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The Avalanche were stuck in third gear for the last five weeks before the All Star Break.  Formerly the league’s highest-scoring team, Colorado sleep-walked into the break with a 6-9-2 slump.  Worse, the Avs played most of their games at home over that stretch.

Now Colorado will need to remanufacture their road dominance from 2010 if they hope to make it back to the postseason.  With five home games versus eight road games in both February and March, the Avalanche will need to dig deep to stay afloat in the tight Western Conference playoff race.

For the Avalanche and their prolific offense, it all comes back to defense and goaltending.  Craig Anderson’s stellar play carried the team to the playoffs in ’09.  This year he will have to do it behind an increasingly youthful defensive front.  It’s hard to call out a goalie when the defense is clearly most of the problem, but if the Avalanche are going to make a run it will have to be on the back of #41.

Tuesday, February 1^st @ St Louis Blues (POSTPONED)

The Avalanche have beaten the Blues in six straight contests.  Even when the Avs were at their slumpiest a week ago, they eked out a 4-3 win over St Louis.

Unfortunately, this contest between Colorado and St Louis has been postponed due to dangerously cold weather in the Midwest.  No makeup game has been scheduled, so the Avalanche get some bonus time to practice and prep for the Wild on Thursday night in Colorado.

PREDICTION: Avalanche 3, Blues 2 (Eventually)

Thursday, February 3^rd vs Minnesota Wild (7:00 MST)

The Wild have been sneaking their way up the NW Division ladder for weeks.  Despite a thrashing at the hands of the Avalanche in January, Minnesota is now racing neck-and-neck with Colorado in the standings.

The Wild regularly give the Avalanche offense fits, but have been uncharacteristically inconsistent this season on defense.  Plus, their attack is downright pathetic.  Colorado is no defensive dynamo, but it doesn’t take much more than disciplined play to shut down the Wild.

We’ll take the Avs in a snoozer.

PREDICTION: Avalanche 2, Wild 1

Saturday, February 5^th vs Anaheim Ducks (1:00 MST)

Anaheim goaltender Jonas Hiller is coming off a studly All Star performance in Raleigh.  Now he and a well-rested Ducks squad will welcome the Avalanche to Cali to cap a lax first week out of the break, as Anaheim only plays an in-state contest at San Jose before this Saturday showdown in Denver.

There are a lot of things not to like about this matchup, namely that the Ducks seem to have our number.  While this is the first battle between the two teams this season, last year saw Anaheim trump the Avalanche 3-1 in the season series.  The latter two games saw the Ducks thump Colorado 5-2 twice.

Now, this is the first of four contests this year between the Avs and Ducks, so we could be in for a pleasant surprise.  But the Avalanche are a matchups-based team and some clubs just dominate them.  Anaheim is one of those.

PREDICTION: Avalanche 2, Ducks 4

**BONUS COVERAGE**

Avs at the All Star Game scored twice in the first period despite being selected late in the All Star Fantasy Draft the day before.  Matty Duchene and Team Lidstrom beat out Paul Stastny and Team Staal in a thrilling 11-10 barnburner.

The best part about this new format of captain-selected squads was that every offensive line on both sides of the puck was balanced and effective.  In years past, offensive players have looked largely stilted and uncomfortable in the All Star setting.  This time around, Lidstrom and Staal did a masterful job of crafting their teams line-by-line.

The end result was above-average scoring, gorgeous puck movement from beginning to end, and shockingly effective team defense in the final period as players settled in with their linemates.

Kudos to the NHL for turning a silly exhibition game into a player-driven exhibition of hockey gamesmanship.  Even the goalies played better in this friendly-competitive and vibrant environment reminiscent of neighborhood pick-up hockey.  This puck nut can’t wait for next year to see another thrilling NHL All Star Weekend put on by the players.

Oh, and rookie defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, participating in the skills competitions, showed up his offensive teammates by being the only Avalanche player to score in the Shootout Elimination Challenge that capped a rockin’ All Star Skills Saturday in North Carolina.

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The Avalanche are starting a six-game stretch against the Pacific Division, the last such stretch against a single division this season.  Over the next 6 games, 4 are on the road and 5 are played in 8 days (including two back-to-backs).  If the Avs are to catch the Canucks for the Northwest Division title, they must survive this stretch by getting at least 6 points out of the twelve (and realistically it probably needs to be 8-9 points).  On the other hand, if the Avs stumble here they will put their playoff spot in jeopardy.

