Mile High Hockey

Avalanche at Blues Game 57 Preview

2012-02-11T14:41:39Z

Big game. The Avs are in St Louis tonight - their 7th back-to-back out of 10 this year - in the 4th and final matchup against the Blues (and the second straight game against a Stewart brother). With a win and a Phoenix regulation loss, the Avs will pass the Coyotes and the idle Stars and move into 8th. With a loss, they could fall behind Minnesota and Calgary; both are just a point behind and are in action tonight. With the Avs looking at anywhere from 8th to 12th based on this game, we're comfortable calling it a must-win - especially as their next two games are against NW teams.

The Avs have been in better shape offensively lately, with some new guys like Paul Stastny, David Jones and Milan Hejduk arriving on the scene to make a big impact. I don't know where those three came from, but it's been great to have some secondary scoring for Gabriel Landeskog and Ryan O'Reilly.

That added offense will be needed tonight, as the Avalanche will face the superb Brian Elliott tonight (not that facing Jaroslav Halak would have been any easier - both goalies have been ridiculous this year and St Louis has 10 total shutouts). The Avs will go with Semyon Varlamov, who has three straight losses and will need a BIG game tonight. He's 3-0 with a 1.62 GAA lifetime against St Louis.

I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone that Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk have 10 points in 5 games against the Avs since the trade.

Milan Hejduk ties Adam Foote with 967 games with the franchise, #2 all-time. I guess he's not so new after all?

	Stats
56	GP	53
28	W	32
25	L	14
3	OT	7
59	P	71
0.527	P%	0.670
2.45	G/G	2.47
2.77	GA/G	1.94
18.9	PP%	13.0
82.3	PK%	81.0
31.5	S/G	31.2
29.1	SA/G	26.4
52.1	FO%	49.8

Canes at Avs- You Won't Like Radar When He's Angry, Avs win 4-3 in OT

2012-02-11T05:12:31Z

Military Appreciation Night started (on the ice) with a string of dump-ins, icings, and offsides as the Avalanche seemed to be starting late again. The visiting Hurricanes generated some one-and-done chances, but Colorado netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere stood tall. A good shift by the T. J. Galiardi line was followed up shortly after be a great shift from the Paul Stastny line at about 7 minutes into the period. Toward the tail end of that shift, the Hurricanes pushed the tempo back the other way and a short shift saw everybody on the home team watching or chasing the other Stewart (Anthony) out of the corner. He found Tim Brent alone in the slot for the quick shot past Giguere for the 1-0 lead on Brent's 8th of the season.

Not long after, a freshly-over-the-wall Cody McLeod drove to the back of the Carolina net and tripped trade-rumor-target Tuomo Ruutu for the first PK sighting of the game. The Avs killed it off with some good work down low and some better work by Giggy on some sweet Carolina (BUH, BUH, BUUUM) plays. The Avalanche responded with a good shift from the Stastny line but nobody could finish. Not long after another good series by the Ryan O`Reilly line resulted in nil on the board, Stastny got called for a slash as he tried to generate something in the offensive zone. The 'Canes pressed hard but couldn't bury one past Giguere even though the Avalanche looked to be firmly entrenched in survive-the-period-mode.

Surprise!! A great forecheck by Peter Mueller and Gabriel Landeskog resulted in a typical why-pass-when-I-can-shoot shot from Landeskog who beat a somewhat-surprised Cam Ward with just over a minute left in the game. Another surprise!! The next shift down by the 'Canes resulted in scrambly d-zone entry work and Jan Hejda provided a quick screen for a Jiri Tlusty shot to beat Giguere. Carolina had regained the one-goal lead as the period came to an end. Lackluster play and two power plays resulted in the Avs getting outshot 12-6 in the first frame.

The second period started with some backpeddling and Giguere was called on early and often as the 'Canes were shooting from everywhere. Colorado finally got a good breakout from their own end and the Stastny line decided that would be a good time to put on a clinic. A passing and goalie undressing clinic that is. Hejduk-to-Jones-to-Stastny-to-Hejduk for the tying goal (for those scoring at home). That was a beautiful goal by the throwback line from the beginning of the season. Lots of sauce on that play.

