10 games after my last post on the Avs, and a lot has gone on. The night I made my last post, Craig Anderson went down with a knee injury and nobody knew how long he would be out. Well, he returned tonight and helped the Avs to a 5-1 victory over the New York Rangers.
Over the past 10 games, the Avs have seen a lot of faces come up and contribute, due to necessity from injury. Adam Foote went out, Kyle Quincy, Kyle Cumiskey, TJ Galliardi, Craig Anderson, David Koci (though nobody really noticed his absence as all he does is come out for a couple of minutes and then sits for 5 minutes). Normally, a team this hit by injury, you would expect to crash and burn, but in the last 10 games, that have been without Craig Anderson, the Avs are 7-3. Why the success? The young blood that has come in, and, strangely enough, Peter Budaj. I mean, this is the guy that didn't manage to stay ahead of Jose Theodore, and assisted the Avs to a 14th place Western Conference finish, yet he's helped the Avs to a 7-3 record in their last 10. Why?
Well, here's my theory. Last year the Avs allowed more shots on goal than any other team in the NHL. And Craig Anderson bailed them out A LOT! There were very few games in which the Avs actually out shot their opponents last year, and they were quite frequently badly outshot. In the last 10, the Avs out shot their opponents 4 times, were exactly even in shots twice, and really only badly outshot once, against the Sharks in an OT victory. Something seems to have happened to this Avs team that took a full season and 20 games to catch on.
In the last 10 games, the Avs have scored 40 goals, and only given up 24. Once Craig Anderson went down, then Adam Foote, and other defensemen, it seems as if this team realized that they couldn't actually rely on their goalie to steal games for them, and realized that some serious offense was in order. Suddenly, the Avs have realized that the best way to win the games is to score against your opponents. And the young blood that was brought in has definitely helped.
Kevin Porter has scored some great goals, and actually has the GWG in the last 2 games for the Avs. Kevin Shattnekirk has proven to be very effective defensively, and has 2 goals in his last 2 games. Colby Cohen was involved in a lot of scraps in the time that he spent, and even managed to get under the skin of Jarome Iginla. Jonas Holos jumpstarted the Avs power play with his big shot, and helped with his physical play.
Now, the Avs are getting healthy. Adam Foote is back in the line-up, Craig Anderson is back in the line up, and it is obvious that those two should be brought right back into the line-up. Both great leaders for this team, but now there is a real question about what to do with the 2 Kyles, Cumiskey and Quincey, when they get back. If you ask me, at least one of them needs to go. We have a better offensive defensemen right now, and it would be a huge mistake to send him back down. Shatty is ready for the big time, and has already proven that he is more reliable than both of the Kyles in his own zone. I'm quite interested to see where this Avs team goes. They are now tied for first in the NW division, and if the type of offense keeps coming around that we have seen in the last 10, and Andy and Boods actually get the support that they have needed, we could possibly see a big move up in the standings for these Avs.
As the giant homer that I am, I will keep rooting for my Avs to make a return to the top of our division.
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