Your classic case of to little too late, the avs were outplayed through 2 and couldn't quite muster a comeback late in the 3rd as Miikka Kiprusoff made some stellar saves before Calgary iced it with an empty net goal. Through the first period, the score was tied 1-1 but the avs were badly outshot 21-5. The second saw a little push back, but sloppy play defensively led to 2 goals right in close in which defence were out of place, including a terrible miss of the clear by Erik Johnson to the 2nd flames goal that really was the game changer. Simply put only the O'Reilly/Winnik/Landeskog (OWL) line was good tonight, as Sacco continuously changed the other lines to find chemistry. Right now Matt Duchene just can't buy a goal, he made a few beauty moves and rang one off the cross-bar, but just can't find the back of the net. I thought he was better tonight, but he is really lacking a scoring winger and that is Peter Mueller. While Mueller had no points before he got hurt, he really made Duchene better by having someone to cycle with, and I think that playing Duchene with Kobasew and Lindstrom just doesn't give him that option. If Mueller is going to be out a while, the avs seriously need to look into adding another left winger to play on his line. I think that the OWL line and Stastny/Jones/Hejduk line are effective and Duchene and Lindstrom are missing a 3rd person. Not the best game from the defence or from goalie Giguere tonight, as I felt all the goals (minus the empty netter) were soft, defensive breakdowns. While the season is still early, and at 6-3 they definitely don't need to panic after a loss like this, I feel that they really need to look at obtaining a top-6 winger if Mueller won't be healthy
Avalanche Three Stars:
3. Ryan Wilson - Scored his first goal of the season tonight, I really feel Wilson is coming into his own this season. Not only production wise (1g, 4 assist), but he is crushing people with his bodychecks and really implementing a tough attitude that the avs need out of their defence
2. Erik Johnson - Despite a horrible play on the Stempniak goal, Johnson played a very solid game tonight picking up an assist and firing the puck on net for the Wilson goal. Johnson is really logging serious minutes (23 tonight) and becoming the leader on the back-end
1. Gabriel Landeskog - Prior to the game Greg Sherman made it obvious Landeskog isn't going anywhere, and he continues to play great hockey. He picked up an assist on the Wilson goal, fired 7 shots at Kiprusoff, and continued to just play an overall effect style of hockey. It is evident how much Sacco trusts Landeskog already, and he just simply excels with his linemates at the moment which is hard for a young kid 9 games into his career.
Misplay of the Game: Easy choice for me, Johnson missing the clearing attempt leading to the Stempniak goal which really gave Calgary momentum in the 2nd
Game #10 - The avs look to rebound from this loss with another divisional matchup, heading home to meet Edmonton Oilers Friday night (@9pm). Unless Nugent-Hopkins gets sent down after tomorrow's 9th game for the Oilers, this will be the first matchup of the #1 and #2 picks in Nugent-Hopkins and Landeskog, a game featuring some of the games' youngest talent, should be a great one.
-Joel Forman - Colorado Avalanche News
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