Carolina answered with some decent pressure and rolling chances before a spectacular shift by the Jay McClement line around the 9 minute mark resulted in a Tyson Barrie shot that got redirected between Cam Ward's pillows but trickled juuuuuuuuuuust wide. Then the game shifted to a back-and-forth affair with chances at both ends, but lots of consistent pressure and good opportunities from the hometown Burgundy and Frostbite Blue. With just over 6 minutes left in the game, Mueller was the benefit of a giveaway behind the 'Canes' net. He threw the puck in front to Landeskog who tried to slip it in farside but missed.

A quick carry-in by Ruutu and a good net drive by all three Carolina forwards resulted in a bad bounce finding its way to Eric Staal's stick with just over 4 minutes left in the period. He didn't miss on the empty net as Giguere had slid to his right trying to follow the pass through traffic. That goal was just Staal's 14th of the season. Then, at almost exactly 1 minute left in the period some great hustle and work from David Jones behind the net got the Avalanche back even. Jones pulled the puck off the boards after carrying it deep and passed it to a streaking Stastny who put the puck on a string and tucked it past a sliding Ward for HIS 14th goal of the season. Colorado went into the 2nd intermission tied on the scoreboard but being badly outshot (33-21).

Much more balanced start to the third. Lots of neutral zone possession and both teams did a better job of standing up at their own blueline. The Avs get about a minute of strong possession in the 'Canes' zone after a set play off a faceoff resulted in Tyson Barrie flying into the zone and pushing the play below the circles. Treated to Hejduk playing D for a pinching Shane O`Brien toward the end of that same shift. Ward was forced to make a couple of tough saves through traffic.

A bad entry play by Hejda generated a 3-on-1 the other way but Giguere made a tough blocker save. Scary moment alert when a hustling Hejda tripped over a sprawled Ruutu and went into the boards awkwardly but appeared OK. O`Reilly had a golden oppertunity off of a turnover that was picked up and dished to him by Landeskog but he hit the post with a yawning net in front of him at about 9 minutes gone in the period. Not long after Ruutu drew a penalty as he got crowbared between the legs by Jones at the blueline.

At the start of the penalty kill, Radar goes on a steal-and-shooting spree like a crack head on Devil's Night but Ward stood (butterflied) tall. Radar then took his rage out on the bench door. Dude was nuclear pissed! The team responded because it looked like everybody seemed to have some jump as they wanted to bury a goal for him. Stastny and Jones were flying in the offensive zone and then Landeskog was driving the net while holding off a defender. Carolina answered with pressure of their own in the last few minutes of the period. Landeskog and O'Reilly nearly netted a winner with a strong net drive. Jan Hejda also handled his business by erasing a Tlusty rush at the other end. Both teams survived for the end of regulation point and the game went to overtime. The shot differential had closed a lilttle by that point, 40-31 in the Hurricanes' favor.

Giguere was forced to make a good save on a tipped shot about a minute into the 5-minute OT. Barrie drove in and got a good look at Ward on the next shift. Most of the extra frame had been in Carolina's favor. Some sphincter-clenching neutral zone 'play' with less than two minutes left in bonus time generated some more good possession time for the 'Canes before Ryan O'Reilly decided to end the game. He stripped Justin Faulk in the neutral zone, pushed the play into the Carolina zone, tee'd it up, and let slip the Dogs of War with a slapshot fueled by rage and frustration that beat Ward short side with less than TWO SECONDS TO GO IN OT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm spent...

