Tonight Alex Ovechkin and co. come into Pepsi Center for a tilt with the Avs. Starting goalie for the Caps will be former sieve...I mean goalie Jose Theodore. It will be Jose's 1st trip back to Denver since leaving the Avs for the Caps where he, again, couldn't hold onto the starting job.

Theo showed some brilliant displays of goaltending in the last half of the 2007-08 season to help the Avs make the playoffs and then continued to stand on his head in the 1st round against the Wild. Before that though, he wasted nearly 6 million dollars of salary cap space riding the pine for Peter Budaj.

Then this past February, Theodore spoke with the media as if he was the reason for the Caps great record and then had some small shots to take at the Avs organization and their position in the standings. Well, later that night, Theodore and the Caps fell to the Avs on home ice 4-1. Adam Foote was even able to score on Jose. Suddenly, according to Dater, Theodore doesn't speak to the media on game days now.

Hopefully Theodore will play as good in his return to Denver as he did in his return to Montreal after he was traded to the Avs. Whatever the outcome, it is sure to be a very exciting and entertaining game with these two teams' youth, speed and talent.

The Avs finished off their 5 game road trip the same way they started it, with a shutout victory. This was another successful road trip for this young team as they finished up 3-1-1. The whole road schedule is now half way over.

The first game of the trip was a 3-0 victory over the Lightning. Matt Duchene caught fire in this game as he ended up with 2 goals for his first multigoal game of his young career.

Duchene again was a huge story two nights later in Florida despite the Avs losing to the Panthers 6-5 in a really entertaining game. The Avs trailed by 2 goals almost the whole game. Duchene scored his 2nd of the game with just under a minute left in regultation to bring the Avs to within 1. With the net still empty, the Avs put heavy pressure on the Kittens and TJ Galiardi tied the game only seconds before regulation ended.

The season turned scary during the overtime as Keith Ballard, who nearly decapitated his goaltender Vokoun in their previous game, went hard into Craig Anderson and Andy had to leave the game with a neck injury. Budaj came in for the rest of OT and the shootout where only 1 goal was scored by Steven Weiss (who also had a hat trick in the game) for the winner.

The next night in Pittsburgh, Budaj had a really solid game despite the 4-1 outcome. Galiardi had scored in the 2nd period but the play was prematurely whistled dead so the goal did not count (even though the puck crossed the line before the whistle went). That wouldve given the Avs a 2-1 lead but instead it clearly took a lot out of the Avs and they then let Pittsburgh take a 2-1 lead as Sidney Crosby made a nice feed to Bill Guerin who put it by Budaj who had no chance at making the save. Crosby and the Pens got some help padding their stats by netting 2 empty netters in the final minutes.

Budaj got his 2nd straight start in Columbus in another solid performance by the boys in burgundy. They got off to a 2-0 lead which normally is like an Avs loss waiting to happen. The Jackets got 1 past Budaj and that looked like the comeback was about to start but then just after that, Wojtek Wolski made a nice pass (while also taking a hit) to Chris Stewart who took a wrister that squeaked past Steve Mason. The Jackets did get 1 more but the Avs still managed to hang on to the win.

Finally last night the Avs received another great effort by Budaj who recorded the shutout against the Blues. Chris Stewart was a beast in the game as he scored 2 goals and 1 assist for his 2nd career 3 point game. The line of him, Wolski, and Stastny was the best line all night and Coach Sacco played them every chance he got. Matt Duchene capped off the night with his beautiful wrister through Chris Mason to make it 4-0 in the 3rd.

Some other highlights and notes from the trip:
-Matt Duchene was named NHLs 3rd star of the week last week.
-Paul Stastny quietly moved into the top 10 in both points and assists.
-Wojtek Wolski is on a 7 game point streak where he has 10 points in those 7 games.
-Wolski also moved into 16th place on the scoring list.
-Wolski-Stastny-Stewart might become the Avs true #1 line after their performance against the Blues.
-Andy was sent back to Denver before the game in St. Louis to meet with team doctors. He may be ready for the game against the Wild.

The Avs return home tomorrow night when they host the Wild who has had the Avs number all season. The game will be on Versus so as long as you dont have Directv, like me, you'll get to see it.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I spent it back home in Albuquerque. I knew I wouldn't be home to watch the Avs Preds game on Wednesday or the Avs Wild game on Friday so what did I do? I purchased NHL Gamecenter Live from NHL.com. Gamecenter is great for watching all the games going on that night especially being able to watch 4 games at once. You also get all the player stats and even a chatroom to talk to other fans about the game.

