Colorado Avalanche News - Joel Forman: Game #8

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Game #8 - Colorado 3, Edmonton 1

Let me just start off by saying that I have lost all respect for Nail Yakupov; I thought the celebration vs. LA was a bit over the edge and then he does it again in Phoenix and pissed of Morris. But what he did at the end of this game was just ridiculous; as Duchene fired it into the empty net at the buzzer he went after him and tried to throw some punches, immediately Cody McLeod stepped in to put him in his place (lucky his teammates were there or Cody would have killed him). Duchene did nothing wrong firing that puck, and the fact that Yakupov has the nerve to do that is beyond ridiculous. He is a rookie, and yes he may be talented, but he has NO respect for fellow players and you can see it. He is going to get put in his place very soon, because he can't keep playing with this attitude that he can do what he wants. Now on to the game (sorry about the rant just hate Nail). Here is video evidence of the Yakupov play (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV7t2Cofjq0)

The Avs played fantastic in this game, in particular the 2nd and 3rd periods. They started slow and let a goal 1 minute in, as the above mentioned Yakupov scored off a Hemsky pass to put the Oilers up 1-0. However the Avs outshot the Oilers 13-7, and they just couldn't solve Dubnyk. Things changed in the 2nd, as the Avs pushed back and really controlled the pace of the game. They tied the game 12 minutes in, as PA Parenteau continued his strong play of late tipping in the Ryan Wilson point shot for his 6th of the season (Wilson left with a leg injury and didn't return). A few minutes later the Avs got the puck out after killing a penalty and Duchene stole the puck from Hemsky and muscled him off, feeding McGinn through Ryan Whitney's legs and behind Dubnyk to give the Avs their first lead of the game. The Avs headed into the 3rd outshooting the Oilers 26-18, and they really played a great 2nd period. In the 3rd the Avs continued to play well, physically outmatching the Oilers (Duchene had a few big hits on Nuge/Hall). The Duchene line was matched up against the Oilers top line the majority of the 3rd period, and they completely shut them down. Both teams had PP chances in the 3rd, but neither team could score. The Oilers went on the PP and pulled their goalie with 2 minutes remaining, and they had a 6-on-4 advantage; the Avs combination of Duchene-Mitchell Zanon-O'Byrne killed the penalty off, and Mitchell found a streaking Stasnty out of the box who iced the game into the empty net. Just a great game for the Avs, in particular the Duchene-Parenteau-McGinn line was great at both ends. Semyon Varlamov was rock-solid in net, as he let in the 1st shot he faced but made 25-straight saves to lead the way. The stats were as follows: Avs outshot the Oilers 40-26, hits were 25-16 for the Avs, Avs won 31-54 faceoffs, and the Avs blocked 15 shots to the Oilers 17. The Avs special teams were better today, as the PK was great for its 3rd straight game going 3/3 tonight including the 6-on-4 at the end (PK now 10/11 last 3 games after allowing 7 PP goals the 2 games before that).

Three Stars:
3. Jamie McGinn - McGinn finally got his 1st goal of the season, and it was a big one for the Avs as it was the GWG. McGinn had a strong game in Landeskog's spot on the top line, and he was very physical tonight. He had a goal and an assist with 5 shots in 21:33 of ice time
2. Semyon Varlamov - Varlamov was rock-solid today, especially in the 3rd period when the game was on the line. Besides the 1st goal, which wasn't his fault, Varlamov was very steady and has been excellent so far this season. He made 25 saves on 26 shots, and was big in getting the Avs back to .500
1. Matt Duchene - He was the best player on the ice tonight, for either teams, Duchene has really lead this team in Landeskog's absence (lead the team in icetime tonight with 25:07). The line of McGinn-Duchene-Parenteau was the best line on the ice, creating 2 of the Avs goals and they were very big in stopping the line of Eberle-Hall-Nugent-Hopkins all game. Duchene had a great game on both ends of the ice, his best shift was killing the 6-on-4 at the end leading to the Avs emtpy-net goal. Duchene also had 2 big hits on Hall and Nugent-Hopkings, and he won 16 of 24 faceoffs for his most ever won in a game. On a side-note he did nothing wrong on the last play, Yakupov was completely out of his element

Avalanche Play of the Game - Jamie McGinn's goal gets it tonight, not only was it a great play by Duchene to muscle off Hemsky and make a perfect pass, McGinn has had so many chances all season and finally got his 1st of the season

Avalanche Misplay of the Game - One of new bad plays by the Avs tonight, Greg Zanon gets it for standing still leading to the Oilers only goal. He is so slow and terrible 5-on-5 but he made some key blocks on the PK. The other misplay of the game was Yakupov at the end, he had no right to do that and I hope his coach gives him shit for it or some other player in the NHL will

Game #9 - The Avs look for their 3rd straight win as they play game #2 of their 4-game homestand vs. the Dallas Stars on Monday (@9pm)