The Avalanche are Just Terrible || November, 24, 2011

Some say that there are no easy wins in the NHL, you have to battle in every game and fight for every loose puck.  Most of the time, that's true, against Colorado...not so much.

Last nights game against the Colorado Avalanche could have been the easiest win I've ever seen.  It was exactly what they Canucks needed to jump start their season (it happened at this exact time last year), and it couldn't have come against an easier opponent.  I grew up watching Joe Sakic, Adam Deadmarsh, Peter Forsberg, Patrick Roy, all those guys.  You did not want to play the Avalanche because they were a force, similar to what the Canucks were like last year.  The only team to really give Colorado a run for their money was Detroit, because, well, it's Detroit.  

Jump ahead 10 years, now you look forward to playing them because it's like having a light practice and coming away with 2 points.  The only good thing about Colorado right now, is really their power play and their goaltending (kinda).  An example of how bad they were.  After it happening quite a few times, I noticed that the Avalanche were turning the puck over quite a bit.  At first I thought it was because of the forecheck of the Canucks, but I thought wrong.  Colorado would get one pass in, from D man to D man, then as soon as they entered the neutral zone, they would just blindly throw it up the boards, and it would be intercepted.  Or they would try a lead pass, but it would be 4 feet ahead of the intended target.  I couldn't believe how terrible they were.  They went a full 5 minutes in the second period, not completing one pass, and it wasn't due to relentless pressure from Vancouver either.  It was just pure and utter awfulness.  

Take a look at Kesler's 3-0 goal.  What was Hunwick thinking?  Sure, the guy he's passing to should have been looking, but he wasn't looking for a while.  This is just a quick example of what happened all game long.

Now, I say all this to put some perspective on the coming up games this weekend.  This game could have been won by almost any team in the league right now.  The Canucks didn't play particularly well, but they didn't have to.  Hopefully, it gives them some confidence and momentum going into this weekend because when it comes to San Jose, they will actually complete a couple passes.

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PS.  This save capped off a good performance for Cory Schneider, only compiling to the whole goaltender situation.



Leave your comments below, anything you noticed about the game or what you think about the whole Schneider situation.