I digress, but it still makes me happy to see the Stars lose. Both teams came out very physical but the Avs appeared to be in top form, at least compared to the Stars. Our strategy appeared to be, as it has for a long time now, to run the dump and chase all over the ice. This doesn't work well, and hasn't for years. I'm a firm believer that the damn dump and chase is dead in the NHL. The Avalanche did manage to cycle the puck well and the top two lines - Smyth, Hejduk, Wolski, and Svatos, Arnason, McLeod - seemed to perform well. Lappy came out hitting and doing his usual troublemaker antics, which I think works for the team, and Salei had a crushing hip check in the second period. But Dalls notched the first tally of the evening with the first period dwindling into mere seconds on the clock. Ott redirected the perfect shot, slinging the puck right up into the far corner and around inside the net. This came on what appeared to be a defensive breakdown on Salei's part right on the edge of the crease. Needless to say the first period ended on a bit of a sore note.
Continue reading "Avalanche Recap - 3 Games, 2 Wins, 1 Loss"
