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Avs come up short in Chicago

By Aaron J. Lopez, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 17, 2008 at 2:23 p.m.
Updated February 17, 2008 at 3:57 p.m.

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CHICAGO — Before Sunday’s game against the Avalanche, Chicago Blackhawks coach Denis Savard showed his players a motivational highlight video set to music.

Asked if the Avalanche needed a similar mental pick-me-up after losing 2-1 to the Blackhawks, veteran forward Ian Laperriere scoffed.

“Are you kidding me? I don’t believe in that. It’s junior stuff. If they want to do that, good for them. If you can’t get motivation every night inside you, you’ve got a problem,” Laperriere said.

Cliché? Perhaps. Effective? Apparently.

Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville might want to dig into his bag of coaching tricks before his slumping team faces the NHL-leading Detroit Red Wings tonight at the Pepsi Center.

It certainly couldn’t hurt as Colorado tries to break out of a losing streak that reached three games Sunday in front of a sold-out crowd at the United Center.

Facing a Blackhawks team playing at home for the first time in more than three weeks, the Avalanche fell behind early and could not overcome another pitiful showing on the power play.

“I didn’t like how we played,” Quenneville said. “We were on the receiving end all night. (Goalie) Jose (Theodore) kept us in the game, gave us a chance. We almost got lucky to get it to overtime, but we weren’t pleased with how we played at all.”

Jaroslav Hlinka scored Colorado’s only goal, ending Patrick Lalime’s shutout bid with 2:25 remaining. The Avalanche went on the power play with 2:03 to go but managed only one shot despite pulling Theodore for an extra skater for the final 75 seconds.

The Avalanche, which has the second-worst power play in the NHL, finished 0-for-7 on the power play, including a five-on-three advantage that spanned 68 seconds of the first period.

“The power play’s definitely an issue,” Quenneville said. “Today wasn’t good enough. We missed a couple empty nets on the first couple and then it wasn’t very effective.”

Playing their first home game since Jan. 24, the Blackhawks came out with more energy than the Avalanche, which has gone three games without a point for the second time this season.

Rookie Patrick Kane said he and his teammates were inspired in part by a short pregame video put together by the Blackhawks staff.

“The video screen was down. We all thought they were going to show us something on Colorado again,” Kane said. “I think it got the boys pumped. We came out flying in first period, so it was definitely pretty cool.”

While the Blackhawks came out strong, the Avalanche looked in need of a spark.

The seeds of defeat were planted early. Thirty-six seconds after John-Michael Liles was called for hooking, Dustin Byfuglien deflected a long blast by James Wisniewski to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.

“I saw the puck all the way,” Theodore said. “He just got a stick on it. It was a nice tip.”

The Avalanche had an opportunity to tie the score when the Blackhawks took three penalties in a 3:15 span late in the period but failed to capitalize.

The most deflating sequence came when Colorado could not score on a its extended five-on-three.

“You can always point fingers, but honestly, everybody’s got to contribute,” defenseman Jordan Leopold said. “When your time’s up on the power play or when you’re short-handed, you’ve got a job to do and you’ve got to do it.”

Down 1-0 after a dismal first period, the Avalanche saw its chances diminish when Martin Havlat scored from the right circle 2:53 into the second. The goal came after Theodore made consecutive saves only to see his defensemen fail to clear the puck out of the zone.

“I was ready to freeze (the puck) and then we tried to clear it and they were there,” Thedore said. “They’ve got some skill players and made a nice play.”

The margin of defeat would have been greater if not for Theodore. Two days after allowing three goals on seven shots against St. Louis, he finished with 25 saves, including several that kept Colorado close in the game’s final minutes.

The effort was not reciprocal. After testing Lalime with 11 shots in the first period, the Avalanche managed only 11 shots the rest of the way.

“We were in our end a lot,” Quenneville said. “We didn’t have the puck a lot. We made several direct passes from our sticks to their sticks without pressure. That’s not our game.”

With 23 games remaining, the Avalanche finds itself at a critical juncture. When the team wasn’t winning on the road earlier in the season, it was taking care of business at home. When things went bad at home, the Avalanche made up for it on the road.

Neither seems a safe haven at this point.

It’s a short trip — five points, to be exact — from ninth in the West to 13th, the spot currently held by the surging Blackhawks.

“It was a danger zone two months ago, too,” Laperriere said. “It”s been tight. It’s going to be tight until the end. ... We’re cheating some points and we just need to be gritty and ugly hockey. That’s what we were doing a couple games ago. We need to get back to it.”

Comments

  • February 18, 2008

    8:15 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Lanchelover writes:

    The Avalanche need to get rid of Joel. I realize that the Avs have had a number of injuries this season, but as he proved when he was with St. Louis, and they had strong teams, that he just does not seem to have what it takes to get the most out of his players. Either that, or maybe he just isn't really good at finding the right line combinations. Our Power(less)-play is a prime example of poor coaching. All season long defenses have been playing down low on penalty kills because we do not have a defenseman with a shot from the point, and all season long we have done nothing to address this.

    The Avs are so frustrating to watch. This team, when healthy, should be fighting for the Stanley Cup, but if they do not pull it together they will be fighting for the 8th seed of the play-offs.

    Our goalies have really been the true bright spot of this team this season. How many more games do they have to post a shut-out in order to have an opportunity to win, or tie? We continue to lose while scoring 1 or fewer goals. AAARRRGGGH! The GM had better address the scoring deficiency prior to the 26th.

    Get rid of Joel.
    Get a D with a blistering shot from the point.
    Get our stars healthy.

    Go AVS

  • February 18, 2008

    11:27 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    sqjnk writes:

    a good friend and hockey fan once told me, in fact has told me many times, the avs will go nowhere fast with quenville. He never got it done in St. Louis when they had the players, he'll never get it done in denver. I didn't believe him untill recently.
    Coach Q is a mediocre coach who makes his teams largely mediocre. He's had his chance with teams with plenty of stars, strong role players and young talent. He has had to play many seasons with average at best goaltending, but he has the pieces he needs to at least secure a spot in the playoffs. If the avs miss the playoffs or get booted in the first round, quenville MUST go.