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10-04-2007, 03:01 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Assistant Captain
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Oxford, OH
Posts: 3,182
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Avalanche GDTs and General Dicussion
Better late than never:
Quote:
DENVER (AP) -- Paul Stastny had his first career hat trick and Andrew Brunette added three assists as the Colorado Avalanche held off the Dallas Stars for a 4-3 victory Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.
Wojtek Wolski added a goal and Jaroslav Hlinka had two assists for Colorado.
Jeff Halpern, Niklas Hagman and Jussi Jokinen scored for the Stars, who had their 10-game unbeaten streak in season openers snapped. It was the longest active streak in the league.
The Avalanche moved to 16-5-7 in franchise history in season openers, the best winning percentage in the NHL.
Colorado picked up where it left off last season. The Avalanche finished 2006-07 as the hottest team in hockey, going 15-2-2 over their final 19 games in a frenzied dash toward a playoff spot. The Avalanche missed out by a point.
Colorado led 4-1 to begin the third period, but the Stars made things interesting when Jokinen scored midway through the third and Hagman added another at 17:10.
The Stars pulled goalie Marty Turco with 1:10 remaining, but couldn't score.
Avalanche goalie Peter Budaj made a flurry of saves in the closing seconds to preserve the win.
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Stastny's hat-trick was the 34th (iirc) scored on opening nights in NHL history, one of which came from his own father during his time with the Nords. Some musings on the first game from the current NW Division leaders:
-Stastny redefines clutch, but the passes from Hlinka and Bruno were things of beauty; Hlinka can thread a needle blind and Bruno is still a wizard behind the net. I'm not complaining about the outcome but I'd prefer to see a finisher (Hejduk or Svatos) but on the line instead of having three playmakers juggle the puck to one another.
-Smyth looked decent in his first game. He played a smart defensive game and had a scoring chance or two. Looks to compliment Sakic quite well.
-On a similar note, Hannan played nearly half an hour and ended up +2. I hate that stat, but it indicates how well Hannan performed, especially in the closing minutes of the game. I will forgive him the one PK goal he was on ice for because it was flukey as hell.
-Budaj played pretty well. Not great, not terrible, enough to get the win. I aren't complaining.
-Coach Q's standard take-a-bench-penalty-in-the-last-5-minutes-of-the-game strategy is still alive and well.
-Dallas' defense more than handled the first line of Smyth-Sakic-Hejduk; no points and 4 shots between the three. Thank God for offensive depth.
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How does it feel to be undefeated? Pretty damn good, that's how.
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10-04-2007, 03:20 AM
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#2 (permalink)
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Super Moderator
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: London, ON
Posts: 3,727
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I was very impressed with Statsny and Hlinka today, these guys are very talented young players and are going to make the Avs one of the best teams in the West this year. I fully expect them to take that division.
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10-04-2007, 04:43 AM
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#3 (permalink)
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Super Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Nowhere, USA
Posts: 4,736
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That entire line of Brunette/Stastny/Hlinka looked pretty good from what I saw of the game. Scoring doesn't look like it's going to be a problem for the Avs this year. If they can get solid goaltending they could definitely be a threat in the West.
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10-04-2007, 08:08 AM
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#4 (permalink)
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Assistant Captain
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 2,838
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Obviously I never got to see the game for it wasn't broadcasted anywheres. But from what im readin, im very impressed, especially with Stastny. I now have completely no fears when Sakic retires, Stastny can easily take over.
Im hoping if Sakic doesn't have the offensive year that he has before, he just becomes more of a reserve player like Stevie Y did during his last seasons. Yzerman turned into a solid defensive player who still had that offensive flash in his final days. With Sakic being such a similar player, I expect nothing less.
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10-04-2007, 09:01 AM
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#5 (permalink)
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-LIFETIME MEMBER-
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Niagara Falls
Posts: 10,619
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Thank you Paul Stastny  |
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10-05-2007, 04:10 PM
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#6 (permalink)
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Assistant Captain
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Oxford, OH
Posts: 3,182
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The ugly, the bad, and the ugly:
Quote:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Jason Arnott scored two goals and Chris Mason made 35 saves to lead the Nashville Predators to a season-opening 4-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.
Marek Zidlicky passed the puck from the right side, catching Arnott above the circle on the power play. Arnott sent a one-timer that beat Colorado goaltender Peter Budaj between his pads at 4:31 of the first.
