Avalanche v. Blackhawks - Scoring Chances #4

Tm	P	Time	Note	COL						Opponent
COL	1	18:07		5	9	22	40	41	55	4	10	19	32	39	51	5v5
COL	1	15:26		5	8	10	16	40	41	4	5	11	36	39		5v4
CHI	1	13:37		5	22	25	37	41	55	4	10	19	39	51	88	5v5
COL	1	12:47		4	9	23	26	27	41	2	7	11	36	39		5v4
COL	1	11:38		5	8	10	16	40	41	2	7	32	39	46		5v4
CHI	1	10:23		15	16	22	41	52	55	4	10	19	39	51	88	5v5
COL	1	7:06		5	10	16	25	37	41	4	20	39	46	51	82	5v5
CHI	1	2:13		10	37	39	41	52		10	19	25	32	39	82	4v5
CHI	1	2:09	Goal	10	37	39	41	52		10	19	25	32	39	82	4v5
CHI	2	17:55		16	22	25	27	37	41	5	11	16	22	25	39	5v5
COL	2	17:28		5	10	15	28	39	41	5	11	16	22	25	39	5v5
COL	2	17:27	Goal	5	10	15	28	39	41	5	11	22	25	39	82	5v5
CHI	2	16:21		9	22	27	40	41	55	4	39	46	51	82	88	5v5
COL	2	14:27		8	22	23	26	27	41	2	7	33	36	39	88	5v5
COL	2	14:17	Goal	8	22	23	26	27	41	2	7	33	36	39	88	5v5
CHI	2	13:47	Goal	5	9	10	40	41	55	4	11	16	22	39	51	5v5
CHI	2	12:30		22	25	27	28	39	41	5	20	25	39	46	82	5v5
CHI	2	12:14		22	25	27	28	39	41	5	11	20	25	39	82	5v5
CHI	2	10:37		4	9	40	41	52	55	4	19	33	36	51	88	5v5
CHI	2	10:29		4	9	40	41	52	55	4	19	33	36	51	88	5v5
CHI	2	9:06		22	26	27	41			10	25	33	36	39	88	3v5
CHI	2	7:35		4	5	23	39	41		7	19	39	51	82	88	4v5
COL	2	6:39		5	8	9	10	16	41	2	4	11	16	22	39	5v5
COL	2	6:20		5	8	9	10	16	41	2	4	11	16	22	39	5v5
COL	2	4:35	Goal	8	9	23	26	27	41	4	5	39	46			5v3
CHI	2	3:53	Goal	4	5	8	16	40	41	2	7	19	32	39		5v4
CHI	3	18:59		9	22	25	41	52	55	2	7	16	36	39	88	5v5
CHI	3	15:41		4	9	25	41	52	55	5	25	33	36	39	88	5v5
COL	3	14:12		4	9	23	26	27	41	2	7	19	22	39		5v4
CHI	3	12:18		5	25	39	41	52	55	10	19	25	39	51	88	5v5
CHI	3	10:41		8	22	23	26	27	41	2	7	11	16	22	39	5v5
COL	3	4:47		22	27	37	39	41	55	2	7	11	16	22	39	5v5
COL	3	3:44		4	8	23	26	41	52	4	10	19	32	39	51	5v5
COL	3	2:35		4	9	16	41	52	55	2	10	19	25	32	39	5v5
CHI	3	0:06		8	22	23	26	27	41	7	10	19	32	39	51	5v5
CHI	4	3:54		22	23	26	27	41		2	7	36	39	88		4v4
CHI	4	2:24		4	23	26	41	52		25	32	33	39	51		4v4

