Well, here we are again, another confusing week of hockey behind us. To be honest I don’t know where to start. The week started with the fifth win in five games and ended in one of the most disappointing results of the season. While the record for the week wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t the most worrying part.
The week started with news that Nazem Kadri would be out “weeks, not days”, according to Bednar, and ended with Grubauer going down in the absolute shit show that was the Stadium Series game at Air Force. Before I get into the injuries and the week as a whole, the game at Air Force needs to be addressed. By all accounts, it was a complete and udder calamity, from people waiting 3+ hours to get in and out of the stadium, to the mile-long lines to get into anything (even restrooms), and unfortunately ended with a spectator losing their life. First off condolences to the family and friends of the man who lost his life when he reportedly fell off a bridge. This whole fiasco is a black eye not only for the league, but for the university, and the Avalanche organization. From what I understand there was a belief around the campus that this event would never run smoothly. The campus and stadium simply were not prepared to handle the number of people that attended the game. The lack of foresight by all involved is pretty glaring, and should absolutely not be happening with the amount of money that was thrown around to put the event on. Hopefully moving forward all parties involved will consider all the variables before putting on an event of this magnitude.
Now let’s get back to the actual hockey talk. It’s hard for me not to start with the injury to Naz, and how I partly blame myself. I waxed poetic about Kadri and his linemates on last week’s blog, and for good reason. They had just played as good of a week of hockey as a line possibly could and then this happens. I should have known better with my streak of mushing good things while they happen to keep my mouth shut. But I didn’t, and now this team has to deal with yet another potentially long term injury to a top-six player. That injury alone is enough to drive a mental midget like me to hysterics, and then Grubauer goes down. I’ll be honest that fact I haven’t gone nuclear yet is some sort of minor miracle. Grubi was playing by far and away his best hockey since the end of last season, and then he gets caught awkwardly by Ian Cole. As of Monday night, no update has been given on when to expect Grubauer back. There was one more casualty from the Stadium Series in Matt Calvert, who has an oblique strain and will miss a couple weeks according to NHL.com.
This past week’s games are really not worth looking at individually because many of the problems from the Caps and Kings game are very similar. In both games, the Avs played the first period at their pace, which is just really fucking fast, and then let their opponents dictate the pace for the last two periods. On top of that, the Avs got sloppy as shit. In the Caps game alone the Avs took five penalties, and I believe three of those were high sticks. Taking stupid penalties against any team is gonna kill you, but especially against a team like the Caps. They used two of those five power-play opportunities to complete the comeback. Penalties were not the issue in the Kings game, but sloppy play certainly was, especially in the dying moments of the game. Tyler Toffoli scored in the closing minute of the third period, and the Avs just never really put the pedal down for long enough to get the equalizer. The last five minutes were honestly brutal to watch. They struggled to get solid zone time and struggled to get out of their own zone. In both games, the bottom six forward group left A LOT to be desired. They did nothing to contribute offensively, but even worse was the inability to defend competently. It will be very interesting to see with the trade deadline fast approaching if Sakic makes an effort to add forward depth after this week.
While the week ended very poorly it started with a clinical win against the lowly Sens. The game was highlighted by a goal from Mikko, and shutout for Grubauer. Mikko’s goal was one of the filthiest backhands I’ve seen not taken by a guy named Crosby, and the move on the blue line might have been even better. If you haven’t seen it yet I can not recommend it enough, come to think of it watching that highlight might the thing keeping from losing my mind right now. As far as Grubauers shutout, he had to do a bit more work than he did in his last shutout against San Jose. He made a handful of grade-A saves, but the D did well to limit opportunities most of the night. To be honest there’s not much else to talk about in that game other than how absurdly talented Thomas Chabot of the Sens is. It felt like he was on the ice for no less than 45 minutes that night, and he never seemed out of breath. The Senators are a pretty terrible team, but he and Brady Tkachuk are almost worth the price of admission alone. If they can ever get that piece of shit owner Eugene Melnyk to sell that team they could have a very bright future.
With how brutal the end of that week was the Avs have an opportunity to put on a bounce-back performance of note against Tampa Bay. But until I see the final score of that game the snow kinda sucks. Not like no snow bad, but kind of like a really cold spring day when you have to ski on the most brutal rutted ice, but you know the next day could be one for the books. See you, beautiful people, next week.
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The Snow Report 