Colorado Avalanche News - Joel Forman: Game #15

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Game #15 - Colorado 1, St. Louis 0 (OT)

Avs players celebrate with David Jones after his OT goal sends the Avs to a 1-0 win

Avs goalie Semyon Varlamov makes a glove save; Varly was perfect making 33 saves for his 2nd shutout of the season

NBC featured tonight as rivalry night (with back-to-back games), as the Penguins and Flyers squared off at 7 in a crazy 11-goal game that saw the Flyers win it 6-5. The second game was the Blues and Avs, and this was about the exact opposite game with two goaltenders playing phenomenal and not allowing any goals. It was Semyon Varlamv vs. Jaroslav Halak, as both teams tried all night to score but couldn't beat each team's goalie. However, the Blues were the better team in the first 2 periods as they outshot the Avs 9-2 in the 1st and 15-8 in the 2nd, and if it weren't for Varlamov this game could have easily been 2 or 3-0 for the Blues. The Avs picked up their game in the 3rd, really pushing back and creating several good chances, however they couldn't beat Jaroslav Halak as well. The highlight of the period was Marc Olver's hit on rookie phenom Vladimir Tarasenko, as he leveled the young Russian with a clean hit and Tarasenko would leave them game and not return (here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlK0ImxJj3E). The 3rd period ended with some frantic moments as each team had late chances, including David Backes shooting it just wide with under 10 seconds left. In overtime the teams traded chances, but it seemed the Avs were the hungrier team as their D were very active in the play (in particular Hunwick and Barrie). With under a minute remaining Matt Hunwick collected the puck, chipped it by former Av Chris Stewart (who was all over the place tonight) and rushed it down the ice. He dropped for David Jones, who fired a high shot past Halak for the OT winner and big 2 points for the Avs. Jones was in Sacco's doghouse the last few games with his lackluster play, but he had some jump tonight and ended it with a clutch OT goal. I thought that despite the lack of offence the Avs played very solid defensively, especially after Patrick Berglund ran into Varlamov late in the 3rd the Avs D really looked angry and fired up from that point on. The game was not all positive, as the Avs lost veteran Milan Hejduk to a torso injury and he didn't return. Former Avs Kevin Shattenkirk and Chris Stewart both had big impacts in this game, in particular Stewy who was all over the net and had several chances to score. I thought that the pairing of Barrie and Hejda was great tonight, as well as Matt Hunwick was skating really well (in particular in OT). Seymon Varlamov was simply fantastic, making 33 saves for his 2nd shutout of the season and really stealing a big 2 points for the Avs. The stats were as follows: 33-20 shots for the Blues, Blues won 30 of 57 faceoffs, Avs outhit them 20-17 and had 22 blocked shots to the Blues 17 (the beard of Zanon with 6 big ones). Matt Duchene's 4 game goal and point streak were snapped tonight, but I thought he was great defensively playing 23:25 minutes of icetime (2nd behind Hunwick). Overall not the prettiest game, but a very important 2 points for an Avs team expecting the return of Captain Gabriel Landeskog very shortly.

Three Stars:
3. Matt Hunwick - Hunwick seems to be a very hot/cold player for the Avs, tonight he made a few bad turnovers but was the Avs best D in the 3rd and in OT. Hunwick's great breakout speed set up the OT goal, and he logged a team high 24:18 of icetime for the Avs
2. Jaroslav Halak - Although Halak was not tested that much through 40 minutes, the Avs really picked up the pace in the 3rd and Halak made several good saves including one on Duchene and 3 on Parenteau. Halak made 19 saves on 20 shots, letting in only the Jones OT goal
1. Semyon Varlamov - He was outstanding tonight, making 33-saves for his 2nd shutout of the season and really was the main reason the Avs won this game. Varly weathered the storm in the first two periods, as the Avs played poorly but he kept them in it. He was the best player on the ice for either team, and made some very crucial saves down the stretch to secure the 2 points

Avalanche Play of the Game - The Jones OT goal gets it, the only goal in this game was a huge one. As Matt Hunwick went end to end he made a nifty drop pass for Jones who beat Halak high glove, sending the Avs to a 1-0 victory. Olver's hit on Tarasenko is a close 2nd, just a great, clean hit by Olver

Avalanche Misplay of the Game - A sequence in the 2nd period featured Hunwick and Barrie with some awful passing back-and-forth, luckily nothing came from it, but that combined with several bad passes by Greg Zanon gets it tonight

Game #16 - The Avs head on a 3-game road trip at .500, and with the knowledge that Captain Gabriel Landeskog is very close to returning. It starts with a day game on Saturday in Los Angeles vs. the streaking Kings (@4pm)