MHH Bestest Three Avs of the Night

O'Reilly, was a boss in the third and OT
Stastny, assist and the game-tying goal + 70% in the circle
Landeskog, who I'm convinced is trying for a double-double in shots and hits every night

Lines, etc

Landeskog - O'Reilly - Mueller
Jones - Stastny - Hejduk
Galiardi - McClement -Winnik
McLeod - van der Gulik - Kobasew

Johnson - Quincey
Hejda - O'Byrne
Barrie - O'Brien

Giguere

Scratches: Hunwick, Wilson, Porter

Quick Hits

Carolina seemed to be shooting wide deliberately ALOT from the point to try to get Jiggy moving out of the net.
Barrie seemed to struggle with the aggressive Hurricane forecheck and had a couple of rookie mistakes in his own end. He upped his offensive/skating game in the third and OT though.
Jiggy was generating more rebounds than a drunk point guard.

NHL.com Recap & Highlights

NHL.com recap

Game Summary

Event Summary

Next Up

The Avalanche travel to St. Louis for a tilt against the Blues tomorrow night @ 6:00 pm.

Hurricanes at Avalanche Live Thread

2012-02-11T01:01:12Z

Go!

Hurricanes at Avalanche, Game 56 Preview

2012-02-10T14:01:04Z

The Avs broke free from their scoring woes with Tuesday night's big win over the faltering Blackhawks and will look to continue their uphill climb towards the post season tonight as they take on the Eastern Conference worst Carolina Hurricanes.

Despite only amassing only 50 points thus far, the Canes have been coming on strong of late and are 5-2-3 in their last ten, so even when they're not winning they're still earning loser points. Speaking of loser points, Calgary and Phoenix went to OT last night before Shane Doan ended it, Dallas won, and Vancouver settled the Wild, meaning that with a win tonight the best the Avs could do is jump into 9th place.

The Avalanche are 10-2 against the East this season, and 3-1 against the Canes' Southeastern brethren. Carolina is 4-4-2 versus the West, but 2-1 against the Northwest. This will be the one and only meeting between the two clubs this season. Carolina is coming off an overtime loss Wednesday to the Ducks and are in the midst of a 3 game road trip.

David Jones has tallied 3 goals in his last two games. Paul Stastny is currently playing at a point per game pace as he's racked up 12 points in his past 12 games. Rookie Gabriel Landeskog leads the team in plus/minus with a +14. Plus minus is very corsi in terms of it's relevance, but when you take into account the only other current Avs sporting a positive +/- are Ryan Wilson +4 and David van der Gulik +2, Landy's +14 is pretty damn pretty.

Fun Fact: Stewart returns to Denver tonight! No, not that Stewart, the other one. Chris Stewart's brother Anthony cleared waivers this week and should play tonight if he doesn't find his under-performing self back in the minors.

Northwest Check - "I Ain't Afraid Of No Ghost" Edition

2012-02-10T12:04:26Z

Demons.

We're all haunted by them in some form and we either rise to the occasion or succumb to the depths the demons so desperately seek to drag us into. This truth extends to the hockey rink and reaches into players and teams alike. Every year there are multiple story lines that revolve around a player or team either exorcising their past demons or falling victim to them yet again. For example, Scott Gomez scoring last night means one less demon floating around the ice in a haunted Montreal season.

Closer to home in the Northwest Division, each team faces their own demons as they head into the stretch run of the season and the questions of whether or not they will exorcise them ring louder and louder with each passing game.

Calgary has finished each of the last two season in 10th place, missing the playoffs by 5 points two years ago and 3 points last year and with them currently in 11th place it's become obvious the team in Calgary may not be built to achieve much more than they already have in the past two seasons. Will the Flames figure it out and find the consistency that's going to be needed to leapfrog the 3 teams in front of them and hold off Colorado and suddenly hard-charging Anaheim?

Colorado's struggles after the All-Star break were recently broken down by overlord DDC so I won't rehash work already done.

Edmonton's primary demon seems to be GM Steve Tambellini, who refuses to upgrade the hilariously AHL-quality talent on the roster and for the second straight year is likely to trade away an established NHL player or two for more prospects/picks. This is still a much-improved roster from recent years but injuries and the looming trading deadline threaten to further sink the once-promising Oilers season.