Seeding will also be clear after this week, as 3 of the 6 games are against LA (away and home) and Phoenix (away).   If the Avs can only win 3 it’d be nice to win those 3.  The other 3 are San Jose (in San Jose) and Anaheim (away and home).

1^st Period

Right out of the gate the Avs are playing with urgency that the Ducks can’t match.  They have gotten good rushes from the second and top lines (in that order) both with shots.   Neutral zone play has been immaculate.

Peter Mueller on a pressure rides Matt Beleskey into the right side boards with a hand on each elbow.  Holding 2:00 Penalty. It was pretty close, might have been a no-call situation.

Jason Blake on the PP behind the net to the right of Chris Anderson, wins the puck in a board battle with Chris Stewart, and simply skates to the front of the net, backhand, 5-hole. PP Goal Anaheim 1-0 Lubomir Visnovsky and Scott Neidermayer each received an assist but the play was all Blake.

1^st five minutes go to the Duck because of the goal, though the Avalanche were playing better even-strength hockey.   The Avs better take over again quickly, because the Ducks seem to have found their legs.

During a line change by the Avs, the puck got fired into the bench area and hit Marek Svatos. Too Many Men, 2:00 Penalty. Bad Luck

The Avs redeem themselves after the soft defense on the previous PP by forcing everything to the sides or out of the zone.  Kill. The best opportunity on the PP was by the Avs on a breakaway by Cody McLeod.

2^nd Five Minutes, the Avs look in-control again.  The Ducks are attempting some short little chip-ins to knifing skaters when moving into the zone, but they’re being reckless with the passes.  The Avs have been a pass away from a breakaway twice already on the resulting turnovers.

No sooner do I type my last comment than Corey Perry tries the very same chip-dump while working in on the left side, right at Milan Hejduk.  Hejduk can’t handle the puck and it takes an Anaheim bounce to Ryan Getzlaf who moves the puck left to right to Beleskey too fast for Anderson to keep up.  Wrist shot far side, Goal 2-0 Anaheim. Hejduk needs to get that puck under control; this goal might as well have been a defensive zone turnover.

3^rd five minutes go to the Ducks again with the goal.  Every time the Avs look to begin asserting themselves, an offensive player makes a mistake on defense and gives up a goal.  Anaheim seems to be getting a little boost every time a goal is scored, and that holds the Avs down for a few minutes.

Chris Stewart has had enough and throws down against Troy Bodie.  Bodie regrets fighting Stewart almost immediately.  Stewart landed at least 3 good punches and another 4 glancing blows. Bodie landed 1 glancing blow before receiving the volley and falling to the ice.  Maybe this will light a fire under Avs.  Matching 5:00 penalties.

Three minutes to go and Anaheim continues the aggressive rushes they are known for, but they have rotated the free skater back to the blue line.  It would appear that they are content to go to the room with the lead.

After two minutes of watching Anaheim waste time behind Andy while the free skater hung out at the blue line (literally 2 minutes of watching 2 Ducks play keep away from 3, sometimes 4, Avs) Anaheim decide to try for a goal with the Avs in a long shift.  Sheldon Brookbank skates to the slot and fires a one-timer, save.  On the play John Michael Liles hooks Belenskey in the crease try to stop a rebound.  Hooking 2:00 Penalty.

While I like Liles’ effort at the end of a long shift, there were at least 4 times during the shift when a Duck with the puck sat behind the net unapproached while the Avs just let the clock run.  If the Ducks were crashing the net it would be one thing, but the Ducks had shown commitment to leaving 3 skaters at the blue line to keep the score into intermission.  This penalty could have been avoided by knowing the situation and forcing a decision.

Final 5 minutes really belong to no one since neither team really tried to score for much of it, but it belongs much less to the Avs since Anaheim had a legitimate reason not to try to score.  The cautious defense in the face of cautious offense the Avs played during the final three minutes was disgraceful.

End Period.  Anaheim 2-0

I’ve sat and thought for a moment before typing this, but I think I understand the Avs’ reasons for playing so cautiously in the closing minutes.  When they were skating hard and pressing Anaheim at every chance, they have given up two goal and two penalties.  It’d be easy to think what you were doing wasn’t working.

But it was working… the goals were defensive mistakes by offensive players; one penalty was bad luck and the other was a borderline penalty call.

The answer, in my humble opinion, is to get back to pressing Anaheim.

2^nd Period.

