On the third day of Christmas the Avalanche gave to me… 

Three hits from Malone,

Two shootout goals,

And a pain in my head and tummy.

Thursday night the Colorado Avalanche traveled to San Jose to take on the Sharks two days after the Avs beat them in a shootout at the Pepsi Center. I’ll be honest, I was a little worried about this game. I was anticipating a huge game from the (also huge) Sharks, who would surely have a lot to prove after losing to the “lowly” Avalanche. I was pleasantly surprised to see the Avs skating hard and consistently outworking the Sharks. It still wasn’t enough to win, sadly, and after three unanswered goals the Sharks came away with the W.

Yes, I know I could/should have used the “three unanswered goals” as today’s Christmas gift, but ending two consecutive lines with the same word sounded a little tacky. What can I say, I’m a slave to the music.

Brad Malone is one of the Lake Erie Monsters currently playing up with the Avs to fill in for injured players. In his third career NHL game he involved himself in the action by laying three hits on the Sharks. The Avs desperately needed players to step up and play a physical game, refusing to be pushed around by a much larger team. It was great to see this kid make his presence known in a game that mattered.

Three Avalanche players (besides Malone) caught my eye. Paul Stastny really brought the offense against the Sharks, scoring two of the Avs’ four goals. Another Avalanche standout was Daniel Winnik, who had a Gordie Howe hat trick (a goal, assist, and a fight) not only in one game but in one period. Ryan O’Reilly had another very solid game as well.

The last “three” that stood out to me was the third period, in which the San Jose Sharks scored three unanswered goals. I know I quoted this statistic in the first paragraph, but the symmetry of all three being scored in period three deserved another mention.

Stupid unanswered goals stemming from mental errors against a very good team.

The Avs are on their way back to Denver to prepare for the Washington Capitals, who come to town on Saturday night. The Capitals have obviously faced some challenges this season, which means the game is definitely winnable by the Avs. If you have ANY money left over after buying gifts and giving to charity and paying bills (please pay your bills first, people…Christmas by candlelight is only fun when it’s a choice rather than foisted upon you by the electric company), I suggest you buy a ticket and go watch the game in person.

Unless, of course, you’re a Caps fan. You should all get together and watch from some agreed upon sports bar far from the Pepsi Center.

Stay tuned for the fourth through twelfth days of Christmas…who knows what my brain will come up with. It’s always an adventure.

Special note: there was a reader request for “three brand new coaches.” As much as I support the idea of something shaking up the Avs and management demonstrating that the status quo is not acceptable, I wanted to stick to using actual “gifts” rather than wishes. Regardless, it made me smile so I wanted to include it and give credit where credit is due. So thanks, @BlueLineYeti, for the suggestion! You should all follow him and his awesome hockeyness.

On the second day of Christmas the Avalanche gave to me…  

Two shootout goals

And a pain in my head and tummy.

Wins via the shootout are becoming a staple around the Pepsi Center. I’m starting to wonder if the Colorado Avalanche are capable of winning in regulation.

It’s confounding, really. Clearly the Avs can score goals. Not only can they best goalies one-on-one in the shootout, but they have nights where it seems any given player can light the lamp. The problem is that they haven’t been able to score consistently. This season the Avs have had to score (on average) at least 3 goals to win games – a task to which the boys have not been equal most of the time.

Since January/February of this year wins have been tough to come by for the Avalanche. Anyone who doubts the rarity of a win merely needs to observe the standing ovation home wins continue to receive. As a fan I will never disparage anything that leads to a W, and the shootout goals by Milan Hejduk and Gabriel Landeskog against the Sharks certainly fall into this category. I’m thrilled the Avs played well enough to keep themselves in it until the end and even more thrilled that they came out on top.

I wouldn’t have complained, however, if they had managed to hold onto a lead and put the game away in regulation.

On the first day of Christmas, the Avalanche gave to me…

A pain in my head and tummy.

The Colorado Avalanche are, without a doubt, an erratic team. Tuesday night they won their fourth home game in a row by once more relying on the shootout. In the three road games last week, however, they looked like boys playing in their big brother’s hockey league. Those games were humiliating and painful to watch. Literally painful – I had a migraine following Tuesday’s 6 – 0 loss to Vancouver.

