Recap - Avalanche 4, Islanders 3 (OT): Blown 3-0 lead = 1-5-3

 - OK, not really.

Just can’t defend for his life when forwards are attacking with speed.

The worst part about this is, he’s a defenseman…

Its ridiculous. I cant believe people are making excuses for Montoya. How many nice saves did Montoya make during this game? I didnt see anything where Montoya robbed anyone. Shot total is irrelevant when you let in 2 absolutely terrible goals to complete a 3 goal comeback by the other team. The goal in OT wasnt the greatest either. He couldnt see but that shot floated in from just inside the blueline. Where is your positioning?
Also, does anyone know why Capuano called a timeout? I was actually pleasantly surprised that he used it and thought he was going to rip into the guys. Instead, the camera focuses on him and hes just standing behind the bench peering into space. This guy is clueless. All we’ve been doing with our young core is developing a losing atmosphere.

Al is getting a big pass on last night IMHO.

The 2 goals in the Third were softies.
DP would never get the benefit of the doubt like Montoya did 2nite.

1. 5-on-3 PK screened shot from the point, Staios doesn’t do anything with his check or the puck. rebound… goal. Yeah.. that was soft.
2. I’m not sure how that went in. there are three things it could have deflected in off of. Hamonic’s skate, the Av’s skate or the inside of Al’s pad. What does HE do better there to square up for that… maybe he’s a little deeper in the net.. I don’t know.
3. Looked like a tip by Mottau might have made it knuckle. Questionable… I’d have had to see it from his angle…
4. I’m not going to kill staios because of the 4-on-3 situation, but he’s caught in space while the free man is left to screen Montoya… no pressure on the puck and a free man in front of the net… yeah… pretty soft.
51 shots, 47 saves… yep… this one was montoya’s fault all the way.
Imagine if DP had a .920+ save percentage, how people would be saying he deserved the #1 spot.

11/24/10
In capuano’s 4th game as the NYI head coach he did something that had been missing since Nolan’s last game. Watch that video. Gillies got the same 2-5-10 that Martin did last night. The difference is that Martin is an adequate fighter, Gillies is a PUNISHER.
Konopka was a nice shot of adrenaline for the players and crowd every once in a while, but he rarely was there to punish… he was more important as a FO guy. I’d rather have Reasoner winning faceoffs, and Gillies or Haley up as guys who make noses bleed.
But those guys are luxuries that teams that score two goals per game can not easily afford. They might be the spark that gets things going, but the more likely scenario, as we saw all too often is that they are the 4 minute per game defensive liabilities that do little but try to pump up the team from the bench.
Martin did what he could, and maybe the promotion of Nino will bring back Gillies. I thought Haley would have been a possibility, but not the way he’s been performing at the AHL level, and not with three goalies jamming up the roster. Gillies would mean that Pandolfo (almost a lock to disapper when Nino is returned) and Rolston (temporarily) will be waived or in the press box.
What they really need is a D, that can give them 18 minutes a night, and will drop them. Hamonic is going to be that guy… but much like Martin, he’s still a guard puppy.
That’s the problem with building through the draft is that you can’t fix everything in one cycle. We can’t get to a defense that includes Hamonic, Mayfield, Pedan and Kichton soon enough.

But you must have dozed off when stopped at the Habitat for Humanity work site in northeast Utah. Being late, it was closed, so he just sort of froze the puck for a second, did a quick check around the premises and then left a note saying he brought his hammer and awesome mustache and will be back tomorrow.

I don’t like to criticize sports officials (being one, I understand how tough it can be), but c’mon

I really, really don’t like to harp on the refs either, and I hate the conspiracy feeling. Sometimes it’s just so bad that you can’t avoid it. I wish they’d won last night just so I could really unleash a rant about every moment of insanity without just sounding like a bitter sore loser.

Maybe every team gets screwed, but the Isles’ margin for error is so thin that when they get screwed it really stands out.

I’m sorry, has Montoya not shown he’s the number one yet?
47/51 saves. The first crack was on a 5-on-3 PK and the fourth was on a 4-on-3 OT PK.
Montoya has definitely earned #1 status with this team. He should get the start in Vancouver, and barring a collapse the first home start as well.
As far as winning a game… the breakaway save in OT was pretty neat. Maybe a defensman who can clear screens wins that game for them.
Maybe Jurcina instead of Mottau…
Just sayin’.

I’m not sure if it was that or the isles tiring themselves out too early into the game.

I’d hate to have to agree, when you’re on a 4-on-3 in OT maybe it’s a better idea to play your best PK’ers, including your best centerman and your best defenders. That was a poor coaching decision on Cappy.

Never saw that one coming, weren’t you a DP hater not to long ago?

Sorry, this is going to be my new thing. Hope it’s not offensive…but I can’t help it!

Gillies “might” do something if he was up and saw that. Martin did his job though. The guy tied him up too quick and hugged him. Martin should have just started throwing on him the second he squared off. Although the cross check to the guys chest was nice to see.

