While the scoreboard reads in favour of the wings, the avs certainly should not be disappointed after last night's opening game. While the avs took several bad penalties, their penalty kill was rather solid (a place where the avs suffered last season). The game was decided by 2 beautiful goals, by Franzen and Zetterberg, 2 goals that most goalies in the NHL would have a problem stopping. Aside from the fact that the avs lost, I thought that Semyon Varlamov looked extremely sharp in his avs debut, stopping 36 of 38 shots. Matt Duchene had a very strong game, the center looks so dominant in the faceoff circle going 10-14 (the avs struggled last year on the draw, and they were great last night winning 62% - 34 of 55 draws). To go along with that, the first line of him, Mueller and Hejduk played a very solid game on the cycle and just came short of scoring several times. Erik Johnson also looked very strong out there, showing signs of why he was the first overall pick. Johnson was very commanding with the puck, looked strong on the pp, but most importantly just calmed and slowed down the play when the avs needed him most. While the line of Stastny-Jones-Kobasew was alright, I felt that the 3rd line was the avs best line. Gabriel Landeskog looked very strong in his nhl debut, throwing 5 shots at net and a few hits, he looked good with Ryan O'Reilly and Daniel Winnik. O'Reilly really is a spectacular player, one that goes unnoticed but does all the little things right, and that's why I feel Landeskog fits well on his line because they both are 200-foot players. While at times Landeskog looked a bit shaky, he was definitely one of the better players on the ice. Other new acquisitions include Jan Hejda, Shane O'Brien and Chuck Kobasew. I thought that O'Brien played a very solid game on defence, he was jumping into the play and playing tough in front of Varlamov. Hejda had a good game, he just made a terrible play on the 2nd wings goal trying to keep it in and not retrieving the puck. Kobasew had some jump on the 2nd line, and looks to make a solid addition to the avs forwards. Overall, I felt that the avs looked very good despite a 3-0 loss, and I feel they can build off of this.
Avalanche Three Stars:
3. Matt Duchene - Forward looks very comfortable at the center position, winning most of his draws and just a force on the puck all night long.
2. Gabriel Landeskog - Forward played his first nhl game, and despite not scoring he looked very solid on both ends of the ice
1. Semyon Varlamov - I thought that Varlamov was the best player on the ice all night long, making save after save and keeping the avs in the game. I believe in Semyon, and he could have a very good year.
Misplay of the game - Jan Hedja's pinch and turnover for the wings 2nd goal, really the turning point in the game.
Game #2 - Avalanche meet the defending Cup Champ Bruins in Boston on monday
-Joel Forman - Colorado Avalanche News
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