Despite a flurry of personnel moves, due to trades and injuries, the
Avalanche were starting to show signs of putting something together.
The three big guns, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Valeri Kamensky,
were all hot; Patrick Roy remembered he was Patrick Roy; the defense
held together under the leadership of Aaron Miller; and the Avs put
together their first four-game unbeaten streak of the year.
After years of frustration, Phoenix had the Avs' number early this
year, dominating them in two early-season games. So, a 1-1 tie
could be counted as a moral victory. Roy, putting his early-season
struggles behind him, was spectacular, which was nice, because the
rest of the game was duller than dirt.
Not so the next game, against the resurgent Tampa Bay Lightning. It
was an old-fashioned Avalanche slaughter, as the boys in burgundy
and blue racked up eight goals (including one by Alexei Gusarov,
the first goal by an Avalanche defenseman this season), and
Forsberg, Sakic and Deadmarsh looked swell.
The next game was against Vancouver, who hadn't beaten the Avs in a
regular season game since 1995, and that didn't change here.
Colorado squeaked by as Adam Deadmarsh rang up both goals, and
almost all was good -- except an injury to Jon Klemm, depleting the
defensive corps even further.
Valeri Kamensky came back from an injury to get hot the next game,
with a hat trick and an assist against the mighty Islanders of New
York as the Avalanche won 5-2 to extend their unbeaten streak to
four games, and almost all was good -- except an injury to Alexei
Gusarov, depleting the defensive corps even further. (Ah, the magic
of copy and paste.)
Remember two paragraphs ago, when I mentioned that the Canucks
hadn't beaten Colorado since 1995? That was foreshadowing, except I
didn't do it too well. The `Nucks came into McNichols Arena and
slaughtered Colorado 5-0, the fourth shutout against the Avs this
year (by Garth Snow, no less); the team's worst performance in,
well, weeks; and Mike Keenan's 500th victory, making him and his
pet rat very happy.
Then, back on the road, and another win, as Patrick Roy beat his old
pals in Montreal yet again. The game had a nice little ceremony, too,
as former Nordiques and new Hall of Fame inductees Peter Stastny and
Michel Goulet were honored.
Still No Ozo
As the Avalanche defense was reduced to a four-man rotation due to
injuries, all-star Sandis Ozolinsh continued to sit in Latvia as
contract negotiations lagged. Ozolinsh's agent Paul Theofanous
reported that Ozo wanted a trade, frustrated by the lack of
progress. GM Pierre Lacroix replied that he didn't want to trade
Ozolinsh. Doesn't want to sign him much, either, it appears.
More Trades
The Avalanche shuffle continued as the team struggled. First, Roman
Vopat continued his tour of every NHL city, as he went from
Colorado to Chicago for Cam Russell without ever having played for
the Avs. (Russell, despite me mocking him repeatedly upon the
announcement of the trade, has done pretty well.) Then, scrappy
right wing Keith Jones went to Philadelphia for scrappy right wing
Shjon Podein, a pretty good trade -- Podein makes about $500,000
less per year than Jones (freeing up money to sign, say, Sandis
Ozolinsh); Jones had been racked by injuries for the past two
seasons; and Jones wasn't happy -- he admitted to being one of the
players not pleased with Eric Lacroix's (now departed) presence in
the locker room.
Would more come? Stay tuned! Rumors continued to swirl around Valeri
Kamensky and Claude Lemieux.
The Return of Roy
Patrick Roy kind of, well, stunk in the early going this year,
prompting speculation that he was too old, that he had lost the
desire, that he had been possessed by the spirit of Andre Racicot,
etc. Well, November lit Patty's fire, perhaps in anticipation of
all that turkey - he's on a five-game unbeaten streak (Craig
Billington played that debacle against Phoenix), and hasn't given
up more than two goals in a game since Nov. 4 against Toronto.
Pretty good, eh?
Signings
Adam Foote, who'd already been demanding a trade in anticipation of
the next offseason, and Jeff Odgers both were rewarded with
contract extensions. It's never been the Avalanche way to take care
of business early and avoid ugly squabbles in the summer, so this
was a nice change of pace.
