Avs Gearing Up for the Playoffs

Almost 2 weeks after declaring that the Avs were finished, they find themselves getting ready for the playoffs. Puck drop of game 1 is less than 2 hours away in San Jose. The Avs stumbled their way into the playoffs winning just 3 of their final 13 games. Had it not been for their great play early on in the season, we would not even be talking about playoffs right now.

The 8th seeded Avs get the pleasure of taking on the top seeded team in the West, San Jose Sharks. Just about all of the experts are expecting the Sharks to dispose of the Avs rather quickly. You'd think they would've learned their lessons after the Avs were supposed to finish 30th in the league. Cant blame them though, as the Avs didn't do too much down the stretch to make anyone think they would be worthy of being in the playoffs at all.

While the Sharks are the favorite to win the series, they shouldn't take the Avs lightly (see Opening Night). The Avs are a faster team than the Sharks so that is a huge advantage for the Avs. While most of the guys on the team are making their post season debuts, the veteran guys (Foote, Yelle, Hejduk, and Hannan) bring a lot of playoff experience to the table including 5 Stanley Cups between them.

The keys for the Avs to make some noise in this series, will be special teams and the play of Craig Anderson. The Sharks ranked in the top 10 in both penalty kill and power play. The Avs will have to stay disciplined and find a way to score on the power play without Peter Mueller. Andy hasn't been as sharp as he was earlier in the season so he will have to elevate his game in his playoff debut. Hopefully the D will be able to give him a little help.

On the injury front, almost everyone is healthy finally. Rookie Matt Duchene will be back in the lineup tonight after sitting out the last game of the season with a torso injury. David Jones has been skating with the team for a few weeks now and is just about ready to go. He is traveling with the team for games 1 and 2 and could possibly get a jersey in game 2. Peter Mueller, who sustained a concussion against these Sharks, will not join the team in San Jose and is questionable for game 3 also. Hopefully he'll be back at some point in the series.

This Team is Done

The title says it all. The Avs showed tonight that they really do not care about going to the playoffs. Again, they waited until the last 10 minutes to play and a 2 goal deficit to play with any kind of desperation. Not the kind of play that will get a team to the playoffs.

After a somewhat even 1st period where the Avs outshot the Flames 13-9, the Avs came out flat for the next 30 minutes. The whole 2nd period was spent in their zone and the Flames ended up capitalizing on one of their chances when the Avs were caught in a line change. Nigel Dawes got the feed from David Moss on the 2 on 1 and put it high glove on Anderson who was sliding over from the other side of the net.

In the first part of the 3rd, there was no difference from the 2nd period. The Flames held the Avs in their own zone. Just over 2 minutes into the period, the Flames made it a 2-0 game. The Avalanche killer, Rene Bourque, tipped a shot from the point by Cory Sarich past Craig Anderson.

The top line of Stewart, Stastny and Galiardi finally decided to show up to the game a little under 8 minutes into the 3rd. They put together a great shift down low that ended in Galiardi taking a feed from the side of the net by Stewart and banging it in past Kiprusoff. It would be all Avs the rest of the way as Calgary was just chipping it out of the zone every chance they got. Kiprusoff made all the big saves he had to.

That would be all the offense the Avs would be able to muster up. Calgary did a good job of keeping out of the penalty box as they only gave the Avs 1 powerplay that was a failure. The Avs PK was much improved tonight killing all 3 of its opportunities. Ryan O'Reilly deserves a lot of credit as he and the rest of his line were the best players for the Avs the whole night.

Right now the two teams are tied at 89 points for the last spot in the west but the Avs still have a game in hand and also hold the tiebreaker in case they end up with the same amount of points. Statistically the Avs still have the upper hand and both teams have pretty tough schedules. They both have games against Chicago, San Jose, and Vancouver. The Avs also have Oilers and Kings while the Flames also have Minnesota. Assuming Calgary wins out, the Avs would have to win 4 of those games. Not an easy task.

