The Good Guys: Were absolute guano on Monday, getting raced in Phoenix by the Coyotes by a 6-1 margin. 2 goals apiece for Coyotes captain Shane Doan and double-last-names-guy Boyd Gordon were enough to send Avs starting goalie Semyon Varlamov fleeing from the dressing room without talking to oversensitive beat reporters after the game. Watching the game was only about 50% as uncomfortable as watching people complain about Varlamov not talking to the reporters.
Bunch Of Dicks: Colorado welcomes the Florida Panthers and old friend Tomas Fleischmann to Denver for the teams' only meeting of the season. The Panthers did what many Avs fans hoped their team would do in the offseason and threw a bunch of money at mid-tier free agents in an attempt to drag the team to respectability. Thus far, the weird science has worked, as the Panthers sit atop the Southeast Division, ahead of the mediocre Caps and three interchangeable teams that may or may not be ECHL refugees.
We Like: Not a goddam thing. Monday's game sucked, and I've been pouting ever since. That said: a win tonight puts the Avs back into the top 8. Treading water is just good enough right now, as the Avs slog through a rough January schedule without Matt Duchene, and none of the other Western Conference bubble teams have asserted themselves. Sooner or later, Colorado is going to have to string some wins together again, similar to their December, and a win tonight would be a good start.
We Don't Like: The gradual descent of Brandon Yip, which led to Yip's waiver today. Yip provided some touch and some jam playing alongside Matt Duchene in 2009-10, but last season and this season, the "curse of 18" struck. Yip battled injuries and inconsistency, along with rumors of a lack of commitment. Hopefully the kid can find himself in Lake Erie, if he goes unclaimed. If he DOES get claimed, hopefully it will be by a team in the East, because we all know what happens with former Avs in games against the current team.
Randomly:
Tonight's Hero: Peter Mueller is about a year-and-a-half overdue. Mueller nets two tonight.
Tonight's Goat: Does Greg Sherman pay the price for not trying harder to re-sign Tomas Fleischmann in the offseason?
Final Thought: The Avs are wearing their blue alternate jerseys tonight. Most of the fanbase seems to hate them. Their proximity to Quebec blue gives me eyegasms.
Panthers 4, Avs 2
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