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The Preds win the first half of the showdown.
The Avs are MIA in the last two games, with one goal for and eight against. I think they live and die too much by their goalies. And if the goalies are just average or good, the team won't win. It happened two years ago, when they rode on Anderson's Superman cape. Last year there was no goaltending to talk about and it showed. Now they have two great goalies but they are human and they have off days. That's when the team can't rally for 60 minutes to get the win. Like against the Preds, they have good periods of time, but they alternate them with awful moments, when they plainly suck.
Add to that the fact that Duchene is not back, that O'Brien and EJ are out and the lack of depth and it's a recipe for disaster. Well, it's not a disaster quite yet, they just very well come back with another winning streak. But what if they don't? It's the middle of the season and you might recall what the Avs did in previous years under Sacco. The middle of the season is the kiss of death. It's like something happens to the collective talent of the team, because they take a nose dive after that mark. So of course we're hoping for something different but if the last two games are a measure of things to come...
Robert Ciubotaru, Romania, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
12/01/2012 - 12:30
Postgame thoughts: Predators
The Preds win the first half of the showdown.The Avs are MIA in the last two games, with one goal for and eight against. I think they live and die too much by their goalies. And if the goalies are just average or good, the team won't win. It happened two years ago, when they rode on Anderson's Superman cape. Last year there was no goaltending to talk about and it showed. Now they have two great goalies but they are human and they have off days. That's when the team can't rally for 60 minutes to get the win. Like against the Preds, they have good periods of time, but they alternate them with awful moments, when they plainly suck.
Add to that the fact that Duchene is not back, that O'Brien and EJ are out and the lack of depth and it's a recipe for disaster. Well, it's not a disaster quite yet, they just very well come back with another winning streak. But what if they don't? It's the middle of the season and you might recall what the Avs did in previous years under Sacco. The middle of the season is the kiss of death. It's like something happens to the collective talent of the team, because they take a nose dive after that mark. So of course we're hoping for something different but if the last two games are a measure of things to come...
The good thing is Wilson is back and I can't wait to see him hit some bodies again. First, because it's fun, second, because I'd like to see how he is after that concussion. Speaking of concussions, it appears that Mueller is back. Again. He's starting to resemble Foppa in that regard. Maybe with greater success. The team needs Mueller from two years ago. Some scoring and some energy is vital for the Avs. And the guys that should be scoring, like Hejduk and Stastny just aren't doing it. It's pretty weird to see more action toward the goal from guys like Galiardi and Winnik than from Hejduk. Landeskog is playing with the same intensity, but he's not as efficient.
We'll see tonight just how bad things are. In case you're unaware, the Preds were just one point ahead in the standings, now there are 3 between them and another loss would be a small disaster.
Robert Ciubotaru, Romania, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
12/01/2012 - 12:30
