Peter Budaj is The Man for now, but can anybody make stops behind the lame Avalanche D?
- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Colorado had an outstanding Week Three, scoring 14 goals over three games. The Avalanche stole a point in an OT loss at Vancouver before blazing through Calgary and dominating Columbus at home.
Unfortunately, goalie Craig Anderson was lost to injury for an undetermined period of time last week. The injury was sustained during warm-ups in Vancouver, and was the product of a non-contact leg extension. In his stead Peter Budaj has held up okay, but both goaltenders play behind one of the worst defenses in the league.
Thursday, November 4th vs Vancouver Canucks (7:00 MST)
The Avalanche were the better team in Vancouver, but could not hammer home the win. Their outstanding offensive play against a Cup contender in the Canucks has me believing that Colorado can beat any team on any given night.
The Avalanche are rested and they play tough in division contests, so I’ll recycle my prediction from last week’s OT loss. This time the ‘Lanche get the extra-time goal.
PREDICTION: Avalanche 4, Canucks 3 SO
Saturday, November 6th vs Dallas Stars (7:00 MST)
The Stars are playing outstanding, attack-oriented hockey right now. They just thumped the Penguins and will play the Coyotes before coming to Denver on short rest.
Colorado & Dallas are similarly defensively challenged and are starting average goaltenders in front of a porous defensive front. That sounds like a recipe for another Avalanche barn-burner, and likely a win given the Avs’ ample rest this week.
PREDICTION: Avalanche 6, Stars 4
**BONUS COVERAGE**
Defense, defense, defense.
Surely this is the message head coach Joe Sacco has been hammering home all week.
The Avalanche had a curious 5-day break between home games that started last Saturday, so there will be no excuse for the Colorado D to be anything less than crisp tonight. Personnel is a part of the issue – the Avalanche have a lot of young defenders – but this offense-or-bust mentality is also a part of the reason the Avs give up so many goals.
Sacco rarely has the luxury of an early lead, so it is difficult to do anything but send his team full-throttle to the net. Still, a focus on defense must be developed for this team to succeed in a stacked Western Conference.  With Andy out for who-knows-how-long, now is the time to get these young defenders and forwards to buckle down and learn to play responsible team defense at an NHL level.
