| 04 March 2009
As expected, the team had really good jump out of the gates and were rewarded early when Liles somehow snuck a puck through a ton of bodies and found the back of the net.
Then they began to turnover the puck. The Wings scored with less than :30 left in the 1st and carried that momentum from the 1st to the 2nd, where the Avs continued to cough up the puck and the Wings kept scoring. 3-1 after 2.
The Avs were able to tilt the ice during the last 10 mins of the 3rd - Scott "zero goals" Hannan had a great chance to score and flubbed the chance. More great chances from Lappy, Svatos, Statsny, and Foote but they still couldn't score. 2 mins left and Avs pulled Raycroft (who was solid tonight, BTW) and the pressure finally resulted in a Hejduk goal - 3-2. The Avs kept coming, a faceoff win from Smyth to Hejduk and a great pass out front from Svatos, but Smyth / Statsny couldn't jam the puck passed Conklin and the Avs lose.
If they continue to play with this kind of effort the last 17 games, the Avs will be very watchable. But don't count on it, this team has proven that they are anything but consistent.
Number Watch: According to the Avs website, Lawrence Nycholat will wear #3. Barring injury, I don't think we will see Nycholat until the team starts giving Footer some nights off.
One more thought -- Giguere made it pretty clear at his presser today that he did not ask any player with a NTC to waive it. So he was either lying or all those sites that had Smyth leaving are full of it. I'm taking the latter...
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