Injuries and inconsistency aside, the Avalanche are lucky to be 8-7-1 in a Western Conference that features only two clubs with losing records.
It’s de ja vu all over again for the Avalanche who returned from a successful road trip against tought teams for a lackluster homestand against… well, tough teams.
Colorado’s three victories have all come by a single goal, one of those in Overtime and another in a Shootout. The third saw Craig Anderson stop 41 shots on the way to a tough 3-2 victory in New Jersey.
After a rousing Overtime defeat of the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks in their Home Opener, the Avalanche hit the road… and hard.
The Avalanche continued a budding rivalry from last year with a fast, tight thriller versus the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks.
This series really could go either way but I’m leaning toward San Jose around 66%. I think the Avalanche win this series 1 in 3 times. Finding a way to get the offense and the defense going at the same time seems to be the largest obstacle for Colorado right now.
For the Avalanche faithful who watched Andy carry this team from the season’s opener versus these Sharks at Pepsi Center (a 5-2 win) all the way to a playoff birth, through two epic games in San Jose, and back to Pepsi Center for a crucial Game 3 win, Craig Anderson has come full circle.
This one is a game to think about and then forget. Every time the Avs had a chance to put the game out of reach they made a mental mistake and let the Sharks back in. More important is the way the Sharks won… the constant comebacks will give them confidence in future games. I think that the Avs just lost this series. It will take a perfect game or a crushing comeback to save the Avs at this point.
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.
The Avalanche blocked shots, scrapped mightily for pucks, matched the physical Sharks hit-for-hit all game long, and rolled their 3rd & 4th lines with the same regularity as their 1st & 2nd lines, especially in the first half of the game. Only 4 of 18 Colorado players failed to log a shot through this total team effort.