Immediate out of the intermission, Ducks still on the PP, a defensive-zone turnover on an attempt clear gets Perry the puck in the slot. Andy goes down to the ice and makes a great save on Perry moving left to right.  The puck kicks out the Neidermayer  who passes down to Teemu Selanne on the left side of the net PP Goal Anaheim 3-0 Selanne 600^th goal of his career.

It would come against the Avs…

It’s back and forth after the 3^rd goal, though the Ducks have gone to total defense.  A little early to be playing nothing but defense, but I guess you can do that when you’ve got Jonas Hiller in net.

1^st Five minutes saw the Ducks get their goal, and then decide the game is over.  I’d like to say the Avs were dominating the play because more than two-thirds of the game is now being played in Anaheim’s zone, but the Ducks are just trying to win with the score they’ve got.  The game has now become this: can the Avalanche score on Anaheim when they are playing entirely defensively.

McLeod after a faceoff in front of Colorado’s bench drops gloves with Brookbank.  They fight to a standstill as neither can land any good shots.  Fun fact to know and tell:  The Avs are 10-1-1 when they have two fights in the same game.  They’ll need every ounce of good karma they can get to climb back into this one.

On a dump and chase Steve Eminger checks T. J. Galiardi driving toward the puck down the left side.  Interference 2:00 Penalty. Eminger got beat and tried to get back in with some physical play, just too physical.

Hiller is still a problem.  The Avs’ PP looked great as they got 4 good scoring chances and kept the puck in the zone for almost 1:45 of the PP all together, but the one thing they couldn’t do was solve Hiller who made 4 nice saves on those chances.

2^nd five minutes, once again the Avs are dominating control of the puck, but only because Anaheim doesn’t care.   They are fine with winning a boring 3-0 game.

The game is getting a little bit chippy. Kyle Quincey pushes Sakku Koivu on a faceoff and Koivu trying to get back puts his stick into Quinceys face.  High-Sticking 2:00 Penalty. Can’t say the Avs aren’t getting opportunities.

Playing the right side point on the PP Stewart can’t handle a puck coming toward the line, and afterwards can’t handle the puck in the Neutral Zone.  Bodie steals the puck and drives to Anderson’s left, wrist shot glove side, SH Goal Anaheim 4-0. Anderson’s gone.  No reason to leave him in anymore.

Hiller is standing on his head, chalk up two more great saves.  Kill. Anaheim is crushing us with their defensive play.

3^rd five minutes saw Anaheim get a SH Goal, a P-Kill, and send Andy to the locker room.   Now I would agree with switching to a defensive game plan.

Galiardi does it again. Moving across the blue line on a rush down the right side he beats Getzlaf and draws a trip.  Tripping 2:00 minutes penalty. Nice to see him playing well, but the hole is probably a little too deep at this point.

Final 5 minutes is much the same as the rest of the period; the Avs trying franticly to get anything going, the Ducks keeping the game well in hand with boring safe play.  I think we might even see the trap defense rear its head in the first five minutes of the final period.

End Period Anaheim 4-0

All things considered, this might be a period to just try some things to see what works on this defense since you have to play them again in a week.  A 4-goal period on Hiller is a tall order.  Better to let this one go and make sure to get both points in the next one.

The Avs did bump the energy up a notch, but it looks like just one of those nights.  At least they tried the right thing rather than letting Anaheim coast away with it. (Better that the Ducks run away with it than coast away.)

3^rd Period.

The Avs open the period on the PP and have massive problems getting it set up. Anaheim easily kills the Penalty. Kill.

On the first rush after the PP, Darcy Tucker and Stewart run a give and give crossing the blue line, Stewart sets Tucker up nicely in the slot, Slapshot, Goal Avalanche, 4-1 It was important to get a least one in the period, to get a little confidence against a team you have to play again in a week.

Anaheim is playing angry after the goal. They are suddenly not content to win a three goal game.  This could help the Avs as they may see some more open ice.

1^st five minutes goes to the Avs with the shutout-ending goal.  The Ducks are skating hard again, but you get the sense it’s in desperation rather than aggression.  I have no idea why.

TJ Galiardi is having great game.  He beats another Duck on a rush down the left side and skates the puck around the net, passes to Ruslan Salei who fires in from a bad angle but the puck dribbles in.  Goal Avalanche, 4-2. Absolutely one Hiller needs to save.  The Avs got lucky, but then again you can’t win a thing without luck.

