The avs finally got the home performance they've been seeking this whole season, playing a very good complete team game en route to a 3-0 shutout of the visiting Dallas Stars. After a 13-goal game last matchup with the Stars, the avs were much (much) better defensively tonight and really played well in front of J.S Giguere. The past two games, the team has played much better in front of Jiggy and it's certainly going to create some goalie controversy after two straight brilliant games from him, with Varly struggling the way he has recently. With that being said, the avs started their 8-game homestand with a high note and really outplayed the Stars in every aspect of the game outshooting them 44 to 24 while winning 34 of 55 faceoffs. Giguere had 24 saves for his first shutout as an av, and the team also solved its recent PP issues scoring 2 goals on 5 chances. Tonight was the first time the OWL (O'Reilly, Winnik, Landeskog) line was broken up and it really benefitted the young Landeskog to play with Dutchy and Hejduk. On the first line, he was active and involved, as the line poured on 14 shots together (Landeskog 6) and really showed skill at both ends of the ice. This left David Jones to replace Landeskog on that line, and they played a solid game as well. The other two lines were Stastny-Porter-Yip, I felt that Brandon Yip has been playing well in only his 2nd game since returning from his preseason injury, and Kobasew-McClement-Galiardi which scored the first (and game winning) goal off a Kobasew deflection. On D, I felt that both the Wilson-Johnson and O'Brien-Quincey pairings were good, once again O'Brien was the best one out there. His solid play has seen his icetime increase (20 and a half minutes tonight) as well as time on the 2nd avs PP unit where he picked up an assist. The goals tonight were scored by Kobasew (deflection), Stastny (PP-rebound) and Duchene (PP-empty net). Overall, it was nice to see this team play solid at home, and in general get a win that has been rare this month. I'm not planning the parade, but it was certainly a great showing from a team that needed a W.
Avalanche Three Stars:
3. Gabriel Landeskog - The young forward finally got his shot with the big boys, and certainly didn't let his coach down. He fired 6 shots on goal, 2 hits and had an assist on the Stastny goal after firing the puck on net. I thought he played exceptional tonight, despite not being with his normal linemates
2. Paul Stastny - Despite being moved off the first line, Stastny had a very solid game and seemed to jump-start both Brandon Yip and Kevin Porter's games. He picked up a PP goal, his 6th of the season
1. J.S Giguere - He watched his team heavily out shoot the opponent again, but was equally effective (if not better) then he was last night in Minnesota. He stopped all 24 shots for his first shutout of the season and first in an avs uniform
Play of the Game: After playing poorly and being benched recently, Chuck Kobasew responded tonight with a beautiful deflection goal. Kobasew gets it tonight, but Giguere a close-second for his overall play in a 3-0 shutout.
Game #21 - The avs look to continue their 8-game home-stand strong, as the Sharks are in town Sunday night (@8pm).
-Joel Forman - Colorado Avalanche News
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