Game of the Year

Only 2 points separate the Avs and the Flames for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West so it's not too out of reach to say that this is the biggest game of the year for the Avs. The Avs have a game in hand and the tiebreaker over Calgary, however, it is my opinion (and many people in the media feel the same way) that the winner of this game will end up finishing with that last playoff spot.

Lately the Avs just seem like the team that was supposed to finish at the bottom of the league. Since the last game against Calgary on March 17 (a 3-2 loss), the Avs have gone just 1-4-1 and have been outscored in that stretch 27-16. Nothing has been going their way in that stretch. The PK has been terrible. The defense has been non existent. Shooters are missing the net all together. And the most important of all, Anderson has not been giving us the goaltending we need.

It's really showing that Andy has played in too many games this season and is just mentally exhausted. Sacco should've given Budaj more chances throughout the season so this could be avoided but cant go back in time now so Sacco and the boys can all look ahead to tonight's game.

Anderson will get the start again for the Avs and he will most likely be squaring off against Miika Kiprusoff. The Avs have beat the Flames all 4 times they have started Kiprusoff so that is something to be excited about. Last game the Flames went with backup Vesa Toskala who led Calgary to victory. All 5 games so far have ended in 3-2 scores so we should expect another close one tonight.

Some good news for the Avs is that they will be getting Stephane Yelle and Brandon Yip back. Yelle will provide a huge boost for the PK that has been so awful lately and Yip's energy and offense will provide a spark up front. David Koci has also been cleared to play and he's expected to be in the lineup as well. More good news on the injury front is that David Jones is expected to take part in full practices next week so, should we make the playoffs, he would be available then.

Sacco has also started answering Avs fans prayers on who he's playing on defense tonight. Kyle Quincey and John Michael Liles will both be in while Ruslan Salei and Brett Clark will be the odd men out (thank god).

The Flames come in winning 4 of their last 7. Neither team has an easy schedule down the stretch either so that also adds to the importance of the 2 points tonight.

Stewart leads Avs over Blues

The Avs offense was out in full force tonight as they matched and then raised by 1 a season high with 7 goals. While the whole team put up a great offensive effort, the biggest individual performance came from Chris Stewart. Stewart finished the game with 4 points including his 1st career hat trick. The game also marked the return of Milan Hejduk after his long

The Blues came in winners of 5 straight and the last time they lost was against the Avalanche back on February 8th. St. Louis got on the board first as a point shot was tipped by David Perron in the slot past Anderson. It didn't take long for the Avs to answer as Milan Hejduk put home his own rebound as Peter Mueller sent a nice pass from the point to the net where Hejduk got to. Shortly after that, great hustle by Galiardi and Stastny lead to Stewarts first goal of the game. Blues defenesman Erik Johnson went behind the net and TJ Galiardi laid a hit on the boards. Stastny picked it up behind the net and centered out to Stewart in front of the net who then tapped it home.

The Avs took that 2-1 lead to the intermission and came out flying in the 2nd. Less than a minute into the period, Stewart got a pass up the right side. He took it along the boards into the zone and fired a laser of a slapshot to the far post for his 2nd of the game. Not even 30 seconds later, Hejduk came up the right side and centered a pass to Adam Foote who was going to the net but the puck deflected off the Blues defensman's skate past Mason. Mason was then pulled and replaced by Ty Conklin. Different goalie, same result as Chris Stewart picks up his 3rd point on an assist to TJ Galiardi in the slot on a backhand past Conklin. Later in the period, Anderson misplayed the puck behind the net and Alex Steen picked it up in front and banged it in the open net. The scoring in the 2nd period didn't stop as Stewart was tripped on a breakaway and awarded a penalty shot. He didn't waste the opportunity and roofed a shot over Conklin's left shoulder finishing off the hat trick.

The 3rd period was the Avs worst period as the puck was in their zone the whole time it seemed. Instead of keeping the foot on the gas, the Avs went into that shell they do when they have a lead. It only lead to 1 goal this time as Steen tipped another shot past Anderson. Matt Hendricks put the icing on the cake poking the puck into the empty net to make it 7-3 Avs.