The Ducks are absolutely playing to get the big lead back.  It’s debatable whether they should, as they were doing  much better with cautious play.  They did get a chance to widen the lead again.  Getzlaf on the backend of a rush gets the puck all alone in the slot in front of a prone Peter Budaj and lifts the puck too high.

Salei gets whistled for tripping Selanne.   I didn’t see a trip, I saw a high stick.  I’m not gonna complain, it’s the same result.  Tripping 2:00 Penalty.

First pressure of the PP, Perry at the left side blue line, to Selanne at the left side base line, to Getzlaf on the far side of Budaj.  PP Goal Anaheim, 5-2. Pretty play.

2^nd five minutes, Avs got a goal to put some fear into the Ducks and then the Ducks got a crusher.  Since the Goal, Colorado is reeling and Anaheim smells blood.   It looks like they want to beat Colorado into the ground.

Avalanche get whistled for their 6^th penalty not counting the 2 Fighting Majors.   Matt Duchene loses a board battle with Visnofsky, and just barely grabs his sleeve with the stick as he skates a way.  Hooking 2:00 Penalty. A little ticky-tacky but still no reason to go lift up your stick if you’re Duchene.

The Avs put together a nice little P-Kill. Kill, but too little too late.

3^rd Five minutes, Anaheim has calmed back down, but the Avs have too.  Both teams know how this game will end.

Final five minutes comes and goes without incident.

End Game: Anaheim 5-2

The Avalanche gave Anaheim 3 extra PP’s and the Ducks put in 3 PP goals that turned out to be the difference in the game.   Adding further injury was the Avs PP scored negatively on three chances with the shorthanded score by the Ducks.  Not the best way to start out the final really tough stretch of the season.  When they play again in a week I suspect Sacco with have pounded the PP stats into their head and they will be much more in control of themselves on the ice.

Tomorrow the Avalanche get to play in LA and then welcome the Kings to Colorado on Wednesday.  Given the result tonight, in order keep their place in the playoffs secure, the Avs need at least 3 of those 4 points.  The good news is, if they pull that off they’ll also be moving up in the seeding.

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The Men’s Olympic Hockey tournament has boiled down to four teams, and the United States is the top dog.  The #1 seeded USA Team will take on Team Finland in the Semifinals 6.5 hours before Team Canada (most likely) dismantles a low-voltage Team Slovakia on the other side of the bracket.

Team USA vs Team Finland: Friday, February 26^th, 12:00 pm PST

Team Canada vs Team Slovakia: Friday, February 26^th, 6:30 pm PST

Team USA is both the only team that has gone undefeated and the youngest team in the tournament.  They represent a sea change in US Olympic hockey, and to say that these young Americans have exceeded expectations would be a gross understatement.

With an average age of 26.5, Team USA has outworked, outskated & outscored their opponents in the regimented tradition of old Northeastern United States hockey.  They have taken full advantage of the NHL ice in use for the 2010 Olympics by bringing the game to the corners & boards and then just winning battles for the puck.

Meanwhile, the next batter to step up to the rampaging Americans is undoubtedly the old man on the block.  Team Finland is returning 15 players from their silver medal winning 2006 squad.  Not coincidentally, 15 of Finland’s 23 players were born in the 1970’s, and the average age of the roster is 30.7 years old.  They are the oldest team in the tournament, and they execute a smart, veteran game plan.

Unfortunately for the Finns, the Americans have some wicked speed to go with a stellar team passing ethos.  Unless Teemu Selanne can muster his (much) younger self and shake off five years of injuries for a night, Finland is in for a long, low-scoring evening.

The USA will continue to play the disciplined team defense that Coach Ron Wilson instilled as responsibility #1, and US Goalie Ryan Miller just bested the hottest ‘tender at the tourney in Switzerland’s Jonas Hiller.  The United State’s greatest asset is their common understanding of a basic but effective system of defending their zone and fore-checking into the opponent’s zone.

From there, the name of the game is control and constant movement of both the puck and attacking forwards.  The team’s best offensive element is its tenacity and they know it.

While Finland’s experience on the International Stage gives them a considerable advantage, I believe that the US Men are playing well beyond their years.  Part of that equation has certainly been Wilson.  Just as important was the strength of character that General Manager Brian Burke favored over raw skill in his selection of the team’s core players.

That’s why the Americans blocked almost 30 shots off Swiss sticks on Wednesday.

And that’s why, no matter how well Finland brings their game to the Americans this Friday afternoon, Team USA will throw themselves bodily at the task at hand; a rematch with Team Canada for the Gold Medal.

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