENE! He stole the puck, then did what Dutchy does. TIE GAME! That's his 10th goal this season! 4-4 All.

14:12 - Altitude graphic - how the hell is Steen still leading the league in goals? Just... seriously?

13:03 - Definitely time for another beer. This time it's Moose Drool by Big Sky Brewing.

12:26 - Goal by Colin Wilson. Again. Stalberg stole the puck, then made a nice pass. Wilson just straight up beat Varly. 5-4 Preds.

11:38 - Good shot by Stastny, no go.

11:18 - Horrible puck control by the Stastny line, but they at least established a bit of pressure.

10:36 - Hutton forced to make another save. Avs are trying here. Too bad they've been asleep all night.

8:30 - EJ can't get a whistle to get out of the box. He's been in there an extra minute and a half.

8:09 - Series of Avs shots here, followed by an offsides and commercial break. Yay, we get EJ back!

7:12 - Good defensive play by Landeskog. Leads to a rush by Duchene at least. We don't have too much longer to tie this up.

5:27 - Landeskog made a great steal! Landeskog made a great shot! Landeskog hit a great crossbar! Wait, what? Oh. Damn.

4:47 - Duchene breakin' out the slapshot now. Always fun. This one went wide.

4:07 - Parenteau tried to split the D, no go.

3:47 - EJ is angry and down around the net trying to make things happen.

3:06 - Speaking of EJ, he's already at 22+ minutes of play even though he spent 10 minutes in the box. That's pretty ridiculous.

2:29 - EJ lead the rush, then passed to Landeskog before going right to the net. He's playing more forward than a lot of the forwards tonight.

2:06 - Icing on the Avs.

1:41 - More pressure by Slapfight down in the Preds zone.

1:33 - Empty Net for the Avs. Roy takes his time out. He then sent out 5 forwards and EJ.

1:26 - Puck dribbles out of the zone. Damn. They had to dump and chase, but can't get pressure going.

46.0 - Parenteau makes a check and prevents a shot at the empty net.

23.0 - Legwand stumbled. When he got up, his stick went right into the passing lane between Parenteau and Duchene and he blindly intercepted the puck. Touche, Hockey Gods, touche.

17.5 - Empty net goal by Bourque. 6-4 Preds. That's the final score.

MHH Comment of the Period:

Clearly, we don't like games that are multiples of 7. That's okay because 7 is a terrible number anyway. Avs fall to 12-2-0 on the season.

1. Colin Wilson
2. The Parenteau, O'Reilly, and Duchene line.
3. Viktor Stalberg