The baby Avalanche grew playoff brass in San Jose, taking the big boys to task and stealing home ice from the playoff-challenged Sharks. Now the series heads back to Pepsi Center. The house that Joe built. The land of Roy. Peter’s playground. The Can has a history that San Jose can only dream of… Championship history.
Peter Mueller, who suffered a concussion in the final regular season meeting between the Avs and the Sharks, will miss the first 2 games of their first round Stanley Cup playoff series.
The Vancouver Canucks matched the Colorado Avalanche goal-for-goal through three periods of hockey Tuesday night. But it was the Avalanche fighting for their playoff lives, and Colorado brought the fight to the Canucks’ doorstep early and often.
There are some players who are elites and some player who are merely good. The difference between them is when the season comes to its end, the good player maintain while the elites raise their game. I’ve yet to see Anderson raise his game.
I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on the Avs’ failure to keep the pressure on early in the second period. Vancouver gave the Avalanche every opportunity to put the game away and the Avs, rather than failing to capitalize, passed on more than one chance to rush Luongo and put the Canucks in a deeper hole.
Despite an early-season demotion to Lake Erie (AHL) and a shoulder injury at Dallas, the Avalanche expect great things from young Master Stoa in coming seasons.
It may have surprised Avalanche fans when 18-year-old Ryan O’Reilly started his rookie season in the NHL, but Ryan has an impressive resume to back up Coach Joe Sacco’s decision. In fact, Ryan O’Reilly has been on the fast-track to the NHL for years.
It isn’t often that a draft pick ends up exactly where he wants to be, but that’s what happened for Avalanche forward Matt Duchene.
Wojtek Wolski broke out of his slump, Craig Anderson shut out the Oilers for the third time this season, and the Colorado Avalanche got a much-needed win Saturday night.
The Predators are going to be hungry and on home ice in this matchup, and the Avalanche will have to work very hard for any in-goal real estate.
