T1B

Thank you San Jose for kicking the Casucks out!!!!

Sure the Avs kinda had to "back" their way into the playoffs, but hey, we're in!

I know I was a naysayer about all this, I never thought the Avs would be in the postseason, but we had to depend on another team to get us here.

Good luck in the playoffs, gentlemen! You're gonna need it!

Hard to believe the Avs would be barely making the playoffs when you consider their past success. Losing Tanguay and Svatos kills their depth up front. Did I see the other day Bob Boughner playing on the second line? Some of the big market teams have done well with the cap...the Wings, Stars, Flyers and Rangers all look solid. The Avs on the other hand have a very thin lineup and goaltending issues. Budaj should be the starter going into the postseason but is Queneville going to be obligated to play Theodore instead just because of his price tag and he was Lacroix's big pickup at the deadline. That will always be a bad move to me no matter how you slice it. If they were going to move Aebischer, they should've gotten defense or forward help instead of picking up a goalie with baggage and huge price tag. I think they could've gotten by with Budaj and Kolesnik to finish the season and then make a move in the offseason if needed. Instead, they have Theodore's hefty contract on the books and he's not exactly the sure-fire #1 in Denver. Lots of issues the Avs will need to address in the offseason for sure. No longer are they the #1 organization in the NHL. They need to get back to drafting and player development because they can't spend like before.

They are pretty much all but a little x from being in... but Van still has an outside chance of catching them...... would take a a miracle.. but could happen.

That being said... Theodore is a real wildcard..... if he can regain even 75% of the form he had in that MTL run a few years back... the Avs are a dangerous playoff team.. if not.. they are first round fodder for the top 3 teams.

I'm glad the Avs are in, but I've got little faith in them especially with a #7 seed.

I am still not down with Jose Theodore being in net and haven't been since LaCroix smoked one too many bowls and made the trade. Could someone please tell me how trading away the starting goalie who was having a career season for a guy who's had a ton of personal problems, has a history of being booed off the ice by the home crowd AND is injured makes sense and will help the team???

The two games he has played so far with the Avs have been less than impressive. He won one of them but barely.

With our defense also in pretty pathetic shape, Theodore will most likely not have the help around him to even make it past the first four games.

Q may have something up his sleeve, but I don't see the Avs making it out of round 1.

I haven't paid much attention to the Avs since the team with Roy, Bourque, Forsberg, et al won the Cup.
Seems to me they've been on a downward spiral since then.
They used to have an affiliation with the nearby AHL Hershey Bears,
but they're now the top farm team of the Washington Crapitals.
Bears made the AHL playoffs after missing out last year, so help may be on the way for DC next season.

We may have clinched a playoff spot, but it's #7 and we have to face Dallas. :roll:

Being the ONLY Avs fan on this board, so that no fellow fans will be able to flame me when I say this, but it ain't happening. I see the Avs going down in 4, 5 at best.

Our defense has been giving up way too many goals lately plus we're dealing with a little goalie controversy. I still have no faith in that Aebi/Theo trade. Jose is seeing some ice time but is still not quite at 100% and Budaj may be very talented, he just doesn't quite have what it takes to be a playoff goaltender.

Sakic may be the better of the two forwards on both teams (the other one being Mike Modano) but he is 0 for the season in the shootout, so is the rest of the team versus Dallas, and that is exactly where the Stars are going to try to take the Avs throughout the series.

I can expect some 2-0, 3-0, 4-2 leads for the Avs during games, but the Stars will find a way to bounce back and either win it in regulation or get the team to the shootout where they have been stellar all season and the Avs may as well not even show up on the ice for the SO.

d-townmike wrote:but he is 0 for the season in the shootout, so is the rest of the team versus Dallas, and that is exactly where the Stars are going to try to take the Avs throughout the series.

Uh, dude, please tell me you're not THAT misinformed!!!

I'd say the shootout will be the least of your concerns for the playoffs.

JD wrote:

d-townmike wrote:but he is 0 for the season in the shootout, so is the rest of the team versus Dallas, and that is exactly where the Stars are going to try to take the Avs throughout the series.

Uh, dude, please tell me you're not THAT misinformed!!!

I'd say the shootout will be the least of your concerns for the playoffs.

No that's just one of the biggest ones. The other one is the defensive effort or lack thereof.

d-townmike wrote:No that's just one of the biggest ones. The other one is the defensive effort or lack thereof.

Allow me to let you in on a little secret: no shootouts in the playoffs. OT until someone scores, just like before. So, yeah, lack of defensive effort might do the Avs in. Being terrible at shootouts won't affect them whatsoever.

JD wrote:

d-townmike wrote:No that's just one of the biggest ones. The other one is the defensive effort or lack thereof.

Allow me to let you in on a little secret: no shootouts in the playoffs. OT until someone scores, just like before. So, yeah, lack of defensive effort might do the Avs in. Being terrible at shootouts won't affect them whatsoever.

Yeah forgot about that.