Then, people bitch when Gillies is in Bridgeport and the team is soft.

Fans can’t have it both ways. Pick one or the other. Jesus.

all of the numbers at capgeek.

It largely depends on the swap. For example, Mottau for Wishart would make virtually no change. But Haley replacing Pandalfo would cut almost $1 million.

The floor and the ceiling apply to the actual payouts, and aren’t just the sum total of the team’s contracts.

For example, if the team is one million above the floor, they can’t waive a $2 M guy and bring up a league-minimum ($500K) guy…. at least not right away. But fast-forward to game 28. You’ve just finished one-third of the season. Now you CAN make that move. Why? Because you’ve paid Mr. Two Mil $666,667 of his salary for the year, and you owe Mr. Minimum $333,333. That equals $1 M, and that means that the total salary paid out will get you to the league’s minimum.

This is the same reason why a team close to the ceiling can’t add an expensive player early in the year, but can do it at the deadline, when there’s much less salary owing to that player.

I agree inasmuch as I don’t think the Isles played worse in the third than they did in the first and second. The Avs certainly played better, but that should have just meant a scoreless third period. If Montoya kicks that puck behind the net instead of into it; if Mottau’s deflection winds up over the glass… then we’re all talking about the Isles’ turning point and the Avs “waking up too late.” The perception is entirely different based on those two things, and they’re pretty much out of anyone’s control – a matter of a milimeter here or there.

If nothing else, you remind us that every team in the league thinks the refs have it in for them. We know they’re just black-hearted kitten eaters who hate hockey and joy…

Good luck the rest of the way.

Avs fans are pretty convinced there was a sub-clause in the last CBA that said "screw the Avalanche whenever possible" and the refs have taken it to heart ever since.

No offense, but I have to think that young/inconsistent/stupid teams get a lot of this…we’ve been looking at it for years. I thought it was a great game up until we lost of course. I felt like the Isles outplayed the Avs and was pretty shocked at the shot totals.

You complain about your owner paying too much to players, we complain about our owners not caring about the franchise and refusing to pay enough.

This goes both ways here…much of the fanbase has complained about being a cap floor team…many have realized that drafting is the key to a rebuild, so they’ve recognized that “cap floor” is kind of a symptom of having a young roster. What we are complaining about mostly is the how they are choosing to spend the money, not so much how it’s spent. For instance, the total cap hit for Staios/Pandolfo and Rolston is about 7.8 million and (some in bonuses), but 6.6 cash value. Many believe that for 6.6 million, we could have landed one really good player instead of 3 pretty bad ones.

I guess there are a lot of parallels between our fanbases and teams that go beyond the Tavares/Duchene connection that everyone wants to talk about.

It’s funny, I haven’t followed the Avs that closely, but The Copper and Blue keeps putting out stuff on the Oilers that seems like it happened here within a year or two ago. They are obviously playing better than the Isles right now, but I feel like the Isles are probably a little further along in their rebuild. Watching the Oil clamor for “toughness” to “protect the kids” over the summer and how that doesn’t work etc. It’s amazing that everyone thinks it only happens to them. I’m sure most of the young and inexperienced teams fanbases are talking about “60 minute efforts” and “closing out games” and “inconsistency” etc. etc.

I guess the biggest difference between the Isles and most other rebuilds it that the Isles legitimately had no quality players anywhere in the organization when they started it. (Smyth walked, Yashin buy out, DP injury) Milbury destroyed the prospect system, overpaid everyone so they couldn’t be moved and so, the Isles had to start from absolutely nothing. Nobody to trade for picks, nobody waiting to grab an NHL job.

It will be interesting to see the rebuild paths go. Good luck, it was a very entertaining game, and it looks like the Avs have a pretty good future. Try to get somebody to trade us Stastny for Comeau and a 2nd (I made this proposal obviously bad on purpose).

And real high up. I propose going forward, all games in Colorado stop after the second period cause people get all tired from the altitude and shit. Refs too.

Yeah, it probably should have, but “Too Little, Too Late” has been the theme song of the Avs this entire calendar year. Our coach’s favorite saying is “We didn’t start on time”. This game reminded all of us so much of the ones from last year – play okay at the beginning, give up a goal and completely deflate, let in a bunch more, then try to make it interesting at the end while frustrating the fans and making them scream “WHY COULDN’T YOU HAVE PLAYED LIKE THAT IN THE FIRST?!” before pathetically losing and doing it all over again the next night.

This game really does have the potential to be a turning point for us because it shows this team is able to actually mount a push at the end that gets them somewhere. That’s how we made the playoffs in ‘10 – finding ways to win even though we shouldn’t. It became a bit of an identity for our team, one that we got away from last year. If we can use this game to recapture some of that “never say die” attitude, it could be what we need to get us back into the playoff picture.

I think both fanbases are pretty pissed that our teams didn’t put together a full 60 minutes. The Avs have still only done that once this season in our game against LA (our only other home win). I’m glad it was a 3pt game – the Isles deserved something for making the Avs look like crap for the first 40.