Photo: Bridget Samuels/Flickr.

Tomorrow evening the Colorado Avalanche will play their second to last game of the season in Phoenix. I’ll be honest, my hopes are not high for this one. The Avs are 0-1-1 against Phoenix this season. The Coyotes have one of the slimmest chances to make the playoffs. They need Columbus, Detroit, and Dallas to all lose their final two games, while the Coyotes win both of their remaining games. I expect them to come out playing really hard.

The Avs have struggled against the Yotes in the past couple years, and I’m a similar struggle tomorrow evening. At this point in the season…well let’s just say I won’t be upset if the Avs lose tomorrow and then can pull off a win against Minnesota. Obviously, when the game actually starts, I’ll be rooting as hard for the Avs as ever. From a realistic standpoint though, I want the Avs to have that first overall pick. Florida is probably going to finish 30th overall in the league, but the Avs could very well have the second best shot at drafting first overall. While the team is assured a good pick no matter what, defense has been the biggest problem this season, and I think Seth Jones is the best option for this franchise. As an added bonus, Jones’ first team was the Avs, and Joe Sakic’s advice to Jones’ father has helped him.

J.S. Giguere will start in net. David Jones and Milan Hejduk will both be scratched again.

Insert obligatory reference to THE TRADE here. Photo: Matt Boulton/Flickr.

Tomorrow evening, the Avs are going to play St. Louis to finish off the home and home series between the two teams. The Avs have won all of the games at home against the Blues since April 12, 2009, but their record in their last three games in St. Louis is 0-2-1. If the Avs are serious about this spoiler role, and finishing the year out the right way, they need to come in and break that little losing streak.

Last night’s game was not a typical outing from the St. Louis Blues-they’re usually much better defensively, and their goaltending is usually superb. Let’s face it-Brian Elliott has never done well in the Pepsi Center, and the Avs, playing in front of military personnel and their families gave an exciting offensive performance. I’m expecting tomorrow to be a much tighter game, similar to the first 1-0 win for the Avs earlier this season. It will almost undoubtedly be a more physical, more nasty game (isn’t the second game in a home-and-home series always?).

There’s been no word on who the starting goaltender will be, although I would lean towards Giguere, as Sacco has been riding him for the past couple of weeks. (I would expect to see Varlamov at least one more time this season, as the final two games are on back to back nights.) Erik Johnson didn’t practice on Saturday, so even if he is back to practice today, I’m not sure he could be considered ready. Although the Avs haven’t said so, I think we can safely assume that Ryan Wilson is done for the season. If this really does turn out to be Milan Hejduk’s final season, then shame on Joe Sacco for scratching him so much during the past couple of weeks. The man has only given the franchise over 1,000 games of blood, sweat, and tears for Roy’s sake. While I like having Olver in the lineup, I’d rather see Hejduk. Hopefully he’ll be in for the next three games.

Guess who’s starting tomorrow? Photo: Bridget Samuels/Flickr

The Oilers are coming in to town tomorrow night. This will be the last time these two teams will face each other as divisional opponents, as realignment is scheduled to go forward for next season. Edmonton will win this season’s series, as they currently have won three games to the Avs single win. However, Colorado can do as they did to Vancouver last week, and make this final game between these Northwest division clubs a loss for the opposition.

To win, the Avs simply need to play in Edmonton’s zone. The Oilers defense is worse than the Avs, but there offense is probably a little bit better. If the Avs can spend the majority of time in the Oilers zone, and if the forwards can be as defensively responsible as they’ve been in the past few games, I think that the Avs will give themselves a good shot to win. Varlamov will earn his first start in six games, and Milan Hejduk is scheduled to return. According to Coach Joe Sacco, Erik Johnson and Ryan Wilson will remain out with injuries.

While Colorado has been eliminated from the playoffs, they’ve played well in these last few games, and I’d like to see this good streak continue. Ending the season on a high note (unlike last year and the year before) should hopefully lead into a good start next year.

Photo: Bridget Samuels/Flickr.

The Avs don’t play again until Friday. Hopefully during that time Milan Hejduk’s shoulder will heal up fully. The past few games he’s either been “a healthy scratch” or “day to day with a shoulder injury”. There’s been a lot of speculation that this will be Hejduk’s final season, and I’d like to see him play a couple more games before he retires if that ends up being the case.

Erik Johnson is still listed as day to day with his injury (wrist), and it’d be nice if this stretch of a couple of days could really help him heal up. The Avalanche still haven’t given a timeframe on Ryan Wilson, and I’m pretty much assuming that he’s done for the season.

There are five games left of the season, and then I’ll be reviewing each player’s season individually. Which means this a friendly reminder that even though the Avs won’t be on the ice, I’ll still be here, at least every other day, to talk Avalanche hockey.

Thanks to GH’s LEM contributor, Todd, for this picture!

The Avs earned three out of four points on this California roadtrip, and played two excellent games. Tonight was special, as it was Sami Aittokallio’s first ever NHL start. (Not too shabby for a 20 year old kid, in his first year pro, and his first year in North America.)

» Continue reading “Bordeleau Scores First Goal In SO Loss”

First off, I want to apologize for being absent the past couple of days. Things are busy right now, but I believe I’ll be back to posting daily now.Now, onto the Avalanche.

» Continue reading “Giguere Speaks”

Photo: Bridget Samuels/Flickr

Semyon Varlamov made sure the Avs got the win in today’s game. The young goaltender made 34 saves, many of them spectacular, or during the penalty kill, or both. While the team played well in front of him, this game was a complete goaltender’s battle.

