(Its amazing to me that guys like Kiszla and Adrian Dater are paid journalists for the Denver Post.)
Now, somehow I was afforded the luxury of catching the game on local television (Foooorty-Five) and on Versus (which I thought was blacked out?) Vs. may have well just been Fox Sports Rocky Mountain, considering the sentiment during the telecast, and on Hockey Central is that this is Colorado's series to lose, even though they are the 6th seed (not like that means much) and lost the season series to Minnesota. On the whole, its not unlike 2003; its all about "the upstart Wild trying to upset the mighty Colorado Avalanche" and "how Colorado lost again."
The notion of fly-over country just won't die.
Should we have expected anything less than another overtime? If you haven't caught on now, these teams are matched up so evenly, if not painfully, that for a third game in a row our heart rates were forced to race and our blood pressure continued to raise. More hits, saves, shots, goals (ranging from the ugliest of ugly to pretty little set-ups), and all around drama which does great from the ratings and notoriety standpoint (this series by now should be the series to watch) but nevertheless continues to shorten the lifespan of all the parties involved.
In a bit of irony it was what Colorado does that did them in; the puck control along the wall which leaves space in the middle of the zone for a scoring chance. I'm not going to dramatize the Brian Rolston/Jeff Finger play of the puck, saying that it was a footrace, or that it was anything more than one of those "playoff bounces"; the puck could have easily gone off the back of the net and around, which would have made Finger look like a genius when he split off from Rolston. However it didn't, which enabled Rolston to get the puck, and control it along the half wall until he caught Pierre-Marc Bouchard streaking down the middle of the zone, who subsequently fired the puck past a down Ruslan Salei and Jose Theodore for Bouchard's "biggest goal so far."
Again Minnesota was shut out for the first two periods, only to come storming back in the 3rd period which is in stark contrast to the regular season. The Modus Operandi of Minnesota all year long was to play hard the first 40, and then coast (or just come out lacking the same intensity) only to let the opponent back in the game. Looks like they picked up at the right time; they're getting goals when it counts, which can shift the momentum in their favor, although inevitably, it seems, that Colorado will score late (under some dubious circumstances) to tie it, send it to overtime, and keep people up late past their bed time.
(I would like to think that bosses everywhere are just a little more empathetic this time of year.)
I want to praise the penalty killers, snubbing Colorado's man advantage 6 times (I know it was 7 penalties, but one of them was coincidental with Sean Hill and Peter Forsberg serving time and feeling shame. Although anytime you get Forsberg in the box you can call it a minor victory.) The 2nd period was incredibly dicey, when it seemed like the Wild took penalty after penalty after penalty, and responded with a beauty of a 2 on 1 with Brian Rolston converting a dandy of a Pavol Demitra feed.
The two teams go again tonight; I've already heard alot of people giving Colorado the win before they return to St. Paul (and back to that more sensible 8pm starting time.) Sure, the Avalanche had a record of 6-4 in back-to-back games; but Minnesota had a stellar 8-4-2 record. Will the aging Avalanche have anything left in the tank, or will it be Minnesota that comes out stale?
1 called shenanigans:
Just as an FYI: Everyone in Colorado hates Mark Kiszla too, the guys an idiot.
I've made my fair share of "Minnesota Hockey is boring" jokes, but it's hard to make that statement after a game in which the Wild give up 40+ shots on goal. That's not boring, at all.
Post a Comment