While this Tuesday’s game had a much happier ending it still managed to give me a slight case of nausea (which had nothing to do with an undigested bit of beef or blot of mustard). The Avs seem well nigh incapable of winning in regulation. Each win also seems to come against teams having an off-night. There have been precious few games this season in which the Colorado Avalanche have bested a good team playing up to their potential. The only one I’ve seen was the December 4 match against the Detroit Red Wings…and the Wings weren’t exactly themselves that night.

I say again: prolonged consideration of this Avalanche team leads to pain in the head and tummy.

The game against the Sharks definitely had it’s bright spots. Stefan Elliott is learning rapidly while playing up with the Avs, and it’s always fun to see a young kid celebrate early career goals. Daniel Winnik’s wraparound goal was a beauty. Milan Hejduk was money in the shootout, as (almost) always. And Gabriel Landeskog netting the game-winning shootout goal was terrific. The fact that the Avs gave up the lead TWICE and had to play overtime as well as a shootout to get the two points was somewhat less than terrific.

The Avs get another chance to best the Sharks on Thursday night in San Jose. It will be interesting to see which Sharks team – and which Avs team – shows up to play.

The Christmas season is in full swing. Look for the full 12 Days of Christmas, Avalanche style, coming at you between now and Christmas Day. If you have any suggestions please share them below or on Twitter!

Note: I am out of town for Thanksgiving this week. I hope you enjoy the shorter recaps/impressions/comics!

Sky rockets in flight and such.

Tonight the Colorado Avalanche face the San Jose Sharks for the first time in the 2011 – 12 season. The Sharks are at their worst a worthy opponent; at their best, an insurmountable obstacle.

The Exes:

There aren’t any players on the current Sharks roster who ever spent time with the Avalanche organization. In lieu of that list, here are some other fun facts.

• Top scorers for the Sharks include Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Ryane Clowe, and Logan Couture.
• Andrew Desjardins, Ryan Clowe, Douglas Murray, and Dan Boyle lead the team in penalty minutes served.
• Defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Douglas Murray lead the team in the plus/minus category.
• My love of Team USA forces me to disclose that Joe Pavelski was on the 2010 US Olympic Team and forward Brad Winchester came up through the US National Team Development Program. (There are a few San Jose players who were on various Canadian National teams, but…I don’t care about those.)

It Would Make My Night If:

• New blood steps up to score for the Avs. Last season the leading scorers against San Jose were Chris Stewart (4 points) and John Michael Liles (3 points). Obviously neither of them will be participating in tonight’s game, so someone else needs to take up the mantle.
• The defense can shut down Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, and Ryan Clowe (leading scorers against the Avs from last season).
• Many of the people who would usually be recovering from a Broncos game head down to the Pepsi Center to cheer on the Avs and create a loud, energized climate.
• The Avs manage to start the season series with a win against the San Jose Sharks.

My Prediction:

The Avs have some momentum coming off the big 3 – 0 win over the Dallas Stars Friday night. If they can keep the offense rolling, the boys keep skating, and the goaltending can stay strong, then I think the Avs can take the Sharks 4 – 3.

The puck drops at 6:00 pm at the Pepsi Center. If you’re in town, and an Avalanche fan, I encourage you to get down there and make some noise for the home team. If you’re a Sharks fan, feel free to cheer for your team from some other venue.

Clever, clever me. There are 55 days remaining until the Colorado Avalanche’s season opener. What is Cody McLeod’s sweater number?

If anyone said a number other than 55, you are off the island. Right now. Executive decision. Go.

Left winger Cody McLeod is coming off a decent season; he scored 8 points in 71 games played and was sentenced to 189 penalty minutes. That last stat put him at fourth in the league and was pretty much his only area of distinction. But that’s ok, that’s why we love him. According to hockeyfights.com Cody was in 14 fights during the 2010 – 11 season, including the following beauties:

And look how sweet, he’ll stand up for tiny pocket-sized teammates (yes, I’m looking at you, Mark Olver) when necessary:

We only have one Cody McLeod’s worth of days to wait until the start of another Avalanche hockey season, ladies and gentlemen. And because his name reminds me of the clouds my brother is flying amongst in the following picture, I am including indisputable evidence of the awesomeness of USMC pilots. Happy Cody McLeod day, everyone.