Minnesota's tendency to get outplayed nearly every night but still come out ahead in games would seem unsustainable but we're nearing 60 games played and the Wild continue to defy every piece of hockey logic in the history of forever by picking up 2 points more often than not. Just kidding. They really need to send the NHL a fruit basket because the 8 loser points they've obtained is keeping them afloat. Still, if they can overcome their injury issues and offensive struggles, the Wild are unfortunately likely to be in it at the end.

Vancouver doesn't really have any regular season demons to worry about. Their overall talent combined with a weak division means they're an easy shoe-in for postseason play. Once there, however....hahahaha.

Northwest Standings

	GP	W	L	OTL	PT
Vancouver	54	34	15	5	73
Minnesota	54	25	21	8	58
Calgary	55	25	22	8	58
Colorado	55	27	25	3	57
Edmonton	54	21	28	5	47

(updated 2.9.2012 at 9:35 PM MST)

Team capsules after the jump.

All standings related info taken from NHL.com...

Calgary Flames ( GP 55 25-22-8 58 Pts)

Last Week: 2-0-2 3-1 W vs. CHI, 2-3 OTL @ ANA, 4-3 W @ SJ, 1-2 OTL @ PHX

Conference Standing: 11th Place

Overall Rankings:

Goals For: 2.34 (25th)
Goals Against: 2.64 (13th)
Power Play %: 18.0 (13th)
Penalty Kill %: 83.2 (11th)

This Week: After a busy and fairly productive week last week, the Flames have a relatively easy and certainly less hectic schedule as they return home from a recently completed road trip to host division-dominating Vancouver on Saturday night. Assuming they find a way to lose that, the Flames then await struggling Toronto Tuesday night before heading to the great state of Texas where the lock horns with Dallas on Thursday.

News: Mike Cammalleri is leading a resurgent Flames PP.

Seeking to lighten their off-season to-do list, the Flames got a headstart on building next year's inevitably underwhelming roster by re-signing defenseman Derek Smith to a two-year deal.

Edmonton gets a new arena so naturally Calgary gets the lip quiver and wants to know where their new digs be, yo.

T.J. Brodie really doesn't want to go back to Abbotsford. I guess I don't blame him?

Transactions: Re-signed D Derek Smith to 2-year contract, recalled G Leland Irving from Abbotsford, reassigned G Henrik Karlsson to Abbotsford for a two week conditioning assignment.

Injuries:

David Moss is on IR with a foot injury.
Derek Smith has a high ankle sprain.
Curtis Glencross is currently sidelined with a "lower body" injury.
Lee Stempniak is out with a high ankle sprain.

Colorado Avalanche (55 GP 27-25-3 57 Pts)

Last Week: 1-0-1 (REDACTED), 5-2 W vs. CHI

Conference Standings: 12th place

Overall Rankings:

Goals For: 2.42 (23rd)
Goals Against: 2.76 (18th)
Power Play %: 18.9 (9th)
Penalty Kill %: 82.0 (16th)

This Week: Every week from here on out is huge as the Avs have an uphill battle facing them but get the pleasure of hosting a struggling Eastern Conference team Friday as Carolina comes to town. The Avs will immediately head off to DIA following the Hurricanes game and leave for St. Louis to play the tail end of a back-to-back before getting 3 full days off and hitting up Vancouver on Wednesday. Another challenging week for the Avs will go a long way to determining what happens in the upcoming trade season.

Edmonton Oilers (54 GP 21-28-5 47 Pts)

Last Week: 1-2-0 5-4 W vs. DET, 3-6 L @ TOR, 2-4 L @ DET

Conference Standings: 14th place

Overall Rankings:

Goals For: 2.59 (16th)
Goals Against: 2.93 (25th)
Power Play %: 21.8 (2nd)
Penalty Kill %: 82.8 (12th)

This Week: Just two games for the Oilers this week as they continue to position themselves as everyone's favorite NHL farm team finishes up a 3-game road trip Saturday at Ottawa before getting a 3-day break and heading home as they await visiting Toronto on Wednesday.

