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Avs vs. Kings Roundup
:: AVALANCHE 4, KINGS 3 (SO) ::
The Colorado Avalanche chased Los Angeles goaltender Jon Quick with 18 shots and a 3-1 lead after the first period, but the Kings battled back thanks to a late power play goal and tied the game to salvage a point in the standings. Once the Avs were dominated in the third period and out-shot 5-0 in overtime, Chris Stewart had seen enough. He went on to score the clincher in the shootout, and the Avs snuck off with a 4-3 overtime win and two crucial points in the standings.
The Avalanche head to Phoenix for a Saturday night game against Wojtek Wolski and the Coyotes, then turn around and play the Sharks in San Jose on Sunday night. The next home game is Wednesday, March 31 against the Anaheim Ducks.
That game is a special night for The Avalanche Guild, as we will be hosting the Battle for the Banner 3 Finals during first intermission. Realty Source Financial will take on Hatrick Swayze in an adult shootout for the prized Guild Banner! We are also hosting an After-Hours post-game skate between the Loan Sharks and the Red Lions.
ALL THINGS AVS is back on the beat and recaps the big win, but not before questioning the team’s ability to play in a conservative manner. ALTITUDE RADIO and Marc Moser posted their post-game podcast and had some more great audio as usual.
The newest AVALANCHE MAILBAG edition was posted this morning. Avs fans sent in their questions for the players and then Craig Stancher collected great answers from Craig Anderson, T.J. Galiardi, Matt Duchene, Matt Hendricks and more!
Dustin over at MILE HIGH HOCKEY thoroughly enjoyed the game, as most Avalanche faithful probably did, and had some love for the Kevin Porter – Matt Hendricks – Ryan O’Reilly line.
Alex over at LOST AMONG STATUES shot some cool videos of Peter Mueller and Stewart’s shootout goals. She also took a ton of photos of our After-Hours game, which we will be posting later on in the day!
We’re continually impressed with the hard work put in by THE BURGUNDY BLOG. Check out their post-game recap and this really solid feature on fans and the inspiration behind the EUROLANCHE FAN CLUB, the first and only Avalanche fan club based in Europe.
HOCKEYISM is hosting their second-annual College Hockey Championship Pick ‘Em contest, so be sure to head over there and download your brackets and send them to contests@hockeyism.com by midnight tonight (March 25)!
Earlier this week, the Avalanche signed Zach Cohen to an entry-level contract and promptly reported to Lake Erie. See how he fared over at AVS PROSPECTS and stay caught up on all the baby Avs!
THE AVALANGELIST had some positive things to say in particular about the return of a strong power play and Peter Mueller’s continued success in an Avs uniform.
Kara over at COLORADO AVALANCHE CONNECTION recaps the Avs’ month of March and never stops believing in the post-season dream! And finally, REAL DENVER SPORTS aptly wonders about the decisions Joe Sacco is making in regards to scratching a different defenseman every game.
Like I have been saying on the radio all week, there’s a huge, huge difference between playing panic hockey and playing urgent hockey. Playing with panic means a team lacks confidence. Playing with a sense of urgency means there is plenty of confidence.
Again, from a player’s and goaltender’s perspective, the only thing that matters is getting two points. It was very obvious that Craig Anderson was not going to slack off on any wraparounds, so it was good to see the defensive leader play with a stronger sense of urgency.
I see sporadic moments of panic, but this is not a team that lacks confidence. Rather, they simply need to elevate their collective intensity and effort. Someone needs to have a massive game, whether it’s three goals, a Gordie Howe hat trick, a shutout. Whatever way it takes for someone to ignite the team to play at a higher level, with a heightened sense of awareness.
And of course I would be remiss to not spill the stat du jour for this month. When Brett Clark is in the lineup this month, the Avalanche are now a solid 5-1-1. When Clark is scratched, the Avs are only 1-4-0.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that Clark has to stay in the lineup, regardless of his mistakes or effort. He’s ol’ reliable on the blue line and calms everyone else down. In every single game, a defenseman will make mistakes. You can find a reason to scratch all seven defensemen if you look close enough. But jumping back and forth between Liles, Salei, Cumiskey and Clark is really starting to affect the cohesion and communication between the pairings.
How can you expect the defensive effort in front of Anderson to be strong if nobody is on the same page? Keep the pairings the same. Choose six and run with it through the rest of the regular season. Make sure Clark is one of those six. Repeat as necessary.
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