Yes, my brother is one of the pilots in this photo. He's so much cooler than me.

L.A. Kings' Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson, the undisputed stars of Game 2. (Original photos via Wikimedia Commons and Bridget Samuels.)

If you have read this site for any length of time at all, you know of my love for the L.A. Kings…especially defensemen Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson. I love their game, I love that Johnson is a USA boy, and I love that Doughty manages to be a big d-man who lays down big hits but also is a legitimate scoring threat.

Last night’s Kings at Sharks playoff game was like a dream come true for me. And not just a cheesy “mommy bought me a pony” dream, but a solid fantasy that just kept getting better and better.

How did I love this game? Let me count the ways…

1. 12 minutes into the first period, the Sharks’ Ben Eager went to the box for slashing. Doughty and Handzus got the puck to Jack Johnson, who put a slapshot past Antti Niemi. 1- 0 Kings.
2. Three and a half minutes later, Johnson and ex-Av Ryan Smyth assisted on a Drew Doughty slap shot that made it past Niemi. 2 – 0 Kings.
3. In the last five minutes of the second period, Doughty put yet another slap shot past Niemi. Poor guy must’ve felt like he was getting bombarded. 3 – 0 Kings.
4. In the first five minutes of the second period, Doughty and ex-Av Brad Richardson assisted on Kyle Clifford’s goal. The final score was 4 – 0 Kings.
5. The final score meant that Jonathan Quick got a shutout in the playoffs against their in-state rival Sharks.
6. Ex-Avs Richardson and Smyth each had a point on the night.
7. Jack Johnson racked up two points.
8. Defenseman Drew Doughty had four points. Four. I’m not even sure most hockey players can count that high.
9. The Kings managed to even the series up as other offensive threats stepped up to take the place of Anze Kopitar.

So…was the title of this piece referring to my two favorite Kings players, JJ and DD? Or was it referring to Doughty’s pair of goals?

I will leave it to you to decide. I’m going to go grin some more.

All true hockey fans will watch the playoffs regardless of whether or not “their” team is still in the hunt for the Cup. Some fans, however, may need a bit of a shove. This series of articles is meant to give Avalanche fans solid reasons to watch the various playoff series, even though the Colorado Avalanche are indeed dead as far as the 2010-11 season is concerned.  The 1st/8th seed matchups have already been covered, so let’s move on to the 2nd/7th seed series.

San Jose Sharks vs Los Angeles Kings

Who will I be cheering for? Check the shirt...

The Sharks finished second in the West with 105 points, just one game ahead of 3rd seed Detroit. The Sharks won 3 of the 4 games against the Avalanche this season, outscoring them 13 – 7. This would be a much more embarrassing stat if the Sharks hadn’t dominated most of the West this year.

The Kings finished the regular season with 98 points, one ahead of 8th seed Chicago and one behind 4th, 5th, and 6th place Anaheim, Nashville, and Phoenix. Amazingly the Kings did even more damage to the Avs than the Sharks did, winning all four games and outscoring the Avs 19 – 8.

Oh, and if you have any doubts about which team I will be cheering for in the series, the picture should be a dead giveaway. Nope, I’m not at all biased.

I can’t even type that with a straight face.

Why you should watch: Kings Brad Richardson, Ryan Smyth, Drew Doughty, and Jack Johnson, and since I have to include at least one Shark, Logan Couture.

Brad Richardson isn’t having the season of his life, but he is an ex-Av and thus worthy of our attention. He has 19 points in 68 games, which isn’t earth-shaking but still respectable. With star Anze Kopitar out, the Kings will need everyone and anyone to score…so why not ex-Av Richardson? » Continue reading “Things To Do When Colorado Is Dead: Why You Should Watch The 2/7 Seed Matchups”