The Avs start the week taking on the Ducks in Anaheim on Sunday. The teams have split the two games they’ve played this season, each team winning on the road. The teams finish the season series March 31st in Denver.

Monday the Avs begin a rare home-and-home series with the LA Kings at the Staples Center, the first of three games in the last month of the season between these teams.
The second game will be Wednesday at the Pepsi Center in Denver. The teams will finish their series on the last day of the season, April 11th in Denver.
LA has won the only game between these teams this season, 3-0 on February 13th.

The Avs head back out on the road Saturday, taking on the Coyotes in Phoenix to finish their season series. Colorado leads this season, two games to one.

Sunday sees the Avs in San Jose for the third of four meetings this season. The teams split the first two games this season back in October. The final game will be April 4th in Denver.

NOTES
-The Avalanche signed 2006 draft pick Mike Carman to an entry-level contract and assigned him to their American Hockey League affiliate in Lake Erie. Carman recently finished his senior season with the University of Minnesota. He scored 29 goals and 37 assists for 66 points in 135 games with the Gophers.
-Ryan Stoa, Carman’s former teammate at Minnesota, was returned to Lake Erie by the Avs.
-Goalie Craig Anderson started in 23 consecutive games, compiling a record of 15-8. In his first season as an NHL starter he has set career records in victories, starts, games played. He leads the NHL in shots faced and has been the most valuable player for the Avalanche this season.

-Matt Duchene continues to lead all NHL rookies in scoring and is being mentioned as a leading candidate to win  the Calder Trophy as Rookie-of-the-Year.
-Defenseman Ryan Wilson suffered a mild concussion in a fight with Calgary’s Jamal Mayers. He is listed as day-to-day.
-Injured players David Jones, Brandon Yip and David Koci have resumed skating. Jones has been out since November 28th, Yip since March 1st and Koci since February 8th.

-Of the Avs final 12 games, only 3 are against Northwest Division opponents. They play the Calgary Flames in Denver on April 2nd, and make a two game road trip to Vancouver and Edmonton on April 6th and 7th.

Photo courtesy of C. Alexander

For those of you that follow me on Twitter you have seen an array of colorful tweets ranging from “The #Sharks have more turnovers than a bakery!!”, “Where’s Brooks Laich to cue the comeback? Hahaha #Sharks”, “#Sharks are playing flat, no jump in there game”, “ALL ABOARD THE #FAILBOAT #SHARKS”.  Don’t get me wrong I love the team but man has it been frustrating to watch them.

I recently traveled to Anaheim (my first time at Honda Center) to see the Sharks play.  I can sum the game up with, “wow this place is empty”, “I wonder if anyone would care if I move down to the seats behind the bench?”, and “I’m glad I didn’t spend $100 on this ticket.” Besides the missed calls by the refs, San Jose failed to impress losing to a Ducks team with a half filled arena (see below) and with fans that read the paper when their team is winning!  I spent the 2 ½ hour bumper to bumper trek back home wondering what the is going on with their game?

"hmmm the DOW has dropped 3 pts..."

Right now the Sharks are 2^nd in the Western Conference 43-18-10 with 11 games left this season so let’s not panic just yet.  They’re human and make mistakes but as we know if they don’t fix the problem they don’t get the cup and some may not in a Sharks jersey next year.  Actually that may not be a bad thing come to think of it.  The only players, in my opinion, that have actually showed up every game in the last 10 are Ryane Clowe and Joe Pavelski, with a semi-nod to Dany Heatley.

Randy Hahn said tonight “Pavelski and Clowe have been the best on this road trip”.  In the last six games alone Clowe has 2 goals 3 assists and Pavelski has 3 goals 5 assists.  They are really playing every minute of every shift grinding it out with Clowe even dropping the mitts.  As I said in my last post Pavelski has not slowed down his game after the Olympics so there is no excuse for Thornton, Marleau, Boyle or Heatley to not bring their game up.

Photo courtesy of C. Alexander

Next up for the Sharks is the Edmonton Oilers who beat the Detroit Redwings tonight in the shootout.  This will be another big test for the boys against a team that is desperate to prove themselves having only won 1 of the last 7 games.  The action starts at 5pm PST/ 8pm EST.

Side note: I will be a guest on TheProgram with Chris, Rick, and Mike on Sunday @ 5pm PST: www.blogtalkradio.com/theprogram talking Sharks hockey, head shots in the NHL, and other little tid bits!  Tune in!

As always follow me on Twitter for live game updates and hockey talk: http//twitter.com/Calexander17

In case you didn't believe me

echo! echo! echo!

Sabres made quick work of making sure that they could strike before the Lightning and hand them their third straight loss.

The first period alone Buffalo was assessed 21 minutes worth of penalties that included Craig Rivet receiving a five minute fighting major, a two minute instigator along with a 10 minute misconduct just over two minutes into the game.

Jason Pominville of the Buffalo Sabres open the scoring for the night with a power play goal just over five minutes into the game; and showed no signs of slowing down as he went on to record a hat trick.

Tampa Bay’s best scoring chance came on a breakaway by Vincent Lecavalier that was stopped by Ryan Miller. Miller made 23 saves and held the Lightning scoreless until the third in route to a 6 – 2 victory in Tampa Bay.

Also scoring for the Sabres’ were Tyler Myers in the first, Thomas Vanek with an empty net goal, and Derek Roy scored a short handed goal in the second.

One of the hottest lines in the NHL has been the Steven Stamkos, Steve Downie, and Martin St. Louis line and they did not disappoint this game. Nearly half way though the third Stamkos and St. Louis assisted on Downie’s goal.