I understand local blackouts and all when talking about TV and even online when the game is live but why black it out for 48 hours after the game is over? That is the case if you are in one of the teams' local markets. Apparently Albuquerque is in Denver's local television market so I wouldn't be able to watch either game for 48 hours after either game ended.

It makes sense when the game is blacked out locally on TV but usually you can catch a re-air later that day or night. With Gamecenter, you must wait 2 whole days. The whole reason I purchased Gamecenter was because I knew I was gonna be too busy to catch the game live so I would just check it out on the archive when I was around. That wasn't the case and I had to miss both of my team's games while I was away.

***

While I was away, I didn't appear to miss much as the team is starting to come back down to mediocrity. November has been the exact opposite of the red hot October. Only 4 wins in the 13 games so far this month, the Avs would like to end the month on a positive note with a win tonight against the Lightning in Tampa.

Not only are the Avs losing games now, but they are doing it in horrible fashion. They seem to want to just take the foot off the gas when they get a 2 goal lead. As we saw in the game against the Flyers, if we could just put that goal in that gives a 3 goal lead, we can win the game. That doesn't happen. 2 goal lead and then no more pressure and ultimately lose the game.

Games arent the only things being lost now, players are as well. Confirmed Hejduk will be out tonight with that knee issue. The huge loss for the Avs occured against the Wild on Saturday as a Wild player fell onto David Jones' knee causing a tear in his ACL. The injury will keep him out 4-6 months (possibly the rest of the season). Brian Willsie was recalled after Jones was placed on IR. What a horrible loss as Jones was beginning to have a break out season and looked really healthy. He has been showing that he will definitely be part of this team long term. I hope this injury doesn't affect his game when he's back.

Despite the injuries, the team is still getting some positive performances from key guys and even some stepping up their games. McLeod has been his usual self and scoring hard working goals. Durno and Hendricks have both been working hard and getting their chances. Biggest of all, Matt Duchene is starting to get some goals and even got his 1st goal at Pepsi Center on Saturday. The Avs will need Duchene to keep playing like this if they are even thinking about the playoffs.

Avs 3

Flames 2

Final

After a recent slide which saw the Avs lost 5 of their last 7 including Saturday's embarrassing performance against Vancouver, the Avs came out with a much better effort in the C of Red in Calgary as they earned a 3-2 win over the Flames. The Flames came into the game just 1 point back of the Avs in the Northwest division and made this game a battle for 1st in the division.

The Avs struck 1st blood in the 1st period as Ryan Wilson put home his 1st NHL goal after he snuck in from the point to bang home a loose puck. The Avs would take the 1-0 lead to the 2nd period. Jerome Iginla was his normal self as he sent a lazer over Anderson's glove from the high slot. Shortly after that, Rene Bourque took advantage of a stickless Avs defenseman and put one over Anderson's glove for a shorthanded goal. Immediately after that Paul Stastny took a pass over the blueline and gave a nice centering pass to Cody McLeod who fired a one timer past Kipper. Only 66 seconds later Milan Hejduk put a puck on net that looked like it went off Darcy Tucker's skate but was later ruled to go off Jay Bouwmeester's skate for his 8th of the season. That would be all the scoring the Avs would need as they went into a defensive shell in the 3rd and Anderson made the saves he had to.

This was a very important win for the Avs who were having a very bad November after their strong October. Not only did they beat a division opponent, but they did it in regulation and gave Calgary 0 points. The penalty kill was perfect and the power play even got a goal. The most notable improvement in this game was in the faceoff circle. For once, the Avs dominated faceoffs winning 32 of 51 faceoffs. All around, it was a great game by the whole team.

Performer of the night goes to Ryan Wilson who got his 1st career NHL goal in the 1st period. He came to the Avs from the Flames in the deal that sent Jordan Leopold back to Calgary. The 2nd round pick used to get D Stefan Elliot was a big enough of a win from that deal. Wilson playing this well is an added bonus.

3 Stars

3. S. Hannan

2. R. Bourque

1. R. Wilson

The Avs finally unveiled their new 3rd jerseys today. They are the same ones that were leaked back in August. I said then that they weren't the greatest but after seeing them on the players, I really like them and may indeed be purchasing one. One of the other things I didn't notice when the leaked pictures came out was the black on the underarm. It's an interesting touch but the jersey is still an A+.

They were unveiled in the Avs locker room with Kyle Quincey and Paul Stastny being models for the new unis. They both looked energetic in the pictures which fits in with the way the team is playing this season. The jerseys will be worn in a game for the 1st time on Saturday night against the Canucks.

Milan Hejduk was originally scheduled to make the appearance with Stastny. My first thought was Hejduk's injury was more severe than at first thought but Dater confirmed that Hejduk wasn't allowed to go since the Avs have a policy of injured players talking to the media.