The Stats Tell the Story

After a meltdown 8-2 loss against the Cannucks on Saturday, the Avalanche players really needed to gut-check themselves before facing the Calgary Flames last night.  Calgary is hot right now, and the division lead was at stake.  As a fan, you hate to draw long-term conclusions from any one game.  But with this match-up, and the consequences that came with it, there was a definite sense that this single game would show how much heart this new Avs team really has.  The beating on Saturday and two days rest demanded that, win or lose, they dig deep and really come out with a solid effort against the Flames.  The Avalanche did win 3-2, but there are two stats that pretty much tell the whole story.

24 – This is the number of blocked shots that the Avalanche had during the game.  Brett Clark is probably feeling it this morning with 5 of them on his own.  Other than Adam Foote, who left early with a jaw injury, all other Avalanche defensemen had 3 blocked shots each.  This stat is a testament to the defensemen staying in their lanes, and literally taking one for the team.  A team cannot get this many blocked shots without some real hustle on every shift.  It was fun to hear Mike Haynes on Altitude say repeatedly in the 3rd period, “Another blocked shot!”  He was definitely amazed by the effort.  On the flip-side, Calgary only managed to get 6 blocked shots.

32/51 - This is the number of face-offs that the Avalanche won during the game.  They won a dominating 63% of their draws.  Matt Duchene was the standout, winning 10/12 of his attempts.  Paul Stastny won 55% (12/22) of his draws, and Ryan O’Reilly won 57% (8/14) of his.  No Calgary player won more than 50% of their attempts.  The Avalanche completely dominated the 2nd period in this department winning 16/19 face-offs.  The face-off domination by the Avalanche just goes to show how mentally focused and determined the team was during this game.

Overall, the Avs did all of the right things that were mandatory if they were going to hold onto the Northwest Division lead.  They skated hard, won battles along the boards, did not chase too much in their zone, killed all of their penalties, and they got some production on the powerplay.  They did give up a shorty in the 2nd period, but it is tough to blame that on the team since Quincey’s stick broke on a slapshot attempt that led a rush by Calgary in the opposite direction.  Quincey could not cover the passing lane without a stick, and a good shot went past Anderson.

Craig Anderson was back to top form as well with some absolutely amazing saves.  He stopped 34/36 of the shots he faced.  Mike Haynes was also on top of this one by declaring at one point late in the 3rd period after Andy made 2 great saves on Olli Jokinen that, “Craig Anderson should be arrested for robbery.”  It was exciting to see him shut things down.  We really have not had this dependable of a goaltender in quite some time; dare I say since the days of the great #33?  Jose Theodore had a few moments and stretches of good play, but he was not nearly this consistent over long periods of time.  Again, this is all rational Avalanche fans asked for.  We just want the guy to give his team a chance to win each night, and I think he has exceeded that expectation by carrying the team on his back at times.  Craig Anderson is a real competitor, and he is probably the best free agent signing that the team has made since Patrick Roy retired.

The Avalanche are right back at it tonight against the Edmonton Oilers.  The puck will drop shortly after 7pm mtn.  It will be interesting to see if the Avs can continue their momentum from last night, or if the players spent themselves on the tough road win.  Hopefully it will not be the latter.