This, ladies and gentlemen, is all you need to know about the Colorado Avalanche’s 3 – 2 loss at home to the Detroit Dallas Stars:

Brandon Yip scored both goals for the Colorado Avalanche on Friday April 8. (Photo by @JessicaAvsFan.)

Welcome to the Yip show. One of his goals was even of the shorthanded variety on an assist from Dupuis, and very pretty. I’ve included the link, because apparently no one wanted to put it on YouTube. You should watch…you get to hear Mike Haynes say “Yippers!” in a gleeful squeal. Totally worth it.

Here’s Yip’s second goal, with assists from Jay McClement and Jonas Holos. Really I only put it in because you can hear Haynes say “YIP YIP YIP” and it’s hilarious.

Edit: I did, indeed, initially publish this saying the Avs lost to the Detroit Stars. Little did you know, the two cities are combining to form one massive hockey team. I am just that ahead of the reporting curve.

Or, you could go with the alternate story that I wrote this really, really early in the morning and was still delirious.

I’ll let you all decide.

Hockey fans must chirp. It’s a part of the game and a part of being a fan. Before the game, Aerys Sports’ Blues writer Ann  Warner (You’re My Boys, Blues!) and I traded quips:

I needn’t have worried. Not even a little.

» Continue reading “Sugar, We’re Going Down Swinging”

When the Colorado Avalanche show up in St. Louis to take on the Blues, it will mean absolutely nothing. Both teams have already been eliminated from playoff contention. Every man on the ice is now solely playing to save face. And possibly their jobs.

Series Record: Avalanche 3, Blues 0.

That’s right, sports fans: the Avalanche are actually winning a series this season. And not just winning, but winning handily. Dominating, even. It’s a nice feeling.

Over the three games the Avs have outscored the Blues 14 – 9. In case you forgot, “outscored” means that the Avalanche have scored more goals than the Blues. Weird, I know. » Continue reading “No One Cares, But The Avs May Just Beat The Blues”

Sure, the Colorado Avalanche haven’t had much luck with stopping the Calgary Flames this season. But they are fresh off another shootout win (with HUGE attaboys to Ryan O’Reilly, Philippe Dupuis, and Jay McClement) and surely in the mood to play playoff spoiler to the team that slaughtered them 9 – 1 on Valentine’s Day. The Flames currently sit at 9th in the West, three points behind the 8th place Chicago Blackhawks with three games (including Sunday night) remaining.

And to that sentiment, I say a resounding GO AVS!

Series Record: Avalanche 1, Flames 4

The Calgary Flames have outscored the Avalanche 26 – 13 in their five games. The Avs haven’t beaten the Flames since October 28, 2010, and they had to score 6 goals to do so.

The good news is that the Avs have actually scored 13 goals against the Flames this season. Not bad. The men still in the line up who have come up big for the Avalanche include Brandon Yip, Daniel Winnik, Mark Olver, and Cody McLeod.

The Flames have pretty much scored at will against the Avalanche, with everyone getting in on the action. Niklas Hagman, Tim Jackman, Matt Stajan, Olli Jokinen, Alex Tanguay, Curtis Glencross, Mikael Backlund, David Moss, Tom Kostopoulos, Jarome Iginla, David Moss, Anton Babchuck, Mark Giordano, Rene Bourque, and Ales Kotalik have all scored goals in the season series.

The most often-seen goaltenders in the series are Peter Budaj for the Avs and Mikka Kiprusoff for the Flames.

Keep an eye on Ryan O’Reilly, Philippe Dupuis, Brandon Yip, Matt Duchene, and Jarome Iginla.

Ryan O’Reilly had an absolutely killer game on Friday night. A goal, an assist, and the shootout winner. I’m so happy that this hard working kid is finally getting some offensive production and the recognition that goes with it. O’Reilly has earned every single ounce of it and more. I’m sure the competitive O’Reilly will want to keep this swing going against the Flames tonight.

Philippe Dupuis has found himself in a bit of an awkward place this season. He played too well in camp to not make the team, and his grinding style of play has certainly improved the team. But with a plethora of centers and Dupuis’ low offensive numbers he has found himself in the press box a lot lately. Perhaps scoring the first goal against Phoenix on Friday night will get him the ice time his play deserves.

To call Brandon Yip invisible lately is only a little bit of an understatement. He has scored a mere 5 points since January 1. He has been productive against the Flames, however, scoring two goals in the season series. If he would like to show up and maybe put one in the net tonight, that would be terrific.

Matt Duchene was not a scoring part of the Avs’ win over the Coyotes on Friday. In fact, he only had one shot on net all night. My guess is he will not be happy with this and look to turn on his game tonight against Calgary.