This was a nice bounce back game for the Avs after that dagger to the heart by Wolski and the Coyotes two nights before. Getting Milan Hejduk back was a huge boost to the Avs offense and it it appeared he didn't lose a step as he added 2 goals. TJ Galiardi also had a strong game. This is a guy who has moved up in the depth chart taking the number 1 left wing spot even when Wolski was still here. He is leading all rookies in ice time per game as well. He made the play of the game as he put pressure on the Blues D and laid a hit on Erik Johnson behind the net that started the play that resulted in Stewart's 1st goal. Speaking of Stewart, he was the star of this game. Three goals and one assist. His hat trick was the 1st for an Avs player since Hejduk against these Blues back in 2007. He now has 15 points in his last 8 games.

The newcomers also both got on the score card. Peter Mueller finished with 2 assists, one on Hejduk's 1st goal and another on Hejduk's 2nd. He has at least a point in every game in an Avs sweater. Stephane Yelle recorded an assist on Hendricks' empty net goal.

Avs Deadline Preview

With the Olympics now over, the NHL teams, players and fans are waiting for today's 3:00 eastern trade deadline. We've all heard names being thrown around all season but let's take a look at what the Avs have on the trading block.

JM Liles - There's no denying it, Liles has been in Joe Sacco's doghouse since he returned from his injury earlier this season. He can be an effective power play quarterback but has lost that form in Denver. With Jordan Leopold fetching a 2nd round pick yesterday, it's safe to assume that Liles could fetch at least a prospect and a pick. Only thing that might stop a trade is his contract which still has 2 years left at 4.2 million.

Ruslan Salei - He hasn't been in the lineup much this season (3 games) due to injury but in the 2 he's played since he's come back, he has been pretty good. Salei was also the captain for Team Belarus in the Olympics and logged more ice time than anyone else on that team. Also a former deadline deal for the Avs, he's starting to play like he did when he came over from Florida. He can hit and he can put pucks on the net plus he's a free agent after this season. He could fetch a 2nd or 3rd round pick or a prospect from a team needing defensive depth.

Brett Clark - With the logjam the Avs have at D, Clark might be the easiest to trade and has the most trade value of him, Liles and Salei. He's played more than Salei and doesnt have the terrible contract Liles has. He can bring a contender tremendous shot blocking which we've seen since he's been with the Avs. I would be happy with a 2nd or 3rd round pick for him.

Marek Svatos - It's pretty obvious that Svatos has no place on this team anymore. He hasn't been scoring like he did in his rookie year since his rookie year. If he starts scoring, he gets injured. If he doesn't get injured, he doesn't score. It's not like he's helping in the defensive side of the puck either. He has just 10 points in 44 games this season and is a team worst -11. Maybe a change of scenery will help his career but I can't see a team giving up more than a late round draft pick for him.

Wojtek Wolski - This name just started floating around last night by TSN's Bob Mckenzie via his twitter account. Like Liles, Wolski has also found his way into Joe Sacco's doghouse throughout the season. He was awful against the Wings on Monday night being held shotless and, as Dater pointed out in his blog, only has 4 power play goals in his last 150 games. He does have a lot of offensive potential and will blossom into a star in this league if and when he can find consistency in his game. He's still young at just 24 so there's still time for him to develop and it doesn't hurt that he's an RFA after this season. I could see a team giving up a 2nd round pick and a prospect or a current roster player and a later round pick for Wolski's services.

With all that said, there are still holes in the Avs roster. Trading Wolski would surely leave an even bigger hole at LW than they already have. The power play has been terrible as well so that needs to be addressed too. It is sure to be a crazy day throughout the entire league but hopefully the Avs make some deals that will help beyond this season. I really like that Greg Sherman is not even thinking about trading a Matt Duchene, Ryan O'Reilly or anyone else out of the youth core.