» Continue reading “Varlamov Stones Preds”

Oh gosh, really? Do I really have to preview the Avs game tomorrow? The Blackhawks are coming into town. Last time these two teams played, the Avs ended “The Streak”. Since that time, they’ve gone 1-3. I really hope the boys can come out with a full effort, but I’m not feeling too optimistic, considering the way the last three games have gone. Yesterday, the Hawks beat the Stars 8-1, and I’m fearing a similar fate tomorrow night.

The Avs haven’t said anything more about Ryan Wilson, and while I’m hopeful that they only held him out of the last game because his ankle was hurting and they wanted to rest it for a couple days, I’m preparing for the worst. And this is really the worst, because I LOVE RYAN WILSON. I mean I love all of our other guys (and I sort of tolerate Zanon), but Wilson has a special place in my heart.

Milan Hejduk missed yesterday’s game too, and I don’t think Sacco would have really made him a healthy scratch, so I fear his injury is flaring up again. Then again, Sacco has been acting even more strangely than normal, so maybe he did make Hejduk a healthy scratch.

So, let’s just list all of the buzz words and phrases that need to describe how the Avs come out tomorrow…

-This is a MUST WIN situation!

• I mean maybe if you don’t win it’ll be okay
• but probably not

-Full, 60 minute effort!

• not 59 minutes
• not 58 minutes
• if it goes into OT we’re expecting 65

-Best players need to be the best players!

• but feel free to step up even if you’re on the fourth line
• especially because one of the best d-men, Ryan Wilson, appears to have re-injured his ankle

-Defensive errors need to be minimized!

• keep an eye on your man
• get the puck out of the zone quickly
• oh and maybe protect Varls a little bit

-Varls needs a shutout worthy performance!

• I mean you can let in one goal Varls
• but we’re looking for one of those 50 save efforts
• I’m sorry man, but the team just needs this
• I know it’s not fair
• but I will buy you icecream and take your little doggies on walks for the rest of the season if you can do this

-Score the first goal, it’s hard to play catch-up hockey in this league!

• but if you don’t score the first goal, score the second!
• but if the second goal is still the other team, it’s okay, you can do it!
• if the other team scores three goals in a row YOU CANNOT GIVE UP
• even though all of the fans will be crying and smearing chocolate all over their faces as they try to aim for their mouths

-No stupid penalties!

• especially you, O’Byrne and Zanon
• No one else needs to take their place as typical dumb penalty takers either

-Relax!

• stop gripping sticks
• have fun
• but really you need to win
• so remember that when you’re at the end of a 45 second shift and feeling too tired to backcheck
• do you want to be the guy who makes that crucial mistake?
• so basically, relax but
• don’t make any freaking mistakes
• but really
• there is no panic button
• it does not exist

-Woohoo we can do this!

• I mean we can
• but will we
• JUST DO IT

I think that about sums things up. Cheers, everybody!

The Avs will fly to Minnesota tonight to start off a brief home and home series with the Wild. Obviously I’m hoping for a stronger effort than the one they showed last night. Minnesota is a good team, and they’re sitting at the top of the Northwest division right now. The Avs need to buck up, and realize that this whole “win two games-lose three games” habit is unacceptable. At the beginning of the season, they said that playoffs were the only option. It’s time to prove themselves, and provide a tenacious fight for a postseason spot for fans to observe.

Milan Hejduk is scheduled to return from his “torso injury” (he said that he had a stiff neck). At practice today, according to Mike Chambers of the Denver Post, he played on a line with Paul Stastny and Gabriel Landeskog, while David Jones played with Ryan O’Reilly and John Mitchell. Sacco wasn’t sure if that line would stay together. In my opinion, he has to keep Hejduk on Stastny’s line. Stastny and Hejduk have had chemistry together ever since Stastny joined the team. Jones isn’t scoring, and quite frankly, he’s playing pretty terribly right now (or, at least, playing like a man with a new baby at home). Mitchell and O’Reilly are excellent players, and they get a lot of icetime, so I don’t think Jones can really view this as a demotion. I just hope that Aaron Palushaj gets to stay in the lineup if these are the lines Sacco goes with-”Palush” has played so well, and I don’t think it’s fair to take him out of the lineup. Tyson Barrie was returned to Lake Erie to make room for Hejduk on the roster, which makes sense. The Avs have seven defensemen with two-way contracts, and Barrie isn’t going to see the ice much now that the top pairing of Wilson and Johnson has returned from injury.

Semyon Varlamov is expected to start in goal. I hope that his competitive nature will lead to him playing one of his really stellar games after a poor outing last night. The Avs can’t afford to lose this one. They need at least three points out of this home and home. Put your big boy pants on, fellas.

Photo: Bridget Samuels/Flickr.

Gabe Landeskog will return to the lineup tomorrow afternoon against the Los Angeles Kings. He’s missed the past 11 games since taking a hard hit from the Sharks Brad Stuart. Obviously, his presence will really excite the team and get them energized. It all feels a bit fast to me-it seems like he’s only been skating for a week. However, he’s been cleared medically, so I expect he is really raring to go.

In the first four games this season, he scored one goal and was a +3. I wouldn’t expect him to start scoring right away, but he’s a good player even when he’s off the scoresheet, and the team will be happy to have him back. There’s still been no word yet on Milan Hejduk. I’m not sure if this is a good thing (as in, he needed to sit out the rest of the game Wednesday, but with a couple days of rest he’ll be good to go tomorrow) or if this is a bad thing (as in he has suffered a massive season-ending injury). I’m hoping for the former, obviously, but preparing myself for the latter.

*UPDATE*

Milan Hejduk did practice and will be on the trip. Sgarbossa was reassigned to Lake Erie.