#	Player	EV			PP			SH
4	J. LILES	17:32	2	4	4:29	2	1	2:01	0	1
5	B. CLARK	9:47	6	3	2:27	2	1	2:18	0	1
8	W. WOLSKI	18:43	5	2	3:25	2	1	0:29	0	0
9	M. DUCHENE	12:14	4	6	4:28	2	0	1:53	0	0
10	K. CUMISKEY	10:02	5	1	3:16	2	0	0:29	0	2
15	M. HENDRICKS	7:32	2	1	0:00	0	0	0:32	0	0
16	D. TUCKER	10:12	4	2	3:27	2	1	0:00	0	0
22	S. HANNAN	21:06	4	10	0:59	0	0	2:15	0	0
23	M. HEJDUK	18:09	3	4	4:22	2	0	1:06	0	1
25	C. STEWART	9:37	1	7	0:20	0	0	0:00	0	0
26	P. STASTNY	17:09	3	4	4:22	2	0	0:36	0	0
27	K. QUINCEY	17:58	3	7	4:22	2	0	2:22	0	0
28	D. KOCI	3:26	2	2	0:00	0	0	0:00	0	0
37	R. O'REILLY	10:42	2	2	0:06	0	0	2:53	0	2
39	T. GALIARDI	12:55	3	3	0:01	0	0	3:16	0	3
40	M. SVATOS	9:26	1	4	3:14	2	1	0:00	0	0
41	C. ANDERSON	49:10	11	16	7:56	4	1	6:14	0	3
52	A. FOOTE	21:56	2	7	0:08	0	0	3:03	0	2
55	C. MCLEOD	12:24	3	9	0:14	0	0	1:43	0	0

Period	Totals		EV		PP		5v3 PP		SH		5v3 SH
1	5	4	2	2	3	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
2	7	10	6	7	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	1
3	4	5	3	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	16	21	11	16	4	1	1	0	0	3	0	1

The Avalanche played a better game tonight than their last outing in Nashville, especially in the third period. Although they still had a hard time generating chances in the last period of play (and overtime) at least they were able to prevent the Blackhawks from getting a ton of chances. Another encouraging sign was the play of Hejduk and Stastny at EV who came close to breaking even this game which is a significant improvement. They still need to get better in order for the Avs to have a chance at winning consistently, but they're moving in the right direction.

One guy that stood out to me this game was Ryan O'Reilly. I thought he did a particularly good job killing Chicago's five on three in the second period. He's been used extensively on the PK and has done a pretty good job for the most part. His EV numbers have also been quite good in limited ice time (through four games he's +11 -11 at EV). I'm not a fan of keeping 18 year-olds in the NHL and if it were me making the decisions both he and Duchene would be heading back to junior for another year but I must admit that both of them have had their moments of excitement. In the case of O'Reilly, he's never really looked overmatched either.

One of the interesting undercurrents of this game were the goalie interference calls and non-calls. On Chicago's first goal I thought that Tomas Kopecky definitely needed to be called for goalie interference, but there was no call. Later in the game, the referee blew the whistle to stop play after there had been contact with Anderson. There was no penalty assessed and there was a faceoff in Colorado's defensive zone. Looking at this table of goalie interference calls I do not see what the ref was enforcing. Looking at rule 69.5 which is the closest thing to what the ref actually did, he seems to have put the faceoff in the wrong location as well. I wish that Chicago had scored off that faceoff so that this would be a big deal and the NHL would need to explain the ref's decision because it looks to me like he plain screwed up.

I don't see many Hawks games, so here are three things that surpised me about Chicago: 1. The fans screamed through the entire national anthem. Is that normal? 2. Tomas Kopecky is on their top PP unit. Maybe he's a pump and dump? 3. What the heck was Stan Mikita doing with that awful dance?

The game was also a pretty dirty affair. I had watched the Oilers-Flames tilt the night before where Sheldon Souray was put out with a concussion by a stick to the skate by Jarome Iginla. It was an accident, but the results were awful. Marek Svatos did that exact thing to Brian Campbell this game. Except he clearly did it on purpose. Campbell wasn't injured and Svatos went off for tripping and that was that. This was head coach Pat Quinn after the Oilers-Flames game the other night:

"To poke his feet out and pile on top of him? Somehow they never deal with that crap — and they won’t let the vigilante stuff deal with it somehow. I don’t understand the players of today. If that had happened in the old days, he would have got hit over the head with a stick right after. That’s the way you used to deal with it. Now you can’t touch him. It was a pretty dirty play, in my opinion"

Quinn was fined for those comments by the league. Now, I don't agree with what he said and I don't think it would have stopped Iginla's accidental poke. It probably also would have resulted in Iginla being hunted and potentially injured later in the game. All of that is bad. But one other thing it would have done is put the fear of God into Marek Svatos so that he doesn't pull that kind of crap on purpose.

Another dangerous play last night was Niklas Hjalmarsson's cross-check to the face of Darcy Tucker. Now, it didn't look to me like Hjalmarsson was trying to injure him, but that was very dangerous use of his stick. If Tucker is out with a concussion, Hjalmarsson is getting a significant suspension. As it is, the league won't be doing anything. And that's the reason Pat Quinn is so frustrated. I don't really blame him either.