Jarome Iginla just hit the 1000 career point mark Friday night when the Flames won in St. Louis. The guy is an obvious offensive threat and he has done more than his share of damage in Colorado. Iginla will be fighting extra hard to get his team to a playoff berth as well as getting his 40th season goal. I fully expect him to be putting on a show against Colorado tonight, probably co-starring ex-Av Alex Tanguay, who has scored 1 goal and 4 assists in the past two games.

For your viewing/listening pleasure:

The puck drops at the Pepsi Center at 6:00 pm MDT. The television broadcast can be seen on Altitude, and the Altitude radio broadcast will be on Denver radio at AM 950 and online through NHL Game Radio.

The 2010-11 Colorado Avalanche season is rapidly drawing to a close. It has been somewhat of a train wreck leaving fans all over the world feeling a little defeated. The players surely feel the same way, now playing merely for pride and next season’s opportunities. It would be excellent to see the boys come out skating hard and playing to win, giving themselves a true chance to spoil the playoff hopes of a division rival.

Just in case you didn’t catch it before…GO AVS!

David Van der Gulik, call up from the Lake Erie Monsters, made a good showing and notched an assist against the Predators Saturday night. (Photo by JessicaAvsFan.)

In a surprising turn of events, the Colorado Avalanche did not tuck tail and run at the first sign of trouble. Rather they held themselves together, showed some hustle, and fought for a win. They had to settle for two goals and their best performance in weeks against a playoff contender.

Not a bad night for the struggling team.

First Period:

The Avs looked a little disjointed to start. This is understandable given back to back games and new linemates as David Van der Gulik and Mark Olver replaced injured Paul Stastny and Milan Hejduk. Four minutes into the period Martin Erat got the puck off a Colorado-won face off and fired on Peter Budaj. When it didn’t go in he chased the rebound and put another shot on net. Joel Ward got the rebound and shot again. Finally Shea Weber ended up with the puck on his stick and was the one to sneak it past Budaj. Not giving up on a scoring chance until the whistle is blown usually pays off, and it worked again for Nashville later in the period. After a takeaway Blake Geoffrion took a shot, then Kevin Klein, then Matt Halischuk finally drove it home. The Avs managed to kill three Nashville power plays but failed to convert on two of their own. The period would end with the Predators on top 2 – 0. » Continue reading “Avalanche refuse to quit in 4 – 2 loss to Predators”

Ryan Getzlaf led the Ducks in their 6 - 2 win over the Avs Friday night. (Photo by Resolute.)

Friday night the Avs played a pretty solid first period and then spent the last two rolling over and playing dead. By the end of the third period I wanted to poke them with a stick to see if they would even twitch. The final score was 6 – 2 Ducks.

First Period:

This was relatively fun to watch. Both sides were animated and played spirited hockey. Yes, the Avs played hockey. It wasn’t terrific hockey (they failed to convert on three power plays and destroyed their own 5 on 3 chance), but it was hockey. Cody McLeod and Brad Winchester went at it mid-ice a little more than halfway through, which got the crowd (and the Avs) going a bit. Finally at 19:16 Ryan O’Reilly, caught on ice with Philippe Dupuis, was fed the puck from Ryan Wilson and Ryan O’Byrne and put a hard-working shot past Dan Ellis to end the period 1 – 0 Avs.

Second Period:

The Avalanche weren’t quite as excited to start play during the second period. Anaheim won the battle for the puck, took it down to the Avs’ zone, and didn’t stop playing until Sakku Koivu put the puck past Brian Elliott 34 seconds into the period. Three minutes later Ryan Getzlaf scored on a power play. A few plays later Stastny beat Getzlaf on a face off, leading to a David Jones goal to tie the score at 2 apiece. The tie lasted 30 seconds before being destroyed by a Corey Perry wrist shot. Dan Sexton added another very painful goal after O’Reilly shot wide of the net and the Ducks took the puck back down ice on a breakaway and scored. The period ended at 4 – 2 Ducks, and the Avs lost Milan Hejduk to a shoulder injury. » Continue reading “Ducks fly together while Avs flail together in 6 – 2 game”

John Michael Liles, perennial Avs' trade bait, is again the subject of many rumors as the NHL trade deadline approaches. (Photo by CM Sonka.)

At this point everyone knows the Avs are a struggling team. What’s worse is that management seems to have lost their direction. For the past few years they’ve preached rebuilding from within with youth and speed. This season has proven that they need a game beyond speed, but management has thus far addressed the size and dominance holes by trading away youth and talent. Avs fans were repeatedly told to wait and judge the future after having the opportunity to watch Kevin Shattenkirk and Colby Cohen on the blue line…but both have since been traded away (Cohen for Matt Hunwick and Shattenkirk in the EJ/McClement/Stewart/picks trade).

