Duchene brings home third star of the week honors after a stellar showing.
Artwork by Rebecca Holt
In any major sport a victory is sweet, but nothing can match the taste of shutting your opponent out in a victory. The Avalanche must be feeling this now, coming off of a shutout victory against offensively stacked Tampa Bay. Colorado actually posted relatively low numbers in the shots on goal column with only 29, in comparison to Tampa’s 33. Following this lovely night, the Avs once again find themselves on the stingy side with a 4-0 shutout over the St. Louis Blues in St. Louis.
Craig Anderson seems to have found his ability again after quite the slump, standing strong in the crease for one more evening in his win column. Anderson has faltered in his ability of late it seems. Though, it is looking as if he is trying to climb his way back into the good graces of Colorado’s fans.
Enough about Craig Anderson: he has had his moment; the real star of the night goes to rookie phenom, Matt Duchene, scoring two goals to lead his team to the 3-0 shutout win. The third pick of the first round for the Avs boasts four goals and seven total points over his last seven games; these points accounting for half of his total fourteen on the season thus far. “An 18-year old that went to the net and got two goals,” Tampa Bay Coach Rick Tocchet put it bluntly enough. Duchene scored also in the Blues match-up, topping off his 4 goal, 2 assist performance for the week, earning him third-star honors.
Oddly enough though, most of the attention of the evening, and following days for that matter, was given to Washington Capitals infamous Alexander Ovechkin, after suffering a knee-to-knee collision with Carolina’s d-man, Tim Gleason. Not too far into the first period as it was, the Capitals without their leading scorer still managed to pull out the victory 3-2 over the very quiet Carolina Hurricane storm. Ovechkin will not be suspended, considering the review of the hit seemed to deem it as intentional. I say, let him play; he is one of the most exciting players in the NHL, and if Duchene has to compete for the spotlight as a rookie, I say good for him. It will only build that character he needs to be even more of a consistent player in the future.
As the Avalanche enter December, they still stand shaky in their abilities. They have the potential to fight through another winning month, but the odds are leaning more towards something of mediocrity. Starting off the twelfth month with a road-stand against the Florida Panthers, the Pittsburgh Penguins(so far their only losses), the boys have been heating up with two road wins to bounce back,iIncluding one stellar shutout against an always-difficult St. Louis Blues squad, following a win in Columbus against Rick Nash’s Blue Jackets.
The next opponent on the Avalanche’s list is the Minnesota Wild. In their last match-up, in St. Paul, Colorado found themselves falling just short in a shootout loss to the average Wild. We can hope they are reflecting on that loss now, as they prepare to extend their win-streak further into the chilly December month. The Avs don’t look to just start a hot-streak, they look to start an Avalanche, and the rest of us are looking for that right now, too.
