Avs fall to Habs in St. Patrick's Return.

Avs vs. Habs

Hi NHL Gamecenter, you fucking suck. Go fuck yourselves. You barely worked all game.

On the to the game.

Period 1:

Evidently the NHL decided this game would start at the 16:21 minute mark, weird, and the Canadians had a Power Play. How odd. Since this is the first time I ever seen a game start with a Power Play, the Canadiens looked pretty good and Vanek got a good shot off but Jiggy was there. Though Montreal had good movement, the PK was killed.

The Duchene line came out for I guess there first shift, odd that their first shift was at the 13:50 mark. Odd.

Oh well, that useless 4^th line Roy sometimes fields drew a penalty. Also odd. The Avs Power Play saw Duchene’s unit come out first and do some great work. They moved the puck down low but couldn’t get anything on Price except for a few weak shots. Stastny’s unit came out with 30 seconds left and Barrie took the puck from the point, walked down, waited, waited, waited and then fed Landeksog who just missed high. Power Play over and as it was over Montreal managed to create a 2-0 below the hashmarks but Jiggy and the defense stopped the threat.

The Briere line with a large dose of Subban had a great shift again Duchene. They worked a very nice low to mid board cycle and though the Avs kept them out of the scoring area, the Avs defense was on thin ice moving around. The Montreal offense is very active which is one of the more difficult systems for a man-to-man defense to cover. It involves more skating and quick movements than usual.

With under 6 minutes left, the Canadians had a great shift and the Guenin and Barrie pairing were tested. Guenin was beat on the rush but used a very clever sitck check from behind to knock the puck away. Barrie then went into the boards with Prust and not only came away with the puck, but he actually hurt Prust on the hit. Rather impressive for a fucking hobbit who will never make it in the NHL. Then Cody McLeod and Dale Weiss fought. Not the best fight, Montreal wanted to defend their players from that goon Barrie and Cody did just fine.

The following shift saw Barrie break out get caught but pass to Duchene who blew around the Montreal defense and get a great shot off Price’s left pad. A great rebound was there but no Av could get to it.

A makeshift 4^th line came out with Landeskog and Landeksog drove possession down deep. Some great movement and some great defensive pinching saw the Avs get a close shot in on Price but no goal.

With just under 3 minutes left the Stastny line headed out and after a nice Canadien chance the Avs headed into the zone. MacKinnon was a zone entry all himself and stickhandled his way into the high slot. As he moved around the Avs found their spots and the offense was set up. He took a shot which deflected wide and Stastny grabbed the rebound in the low corner. The puck moved high to low and MacKinnon tried a wrapped around which was denied. As he gained his own rebound, he used some amazing stickhandling, drew two Montreal players and passed to the point. Hejda passed right back to him and MacKinnon wonderfully found a cross-zone seam right to Johnson. Johnson couldn’t handle the pass and moved the puck to the low corner to Stastny who somehow got the pass to the front of the net to a wide open MacKinnon. MacKinnon moved the puck from his forehand to his backhand and easily beat a sprawling Price. 1-0 Avs. Outstanding.

Period over.

Summary. But for the league deciding to erase 2 and half minutes from the game for some inexplicable reason, hopefully they explain this choice later, and also starting the CAndiens on a powerplay which was weird, the Avs played fairly well. Montreal is fast, very fast. Montreal seemed to find their game at first and had a few good shifts, but the Avs defense didi a good job. There was a lot of neutral zone speed for both teams

Period 2:

The second period started at the 18 minute mark, well that’s interesting. It started with a lot of open skating. Both teams seemed to relax a bit and let their speed be effective. Montreal’s game picked up a notch and they began to get a bunch of chances. In fact, the game opened up enough Briere almost got a breakaway under 4 minutes in, but Benoit was there to help out.

At the 14:30 mark, Montreal took a minor minor minor slashing call. Avalanche Power Play out. The Avs kept to their game plan and got the puck down low and some great movement ensured. Halfway through, Johnson went coast-to-coast and skated through everyone and had a breakaway on Price, but Price got a leg out to stop it. Power Play over.

The Avs had their speed as well, but Montreal had a great transition game where Desharnais brought the bought around the Avs defense and fed a wide-open Vanek to tie the game. MacKinnon lost his man on that and that’s on him. 1-1.

On the following shift Mitchell slid into the boards incredibly hard. He was down and in serious pain.

However, the following shift saw Duchene’s line get into the zone. Duchene made a nifty pass to Talbot in front and the Avs took back the lead. 2-1

But the lead wouldn’t last long as the following shift saw an odd bounce create a 2 on 1 where Prust made a diving play to get the puck to Moen who made a nice little spinorama to beat Giguere. 2-2.

And this where my Game Center took the rest of the period off. I couldn’t get it to load at all so we’re just going to pretend it didn’t happen. Okay? Okay.

Period 3:

Oh look! This one started at the 20 minute mark. Weird. Duchene’s line looked like they were still flying and you could see the Canadiens back up to deal with their speed.

Montreal used their speed against the Avs; 3^rd line to create a nice chance off a 2 on 2 but the Avs broke it up. Montreal used the next shift to get the Prust line out and they used some great grinding play to feed Prust almost at the blue line and he ripped a shot over Giguere’s shoulder. Bar down. 3-2 Montreal.

The last goal was on Giguere. He was out of position and deep in his crease.

At this point they announced Mitchell was headed to the hospital. What an awful break for the Avs. Malone better get ready because this is his chance if Mitchell is out for a long period of time.

The Stastny line had a great shift only to see Guenin fumble the puck and almost took a penalty holding up the Montreal player who fed Gionta for another makeshift breakaway. However, the Avs caught a break when Subban got called for interference on McLeod.

The Power Play saw Duchene’s unit start and get good movement but they couldn’t get any quality shots off. Stastny’s unit followed and MacKinnon almost snuck one in but Price was there. Power Play over.

Duchene’s line came right back out and got all kinds of pressure. Eventually the Duchene found McGinn in front who got a shot off then found his own backhand past Price. 3-3.

Umm, Game Center where did you go?

Waiting…5 minutes go by…

/hears buzz.

/looks at phone.

/FUCK Montreal scored. Would have liked to see it. 4-3

Oh we’re back Game Center. Montreal on the Power Play now. And Montreal scores. A great shot front the point that was tipped by something in front. 5-3.

With 2 minutes left, Roy pulled the goalie. This needed a miracle and it wouldn’t happen. Weiss scored on the empty net and the Avs went down 6-3.

This sucked.

I would give you a systems summary but that stupid Game Center really wouldn’t let me. The Avs looked okay for periods, but I guess those two penalties hurt in the 3rd period. I wish I could judge better for this game but Game Center prevented it.  Such is the life of an East Coast Avs fan.

Three Whores:

3rd Whore:  McGinn: I thought he had a spectacular game and really does a great job in that first line role.

2nd Whore: MacKinnon: Looked dangerous every shift and made a show for himself in his first game in Montreal.

1st Whore: Duchene.  From what I saw, he looked great all game and had two assists to boot.

I'm pissed at the loss and I am pissed at Game Center.