News: A young team is bad on the road? Surely you jest!

Ryan Jones, always a bit of an annoyance to play against, continues to hone his all-around game. He's not so bad, y'all.

Ryan Smyth involved in a trade deadline dilemma. Imagine that.

If Edmonton were to get wise and fire GM Steve Tambellini, who would be candidates for his replacement? Oddly, nobody connected with Colorado is named...

Transactions: Recalled LW Magnus Paajarvi.

Injuries:

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is out 7-10 days with a shoulder injury.
Theo Peckham is day-to-day with a face injury.

Minnesota Wild (54 GP 25-21-8 58 Pts)

Last Week: 0-2-1: 1-2 OTL @ DAL, 1-3 L @ CBJ, 2-5 L vs. VAN

Conference Standing: 10th place

Overall Rankings:

Goals For: 2.20 (29th)
Goals Against: 2.50 (8th)
Power Play %: 14.7 (24th)
Penalty Kill %: 82.5 (15th)

This Week: Mikko Koivu's return from injury could be potentially season-changing for the offensively-challenged Wild.

Taking a cure from Calgary, Minnesota decided a marginal defenseman needed to be re-signed ASAP so Nate Prosser has a nice new contract in hand. Good for him!

Thank goodness for Minnesota because the self-proclaimed "State of Hockey" is apparently the sole reason for changing the future of the game. All annoying arrogance aside, this is a decent read about how the roots of the game are changing for the better at the lower levels.

Transactions: Acquired C Erik Christensen and a conditional seventh round pick in exchange for F Casey Wellman, assigned F Chad Rau and F Jed Ortmeyer to Houston, re-signed D Nate Prosser to two year, one way contract.

Injuries: Lazy copy/paste mode ENGAGE.

Guillaume Latendresse after skating last week and suffering a setback, he has not practiced with the team since.
Jarod Palmer has been diagnosed with concussion symptoms and is on Injured Reserve.
Pierre-Marc Bouchard has concussion symptoms and is on Injured Reserve.
Clayton Stoner suffered a lower body injury last week and was placed on injured reserve on February 9.

Vancouver Canucks (54 GP 34-15-5 73 Pts)

Last Week: 3-0-0 (REDACTED), 4-3 W @ NSH, 5-2 W @ MIN

Conference Standing: 2nd place

Overall Rankings:

Goals For: 3.17 (3rd)
Goals Against: 2.41 (7th)
Power Play %: 22.9 (1st)
Penalty Kill %: 85.7 (6th)

This Week: Vancouver finishes their four-game road trip Saturday at Calgary and subsequently head home for contests against teams scratching and clawing for 8th place in the Western Conference Monday versus Phoenix and Wednesday versus Colorado. Ughhhhh.

News: There is just so much arrogance involved with everything Vancouver right now it drives me insane.

And then there's this awesome story about a few Canucks players visiting recently paralyzed Jack Jablonski. Even Vancouver players can be cool, too.

Title of this article should replace "feisty" with "colossal douchebag". I'd like it a lot more.

As a reminder of what great sports the Canucks fans are, four more people have been charged in the anarchist-led riots following the team's loss in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Transactions: Recalled Byron Bitz and Mike Duco from Chicago (AHL).

Injuries:

Steve Pinizzotto is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury
Aaron Volpatti is out 4-6 months with a shoulder injury.
Andrew Ebbett is out 4-6 weeks with a collar bone injury.

Daily Cupcakes - February 10th, 2012

2012-02-10T11:01:11Z

Gordie Howe's family doesn't think that his brain will be donated towards science.

Marty Howe has no doubt the concussions his father sustained during his legendary 32-year professional hockey career had an impact on his current mental issues, but says there are no plans for Gordie Howe to donate his brain to science.

