Thursday, October 22, 2009

Avalanche v. Wild - Scoring Chances #9

TmPTimeNoteCOLOpponent
COL118:59
91622274041312253234675v5
MIN117:21
2226273741
3891415324v5
MIN116:17Goal541525455
3891415324v5
MIN110:29
537394152
811253255674v5
MIN110:08
537394152
811253255674v5
MIN19:48
537394152
811253255674v5
MIN17:39
2227373941
3891415324v5
MIN17:38
2227373941
3891415324v5
MIN13:25
2227373941
89141532554v5
MIN13:00
2241525455
89141532554v5
COL217:49
5839414455311203234515v5
COL215:53
9162227404139141532345v5
COL215:38
16222737404139121532345v5
COL215:36Goal16222737404139121532345v5
COL212:39
152226273941914153234555v5
MIN28:48
9162740414456142032515v5
MIN28:08
8222737415589141532555v5
MIN28:02
8222737415539141532345v5
MIN27:42
8102237415539141532345v5
COL26:30
2227374154
38111425324v5
MIN26:21
2227374154
38141525324v5
MIN25:30
1026394152
59141532554v5
COL24:31
9162223274156202127325v5
COL21:55
82223274155812253255675v5
COL21:54Goal82223274155812253255675v5
COL21:18
59232627415692732
5v4
COL20:18
101622264041320213255
5v4
COL318:45
10232641525456141527325v5
COL317:44
82227373941311203234515v5
MIN313:48
526394152
3891415324v5
MIN313:14
2227373941
3891415324v5
MIN311:49
2227394041546891415325v5
COL310:49
8922262741811202132555v5
MIN35:07
526394152
3891520324v5
MIN34:52Goal526394152
3891520324v5


#PlayerEVPPSH
5B. CLARK14:22102:40106:3507
8W. WOLSKI15:29530:59000:0000
9M. DUCHENE15:26412:30101:0500
10K. CUMISKEY15:42111:04101:4001
15M. HENDRICKS4:00100:00002:1300
16D. TUCKER14:20511:56100:1500
22S. HANNAN20:421041:20104:5917
23M. HEJDUK15:01402:04100:0000
26P. STASTNY17:26302:35205:4705
27K. QUINCEY20:211042:56104:5316
28D. KOCI2:17000:00000:0000
37R. O'REILLY11:02330:00004:1119
39T. GALIARDI9:17310:00005:39011
40M. SVATOS14:04421:56100:0000
41C. ANDERSON48:261254:002012:34115
44R. WILSON11:21110:00000:0000
52A. FOOTE14:57100:00007:0109
54D. JONES12:44110:00003:0513
55C. MCLEOD8:39330:00002:5302


PeriodTotalsEVPP5v3 PPSH5v3 SH
1191000000900
21168420001200
3353100000400
4000000000000
Totals1520125200011500

This was a very interesting game from the Avalanche. Unlike most of their other games where the Avalanche struggled at even strength, they were positively dominant against the Wild. The first three minutes of the game were played almost entirely in Minnesota's zone and the Avalanche were looking good until T.J. Galiardi took a needless holding the stick penalty in the offensive zone. The Wild responded with a goal on the ensuing power play and the story of this game had its start. The Avalanche followed with a string of needless penalties throughout the game including two penalties for having too many men on the ice. These penalties resulted in the Avalanche wasting their most dominant game of the season at even strength.

Many times this season the Avalanche have gone into a defensive shell when they were protecting the lead. In this game they avoided that. It's something that's been improving over the course of the year and is a good sign going forward. Unfortunately for the Avalanche Wojtek Wolski took a penalty late in the third period and the Wild scored the tying goal. Given Wolski's benching in the third period last game and his demotion from the top line for this game I was thinking he might be taking a seat on the bench again. This wasn't the case. He took a few more shifts and was selected to shoot in the shoot-out (isn't he the Avs best shooter? someone should let Joe Sacco know that you should really let your best guys shoot first or second). I guess I'll need wait for a bit before suggesting a serious rift between him and the coach. Taking Wolski's place on the top line was apparently David Jones and although most of their chances didn't come with Jones on the ice the Hejduk-Stastny pairing had probably their best even strength game of the season.

The Avs power play was pretty poor for the third consecutive game. In addition to the loss of Liles, Sacco removed Wolski from the top unit as well. I think that was a bad choice. At any rate, if the PP really picks it up when Liles gets back I'm going to need to rethink my position on whether his contract is fair value (I've always thought it was a ludicrous overpay). The penalty kill was just as bad. It's never easy when you're killing penalties for over 12 minutes in a game but 15 power play chances in one game is a lot. Minnesota moved the puck quickly and on a few occasions were able to sneak a defender down (usually Burns) for an open shot. That's something they're going to want to work on.

Finally, I think the refs called a very good game. I mention that because I've been rough on them a couple of times in the past. Any ref that rightly calls holding the stick instead of hooking on the poor sap defensive player gets a gold star in my book. I certainly don't want this game turning into soccer with all of the diving and jersey-pulling and general ridiculousness. If there's a ref that starts calling diving consistently, even if he makes mistakes a time or two, he'll be my new hero (until he calls an Oiler for diving).

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