Eurolanche

Postgame thoughts: Wings

So I finally got some free time in weekend and I spent it watching a marathon of three Avalanche games, against the Kings, the Blue Jackets and the Wings. And, lo and behold, they won them all. And in style, none the less. Maybe the Redwings game could've had a more relaxing finish, but they got the win.

And that's not the only thing that happened since I wrote last. Quincey was traded for Downie, from TBL, who in turn traded him for a 1st round pick and a prospect from the Redwings. Now call me stupid, but I don't think that Sherman would've been able to get a 1st round pick for Quincey. Just remember the Liles and Varlamov trades. By the way, for the love of all that's beautiful in the world, can someone tell that Wings announcer that it's not Varmalov? Can someone do that for me?

Anyways, as I was saying, plenty of stuff is happening. The Avs are killing it on the offensive zone, they scored 13 goals in three games. It used to take them about 13 games to do that. Landeskog is turning into a beast and he's deep in the Calder race. Jones is scoring nicely and Downie proves to be a good choice for now. I'm saying for now because I'll give him to the end of the season to prove that he's another Mueller and not another Kobasew. Remember when Kobasew was on the Avs' top line? What the heck were they thinking? Question is what will happen when Mueller returns, now that Downey, Jones and Olver found their place? Well, another bag skate should take care of that problem. We'll see another player going down with a pulled groin so there you go, a vacant spot for Peter.

I just wish Sacco would stay away from the lines right now. He finally has something good going, so he'd better not mess it up with his line juggling. I still don't trust him and hopefully Sherman will show him the door.

I was about to forget another great thing for the team. Varlamov was amazing in his last two games, with a 0.5 GAA. That type of play makes it easier to forget the price they paid to get him.

So about 19 games left, if I'm not mistaken, and two points out of the playoff picture. Is definitely doable, but they have to keep it up. But I have to admit, things are interesting, unlike last season, when by the end of February we were already thinking draft, off-season, coach change... The Valentine's Day Massacre is still present in my dreams...

I'm not the optimistic kind, as you probably know by now, so you won't hear me say the team is guaranteed a playoff spot and great things will happen after the regular season, but I might say it's not foolish to hope right now.

Tonight, they play the Ducks. Unfortunately, Jiggy's former team is making a comeback so it's not gonna be easy. I'm not gonna make predictions, because I suck at it, but I just hope the boys will play like they did the last few games.

The article was written before the game against the Ducks.