- Image by Getty Images via Daylife
The Avalanche came out of the gates playing must-win hockey with their 8th seed increasingly endangered by the stumbling but relatively consistent Calgary Flames.
The first fifteen minutes of play were mostly Colorado skating around in the Anaheim zone generating scoring opportunities. Unfortunately, puck control doesn’t win hockey games unless it generates goals, and the Avalanche found themselves completing plays with spectacular near-misses.
Give a team enough time, get locked into that offensive mindset, and your opponent will find a way to break the other way. Anaheim did just that in the final five minutes of the 1st Period… twice.
Colorado again came out hard in the 2nd Period.
A back-and-forth slugfest turned into another Avalanche-dominated period, finally resulting in a score. Milan Hejduk flicked a perfect wrister from the slot for a Power Play goal.
The 1-goal disparity only lasted for 6 minutes, as the Avs gave up another last-minute score to close out the 2nd Period. Scott Neidermeyer leveled a flawless wrister from a bad angle that snuck past a sliding Craig Anderson’s right skate.
It should be noted here that Craig Anderson looks frantic in net.
Craig is still making outstanding 1 on 1 saves, but the Avalanche are not good at clearing traffic in front of the net. Andy has suffered lately as a result, and a lot of goals have resulted from him overreacting in high-traffic situations.
The Neidermeyer goal was a prime example, as Anderson ended up out of position on the far side of the net. Chalk it up to this being Anderson’s first season as a starter.
In fact, the majority of this Avalanche squad looks wracked by nerves as their playoff cushion disappears.
Their 50-shot performance against San Jose still resulted in a loss, and one of the primary reasons was a decided lack of rhythm. The Avalanche skated well & passed well, but as happened during their dominant stretches in this game, they came up short on the timing of would-be goals.
Chalk it up to a team full of rookies & sophomores unable to handle the pressure of the stretch-run to their first (potential) Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Again in the 3rd Period, the Avalanche came out the better team.
The Avs missed at least three open nets before an Offensive Zone pinch led to a 3 on 1 break for the Ducks. Teemu Selanne took advantage for the 601st goal of his NHL career. (Number 600 came last week against this Avalanche team.)
That made the Duck’s lead 4-1
The way the Avalanche were struggling to seal the deal on scoring chances, this one was over 2:34 into the final frame.
Colorado kept pressing defensemen into the Anaheim Zone, and another break with 7:58 left. This time, veteran Avalanche defender Adam Foote got flat beat on a 1 on 1 race to the Avalanche net. Anderson was beaten for the second time this game on a flipping backhand over his right shoulder. Both shots were stoppable, and Craig simply didn’t make the play.
The Avalanche got a token tally at 13:26 when Darcy Tucker slammed home a rebound. Too little too late for Colorado, though, and the final score of 5-2 left Colorado stuck at 89 points and 8th in the West.
The Flames won 2-1 over the Coyotes. That puts the Colorado lead for the last playoff spot at a mere two points.
What it comes down to, is that the Avalanche need somebody, anybody to force this team forward ahead of Calgary’s charge.  Otherwise, it’s going to be a long offseason for the Colorado hockey faithful.