Players and fans alike are justifiably nervous in the face of the trade deadline. Poor team play, little chemistry between talented players, subpar overall effort, and seeming lack of clear direction all work together to cloud the future of almost every single Avalanche player. The moving of Chris Stewart showed that not even fan, locker room, or scoresheet favorites are safe. By Monday at 1:00 pm MST the Avs roster could look very different…or it could be relatively unchanged. Management has certainly been inscrutable to this point. I tend to think some measured moves would be good, since this group of guys is clearly not getting the job done. It’s tough to evaluate how much of their failure is due to the doldrums of the worst season in Avs’ history, bad coaching, or being too young to overcome certain mental roadblocks. » Continue reading “About that pesky trade deadline…”

Ryan O'Byrne taking Taylor Hall's skate to the face Wednesday night in Denver. (Photo screen capture from YouTube video, click to watch.)

Clearly, this was not the debut new Avs Erik Johnson and Jay McClement envisioned. It was an even bigger disaster for new goalie Brian Elliott, who stopped 26 of 31 shots in the Avalanche 5-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

First Period:

The period didn’t start out too terribly. Both teams were obviously energetic, skating hard and hitting hard. The whole attitude of the game changed when Taylor Hall found himself behind the Avs’ net between Ryan O’Byrne and Matt Duchene. Hall tried to jump over their sticks but didn’t quite clear them. As he went head over heels, Hall’s skate caught O’Byrne on the left side of his face. In spite of bleeding all over the ice O’Byrne managed to finish his shift before heading for the training room. The laceration was bad enough to warrant a trip to the ER so he was done for the game.

Not too much later the ice crew again found use for their little de-bloody-ing axes: to chip Cody McLeod’s blood off center ice after he took a stick to the face. No call came, but the refs were watching when Kevin Porter raised his stick a few minutes later. Dustin Penner scored on the resulting power play. Erik Johnson and Matt Hunwick both had mental lapses on this goal and really should’ve helped their new goalie out. After one period the score was 1-0 Oilers. » Continue reading “Avs get bloodied by Oilers 5-1 at home”

Not quite 24 hours after finally snapping a 10 game losing streak, the Avalanche return home to take on the only team worse than themselves in the West: the Oilers. This will be the first game in front of the home crowd for newcomers Erik Johnson and Jay McClement.

Series History: Colorado 1, Edmonton 1

Yes, you read that correctly. These division rivals have only played twice so far this season. That means they will play four more times (including tonight) over the next six and a half weeks.

This might be more meaningful if they weren’t solidly 4th and 5th in the Northwest Division.

On November 25th the Avs lost to the Oilers in Edmonton. Gilbert Brule, Andrew Cogliano, and Taylor Hall scored for the Oilers. Kevin Shattenkirk (now with St. Louis) and Matt Duchene tallied for the Avs. Gerber stopped 35 of 37 for Edmonton while Budaj only stopped 21 of 24 for the Avs. There was a little shoving and chirping through the first two periods, but overall this was not an exciting game in spite of the close 3-2 score. » Continue reading “Avs look to tally a win at home against Edmonton”

Paul Stastny leads the way in Avs' 4-3 victory over the Blues. (Photo by FrenchKheldar)

The entirety of the Avalanche nation sighed in relief when the final buzzer sounded and the 10 game losing streak ended. The team relied on their marquis players to lead them to a 4-3 victory in the makeup game against St. Louis Tuesday night.

First Period:

Both teams came out skating hard and fast. It was that impressive kind of effort where every player focuses their emotion and uses it to improve their game rather than getting sloppy. In short, a lot of fun to watch.

Just over three minutes into the period David Jones tipped one in from Paul Stastny and John Michael Liles. Eight minutes in Chris Stewart was called for tripping and Milan Hejduk scored the power play goal, with assists going to Stastny and Liles. At 13 minutes Patrik Berglund put a beautiful tip from Oshie past Budaj. The period ended with the score 2-1 in favor of the Avs.

Second Period:

A well-played but mostly quiet period until Jay McClement went to the box for a pretty weak tripping call at 14:32. One minute later, in his hurry to clear the zone, Matt Hunwick sent the puck over the boards and was called for delay of game. The Avs killed the 5-3, but with 12 seconds left in Hunwick’s penalty Kevin Shattenkirk took a huge shot that Stewart redirected into the net to tie the score at 2 apiece. » Continue reading “Avs snap skid, EJ gets first goal in 4-3 win”