Avalanche 5
Stars 2 Final



I'm definitely amazed. I never thought they would actually show up and win. I saw those two Stars goals scored within five minutes of each other and thought that was the end of it.

But it's a long series. Who knows who is going to come out on top with this one.

Props on the road win...thought you guys were toast after you fell behind 2-0. Sick play by Arnott to set up Guerin on that goal. Wolski showed some stones by coming right in and playing after his junior season wraps. He looked really good...you need that with Svatos being hurt.

The Rangers sure crapped the bed today...6-1 pasting with Elias getting points on every goal and the Devils scoring 5 PPG. The Devils are definitely the hottest team in the league right now...that could be a quick series.

What the hell is going on in Dallas? 3-0 Avs after one...

Spoke too soon...talk about some wild shifts in momentum in this series. Stars score twice to start the series...Avs score the next 8 goals...now Dallas answers with 3 to tie the game.

4 to take the lead now....

Who'd have thought, Modano's a good soccer player.

wow.

up 3-0 over the #2 seed.

I need to admit some more, the Avs have definitely surprised me in the playoffs. I need to learn to get them more credit. they are absolutely dominating this series.

Maybe they're really trying to keep the five year pattern going.

d-townmike wrote:I'm glad the Avs are in, but I've got little faith in them especially with a #7 seed.

Hope you're watching the games Mike!

oh I'm watching them!

They're definitely dominating and are clearly more hungry than the Stars in this series!

Wow...it's stunning to see Dallas meltdown like that when they were the trendy pick to come out of the West. Don't want to get ahead of myself but we could be looking at a Detroit-Colorado second round...if the Wings can turn it around and the Avs finish the deal.

Shoalzie wrote:Don't want to get ahead of myself but we could be looking at a Detroit-Colorado second round...if the Wings can turn it around and the Avs finish the deal.

Well, if we're going to play that game, a Calgary-Edmonton series would be a helluva lot better than a tired old Wings-Avs series, and at this point, a lot more likely.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

JD wrote:

Shoalzie wrote:Don't want to get ahead of myself but we could be looking at a Detroit-Colorado second round...if the Wings can turn it around and the Avs finish the deal.

Well, if we're going to play that game, a Calgary-Edmonton series would be a helluva lot better than a tired old Wings-Avs series, and at this point, a lot more likely.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

I think NBC will slit their throats if the Oilers hold off the Wings and set up an all-Alberta series. If the Rangers, Stars and Wings all get bounced in the first round and all 4 Canadian teams win, the ratings are going to suck in the States. If you keep up with that sort of thing...

Well, if the ratings suck in the States, I won't shed a tear. Why would I? Maybe the games will actually be scheduled at times suitable to my schedule rather than the schedules of a bunch of people that don't even like hockey.

JD wrote:Well, if the ratings suck in the States, I won't shed a tear. Why would I? Maybe the games will actually be scheduled at times suitable to my schedule rather than the schedules of a bunch of people that don't even like hockey.

I won't dispute those takes...TV ratings is unfortunately a measure of a sports' success in the States. I think the NHL has done really well this year but since TV says not many people are watching, that means the game can't be that good. I say to hell with that stuff...the game is as exciting as it's ever been since I became a fan. It's been a great first week of the playoffs...lucky us, we get 7 more weeks of this stuff.

Shoalzie wrote:Wow...it's stunning to see Dallas meltdown like that when they were the trendy pick to come out of the West. Don't want to get ahead of myself but we could be looking at a Detroit-Colorado second round...if the Wings can turn it around and the Avs finish the deal.

Thankfully that will not be happening. Sorry Shoals.

Avalanche clearly wanted this series better than the Stars did. And now that the Wings are out of it, this gives a little better chance for the Avs to actually get pretty far in the playoffs.

Who knows? They just might be on their "five year pattern".

Kind of looked too far ahead to that Avs-Wings series, didn't I? Wishful thinking...would've been fun to get back at it again. You guys are gonna either get San Jose or Anaheim...depending on how that Game 7 tomorrow turns out. I think you guys can beat either team. I say the West is pretty much wide open with Dallas and Detroit out of the picture. There's not much seperation between Calgary at #3 and Edmonton at #8 in my view.

We've got the East figured out now...still waiting on that Flames-Ducks series to finish up. It would be kind of ironic if the Ducks win Wednesday and that would result in the the 5-8 seeds advancing in the West with the 1-4 seeds already advancing in the East. That's kind of a strange occurence if it happens. Still, the Flames would be the highest remaining seed if they win and the West would be without the 1 and 2 seed after one round.

Shoalzie wrote:Kind of looked too far ahead to that Avs-Wings series, didn't I? Wishful thinking...would've been fun to get back at it again. You guys are gonna either get San Jose or Anaheim.

Thanks for nothing Detroit. It would have been nice to play a series against a team in the Eastern Time Zone. Sucks when games start at 8:30 and I have to have my hung-over ass to work by 6am