.jpg "The Avalanche Guild")
Avalanche vs. Flames Roundup
:: Avalanche 2, Flames 3 ::
Flames forward Rene Bourque scored two goals, including a short-handed breakaway in the first period and then the eventual game-winner, as Calgary defeated the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2, at Pepsi Center on Wednesday night.
The Avs now have a rare three-day break before a quick road trip to California, which includes stops in Anaheim on Sunday and then Los Angeles on Monday. Their next home game will be Wednesday, March 24 against the Kings and The Avalanche Guild has an AFTER-HOURS discount ticket special for that game!
We’ll start with Marc Moser’s post-game show up on the ALTITUDE RADIO BLOG, produced as always by Mark Bertagnolli. Adrian Dater from ALL THINGS AVS was still sick from the night before but still brought you the story from a few days ago about Vitaly Kolesnik being beaten by a crazed fan in Russia.
Good job by the boys at THE BURGUNDY BLOG for reminding us about the unbelievable string of 3-2 results between these two teams. Scott from REAL DENVER SPORTS also finds some good silver linings in the loss.
Paul’s Coffey handles post-game duties at MILE HIGH HOCKEY while THE AVALANGELIST keeps things short and sweet by describing why the Avs seemed to be stuck in neutral all night long.
This was the first and last Avalanche home game I’ll watch from the stands, so I was very excited to watch from a much closer perspective, as opposed to high up in the press box. I didn’t have my laptop with me for this game, but I still absorbed a lot of mental scouting notes on a number of different players.
The situation with scratching defensemen continued tonight for the Avs and after tonight, it is getting worse. Kyle Quincey once again struggled with his focus in this game, but I’m not talking about the turnover that led to Bourque’s short-handed goal. In fact, it was Chris Stewart’s pass from the half-boards that was chipped way too high and bounced at the line…it kind of put Quincey in a tough position.
No, I’m talking about his hesitation, his lunging and over-commitment. He’s a mess right now and it’s a slippery slope, because once the confidence starts to weaken, the decision-making goes next. Then you become an even bigger liability, which means the head coach has to once again shift his thinking when it comes to managing minutes.
Brett Clark needs to stay in the lineup. Ryan Wilson, who will probably need a day or two to recover from his fight with Jamal Mayers, should stay scratched. Quincey needs to continue playing, but take the next three days to refuel, re-focus and get back to the basics.
Back to the basics. That’s the key for any hockey player that’s just not making the right decisions with the puck while in tight spaces or pressure situations. Quincey is fine, he just needs to get out of this funk. A little pep talk and positive reinforcement from the coaching staff will do the trick, but when Sunday rolls around, it’s up to him to perform with more energy and alertness than at any point of the season.
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| Print article | This entry was posted by Justin on March 18, 2010 at 1:59 am, and is filed under Blogger Network. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