"We haven’t," Marty said Thursday, when asked if the family had discussed following the path of Reggie Fleming and Bob Probert – former NHLers who gave their brains to Boston University researchers after they died in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

The scientists discovered Fleming, Probert and another deceased NHL player, Rick Martin, all had the degenerative brain disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Fleming and Probert made their NHL livings as fighters but Martin, who died of a heart attack at 59 in March of 2010, was strictly a scorer during his career in the 1970s.

A preview of the Colorado Avalanche vs Carolina Huricanes game.

The Colorado Avalanche are among a handful of teams fighting for the final Western Conference playoff berth. Extending a long unbeaten streak at home over the Carolina Hurricanes will make the race a little tighter.

Colorado will try to stretch its unbeaten run over the Carolina franchise in Denver to 10 straight as the teams meet for the only time this season Friday night.

Looking to make a second postseason appearance in three years, the Avalanche (27-25-3) are part of a jumble of five teams between eighth and 12th place in the West separated by no more than four points.

"Each night, these points are so important for us. It doesn't matter if it's Carolina, Chicago, Detroit, Vancouver," defenseman Shane O'Brien said. "We have no time to tiptoe into games, we got to go right in, full bore."

A church in Montreal has taken ads out saying "Let us Pray".

MONTREAL -- When the power play stinks, the injuries are plentiful and the offence is anemic, there may be only one hope for a lacklustre NHL team to make the playoffs.

A little help from God.

The Catholic church placed an ad in Montreal newspapers Thursday encouraging people to pray for an eighth-place finish -- and a playoff spot -- for the Montreal Canadiens.

The ad shows the Eastern Conference standings with every team listed except the Canadiens. In eighth place, the final playoff spot, it simply says, "Let Us Pray."

TSN is gearing up for the TDLD.

TSN tees up one of the most anticipated dates on the NHL calendar - Trade Deadline Day - with Countdown To TradeCentre, live Monday at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt.

Airing exactly two weeks before the NHL Trade Deadline, the 30-minute special sets the table for TSN's industry-leading, multi-platform coverage of this decisive day on TradeCentre, airing live on Monday, Feb. 27 from 8am et/5am pt to 6pm et/3pm pt.

The Ultimate Sports Social Media Contest

2012-02-10T10:00:29Z

Here at Mile High Hockey, we don't always shill sponsored contests, but when we do we always choose XFINITY. That's probably not the introduction I was supposed to add. Let's leave it to the marketing experts to share the rest.

Have you ever watched one of those TV shows where from thousands of hopefuls, one star is born? Well, Mile High Hockey readers, here's your chance to play "starmaker" and help pick the new voice of sports in social media!

XFINITY is looking for the next renowned sports social media star through its Ultimate Sports Social Media Job contest. The winning candidate will serve as the new voice of XFINITY in the sports social media space and go behind-the-scenes at some of the biggest sporting events in 2012, sharing exclusive insights and updates with fans.

From February 9-19, you can review qualified entry videos and vote for the contestant you'd like to see advance to the finals of the XFINITY Ultimate Sports Social Media Job contest. The five entrants with the most votes will advance to the final round of the contest where they will cover one of five premier sporting events the weekend of March 8-11. Fans can head today to Facebook.com/XFINITY and click on the Ultimate Sports Social Media Job contest tab to vote for your favorite personality (once per day)!

Will you choose the brainiac with the encyclopedia of stats, the former jock who knows the game inside out, or the corporate type who gets the marketing side of the business? You decide. Vote today at Facebook.com/XFINITY!

Seriously, kind of a cool contest if you are into that sort of thing. Go check them out

Want to see the Avs and Canes on Friday?

2012-02-09T12:50:00Z

The Burgundy Brigade has a deal for you! Here's the quick link to buy tickets: http://www.pepsicenter.com/groups/avalanche/bb210/

There's also a promo through TiqIQ, MHH's ticket partner where you can get a lower bowl "4-star" ticket for $59 using their "make an offer" feature. This particular deal is good through 11 eastern tonight (Thursday) and can be accessed through the following link: http://tiqiq.us/7ez