Nearly 10 minutes later, Arnott struck from close range. J.P. Dumont passed the puck from the right side in front of the crease as Arnott skated in from the left, firing the puck into the wide side of the net.
In the second period, Nashville made it 3-0 as Dan Hamhuis beat Budaj low to his stick side from the middle of the left circle.
At 4:41 of the third period, Greg de Vries fired a one-timer from just inside the blue line. Dumont tipped it past Budaj high to his glove side.
Budaj was replaced after the last goal by Tyler Weiman. Budaj faced 22 shots and made 18 saves.
Colorado outshot Nashville 35-32.
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Not many positives that can be taken out of this one, except that Svatos showed some very good hustle, and I think the win% of teams playing the second game of back-to-back games is around 40%. Anyway, 80 more chances still ahead.
Also (here there be dragons):
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The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced Friday that goaltender Jose Theodore will start in Saturday night’s season opener for the American Hockey League’s Lake Erie Monsters to complete his rehabilitation. He will return to Colorado on Sunday.
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I've pretty much given up hope on Theodore, but it would be nice if he could settle into a groove and re-find some confidence. Though it's only 2 games in, Budaj hasn't looked particularly great and Wieman ain't leading the team anywhere, so a small breakthrough on the goalie front would be nice. Although it just wouldn't be the post-lockout Avs without lukewarm goaltending...
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10-06-2007, 12:58 AM
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#7 (permalink)
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Assistant Captain
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Ontario.
Posts: 2,460
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Phish4
The ugly, the bad, and the ugly:
Not many positives that can be taken out of this one, except that Svatos showed some very good hustle, and I think the win% of teams playing the second game of back-to-back games is around 40%. Anyway, 80 more chances still ahead.
Also (here there be dragons):
I've pretty much given up hope on Theodore, but it would be nice if he could settle into a groove and re-find some confidence. Though it's only 2 games in, Budaj hasn't looked particularly great and Wieman ain't leading the team anywhere, so a small breakthrough on the goalie front would be nice. Although it just wouldn't be the post-lockout Avs without lukewarm goaltending...
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I was wondering who the Back-up would be for the first few games, Wieman probalby wont get much chance to play in the Bigs. Budaj should hopefully get back to like he was the last few weeks soon.
I am hopefull. Go Avs Go. |
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10-07-2007, 10:33 PM
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#8 (permalink)
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Assistant Captain
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Oxford, OH
Posts: 3,182
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Stastny > Crosby
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10-08-2007, 12:32 AM
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#9 (permalink)
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Assistant Captain
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 2,838
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Phish4
Stastny > Crosby
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Statisticly, he's 8 times better then Cros-bone. 
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10-08-2007, 01:02 AM
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#10 (permalink)
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Assistant Captain
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Oxford, OH
Posts: 3,182
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Speaking of players who are God and/or Jesus,
Quote:
Coming into the game, Sakic stood one point behind Phil Esposito for eighth place on the league’s all-time points list with 1589 and was tied with Bobby Hull for 14th place on the career goals list with 610.
At the 15:18 mark of the first period during Sunday’s game, Sakic corralled a pass from Paul Stastny and put a wrist shot into the back of the net, tying him with Esposito while also claiming the No. 14 spot on the NHL’s goals list for himself.
Less than three minutes later, Sakic again made a piece of history when he threaded a pass to Milan Hejduk, who deposited the puck between Evgeni Nabokov’s pads. The assist gave him 1591 career points, allowing him to overtake Esposito.
“Obviously I’ve been around a long time so it’s an honor,” Sakic said about passing Esposito and Hull. “For me to have played this long and get to those guys, they meant a lot to the game.”
While records and accolades are all well and good, the Avalanche captain will be the first to tell you which statistic meant the most from Sunday’s game: Colorado 6, San Jose 2.
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Unreal what Sakic is continuing to do at age 38. Mario Lemieux is next in career points, but 1723 is pretty far from 1591. It's a testament to Sakic's amazing durability that he's come this far (and on an unrelated note, how incredible Lemieux was to score that much in 900-odd games) but 132 points is a significant margin. I think Sakic will finish this year with around 85-90 points and hopefully next season around 70-80 points, so it's not unrealistic to expect him to break Lemieux's (and possibly Yzerman, who's next) point totals by 2009. Oh Captain, my Captain...
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Avalanche GDTs and General Dicussion
