Avalanche finds target
Colorado scores its most goals since last season in beating Oilers
By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News
Friday, December 1, 2006
EDMONTON, Alberta - The weather warmed up considerably in this Canadian province after several days of subzero Fahrenheit temperatures, and so did the Avalanche offense.
The most shocking development during the Avalanche's 7-3 rout of the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place is it came against goalie Dwayne Roloson, who had been spectacular in recent starts.
It wasn't the case Thursday night.
The Avalanche chased Roloson midway through the second period with six goals on 20 shots en route to its fifth win in seven games, the victory coming on the heels of Tuesday's 5-2 stinker in Calgary.
"Nobody was pleased with the effort in that one, that's for sure," said John-Michael Liles, who had one goal and two assists. "We needed to come out strong and play well. Guys kept going and kept hammering away. We got a few bounces and we snuck a few by 'Rollie,' which doesn't happen very often."
The seven goals were the most by the Avalanche since a 7-4 victory against Phoenix on Dec. 26 last season and the most allowed by the Oilers since a 7-1 drubbing to Colorado on Oct. 21, 2005.
"It was nice to see some offense," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We
haven't had many games like that all year. We'd like to build something as far as getting a streak going. We get two (wins in a row), and then we get stalled."
The Avalanche has yet to win three in a row, but first it will attempt to make it two in a row Saturday in Vancouver in the final game of the trip.
"You look at our division, and from top to bottom, it's air tight," Quenneville said. "Is it going to be like that all year? I don't know, but certainly we'd like to push to the top."
Tyler Arnason matched a season and career high for points in a game with three in the first period, when he scored two goals, and Ken Klee had a career-high-tying three assists in the period.
"That about doubled my season (output) right there," said Klee, who has seven points, six on assists. "I want to chip in when I can, but it's important for us to get our offensive guys on track and feeling good."
Marek Svatos added two goals, Milan Hejduk had one goal and one assist, Paul Stastny one goal and Joe Sakic two assists.
"We just came out and played our game," Arnason said. "When we do that, the other team is going to make mistakes. We let them make them and we capitalized. We came out the same way we did in Calgary, but things went a little better. I don't know what it was, but hopefully it will continue."
All this after it appeared Avalanche goalie Peter Budaj would be in for a rough ride when Edmonton's Joffrey Lupul scored on the first shot of the game. He converted Raffi Torres' pass at 1:22 after Torres skated by defenseman Patrice Brisebois.
A Brisebois giveaway led to a breakaway by Ryan Smyth, who tied the score 2-2 at 11:18 with his 250th career goal.
But it was all Avalanche after that.
"It helps when the team scores seven goals. You should be able to win the hockey game then," Budaj said. "Credit to the guys because they played really well."
Stastny put the Avalanche in front for good at 16:18 when he tipped Liles' shot past Roloson, and Arnason scored his second of the game at 18:13 with a rocket of a shot from the left circle.
"(It was) a little harder than I can usually shoot it," Arnason said. "That was as good as it gets."
Roloson, who began the night on a 6-0-1 roll, gave up second-period goals to Hejduk on a power play at the 34-second mark and to Svatos, who used a back-hander to swat the puck in at 9:53.
Roloson was replaced at that point by Jussi Markkanen, who might have come in earlier except he has been bothered by a sore knee.
The Avalanche took nine shots after the goalie change, with Svatos netting the lone goal on a breakaway at 3:34 of the third period.
"Everything came crashing down on us," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "The way we've been playing, ultimately, you have to face the Reaper."
KNOCKED DOWN: Avalanche center Brad Richardson was leveled on a big hit from Smyth with 1:38 remaining in the game and lay on the ice for a while. He walked into the locker room under his own power after the game.
| Colorado......4 | 2 | 1 | - | 7 |
| Edmonton......2 | 0 | 1 | - | 3 |
First period - 1, Edm, Lupul 8 (Torres, Reasoner), 1:22. 2, Col, Liles 5 (Arnason, Hejduk), 4:55. 3, Col, Arnason 7 (Klee, McLean), 7:35. 4, Edm, Smyth 16 (Horcoff), 11:18. 5, Col, Stastny 7 (Liles, Klee), 16:18. 6, Col, Arnason 8 (McLean, Klee), 18:13. Penalties - Col bench, served by McLean (too many men, too many men), 14:39, Reasoner, Edm (stick holding), 19:32.
Second period - 7, Col, Hejduk 9 (Liles, Sakic), :34 (pp). 8, Col, Svatos 8 (Clark, Sakic), 9:53. Penalties - Reasoner, Edm (tripping), 16:13.
Third period - 9, Col, Svatos 9, 3:34. 10, Edm, Stoll 6 (Sykora, Pouliot), 12:49. Penalties - Klee, Col, (closing hand on puck), 7:28, Laperriere, Col, (unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:22.
Shots - Col 10-12-7 - 29. Edm 7-10-7 - 24. Power plays - Col 1 of 2; Edm 0 of 2. Goalies - Col, Budaj 5-4-1 (24 shots-21 saves). Edm, Roloson 12-7-2 (20 shots-14 saves), Markkanen (9:53 Second, 9-8). A - 16,839 (16,839). T - 2:19. Referees - Dan Marouelli, Rob Shick. Linesmen - Mark Pare, Jay Sharrers.