Stamkos earned a second point from an assist on the power play goal scored by Vincent Lecavalier make him to 42 goals and 40 assist for the season.

Three Stars: Jason Pominville, Derek Roy, Ryan Miller

Winning Goaltender: Ryan Miller

Losing Goaltender: Antero Niittymaki

Nashville Predators had a strong home showing against the Minnestoa Wild as the Predators extend their winning streak to four while ending the Wild’s streak at three.

Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne earned his fifth shutout of the season (the 12th in his career) as they beat the Wild 5-0.  Colin Wilson opened the scoring at 7:07 in the first with an unassisted wrist shot.  J.P. Dumont and Jason Arnott also scored in the first.

“We played well with the lead, and we played with confidence at the end of the game,” Predators’ Arnott stated. “Everybody contributed tonight and we came out with a big two points.”

Marcel Goc scored his 12th of the season while he and Patric Hornqvist with a power play goal round out the goal scoring for the Predators.

Wild Captain Miko Koivu was held to only one shot on goal for the game out of his  in his 16:33 minutes of ice time.   Even Latendresse was held off the box score other than having a plus minus of negative-two for the game.

Coming back from the second intermission down by four Wade Dubielewicz replaced Harding in net for the Wild.

“We weren’t that good today,” Harding said. “The great thing about hockey is that we can forget about this one and get ready for tomorrow. I think we all know we need to be better.”

And they will have to be if they plan on extending their season.

Three Stars: Colin Wilson, Jason Arnott, Pekka Rinne

Winning Goaltender: Pekka Rinne

Losing Goaltender: Josh Harding

For one, the Bruins are currently holding on to the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with the New York Rangers only three points behind. Boston is coming off a seven-game road trip where the team went 3-3-1, keeping the status quo that has been present all season long. But it’s hard for one to forget the real reason why this game is receiving playoff-type hype and national attention. Think of it as a rematch of sorts.

The Bruins faceoff against the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first time since winger Matt Cooke delivered a blindside blow to Marc Savard ending the playmaker’s season. Cooke went away without any retaliation from Boston and without a suspension on behalf of the NHL. Retribution night in Boston? Perhaps, but what makes tonight even sweeter is that NHL big-wig, Colin Campbell is in the building and has spoken to both teams before the first drop of the puck.

“Avenge Savard!” has been the theme of the day but it’ll be interesting to see exactly how the Bruins play their hand tonight.

7:00 pm: The night starts out with a celebration of sorts: the anniversary of the 1970 Boston Bruins Stanley Cup team. Really neat to see everyone in person on the ice. At the rate the Bruins are going at now, I’ll be in my 60s to see the 40th anniversary of any Stanley Cup team. Something to look forward to?

7:15 pm: Just a note, I’ll promise to keep my Dennis Wideman quips to a minimum tonight, but how varied were the responses of applause from the audience between Wides and Mark Stuart? Felt like Wideman was dressing for Pittsburgh tonight.

7:18 pm: Puck’s about to drop. Playoff-type atmosphere right now. As a hockey fan, this is going to be a lot of fun.

18:02, 1st: The most aggressive fight I’ve seen all season from any Bruin lands Shawn Thornton with an additional 10-minute misconduct against a lifeless Cooke. Thornton was relentless and the hockey fan in me, loved it. Thornton got the misconduct because he tried to punch Cooke after the linesman stepped in.

14:24, 1st: Cooke gets out of the box after 13 minutes. I’m already getting texts from friends asking if this it for the Bruins’ response. My answer? No.

11:26, 1st: Pittsburgh strikes first after Tyler Kennedy goes the length of the ice and beats Tuukka Rask top-shelf. Some mysterious missed calls though from these so-called ‘veteran’ refs. We get that Pittsburgh is the NHL’s second coming, but come on. Call the game as it should be called, not the way that Colin Campbell would like.

9:53, 1st: Another Bruins writer just made the observation that there were a ton of Penguins fans here. Yes, but how many were fans four years ago? Crickets? Bueller? Bueller?

7:08, 1st: Matt Cooke back to the box for tripping this time. Retaliate all you want, but if the Bruins want to get the Penguins where it hurts, score on the power play caused by Cooke.

0:00, 1st: Well, the revenge factor happened a lot quicker than most anticipated, myself included. Cooke wasn’t on the ice for six seconds before Thornton challenged him to a duel. Although Thornton stayed off the ice longer, there is no doubt who the victor was. Cooke’s game has certainly been shaken too. He took a mindless penalty later in the first to setup the Bruins’ second power play of the game. The aggression is there, but as per usual, the offense is not.

13:32, 2nd: After a hooking penalty on Vladimir Sobotka, the Bruins were able to kill off the Penguins first power play of the night. Problem was, for a good two minutes after the penalty had expired, Pittsburgh looked like they still had the man-advantage cycling in Boston’s zone, almost untouchable. The Bruins couldn’t clear nor could they propel themselves to the bench for a line change. Pretty sad looking after so much energy in the first period.

12:23, 2nd: Bruins are 0-12 on the power play in the last five games. Let’s see if a tripping penalty to Sergei Gonchar changes much.

8:20, 2nd: Only eight shots the entire game for Boston. The good news is that Milan Lucic has found his game and is starting to put more of the physical emphasis in his game. Same can be said for Vladimir Sobotka who was also seen knocking a few Pens around.

8:00, 2nd: Zdeno Chara knocks around Michael Rupp for his first fighting major of the year. He had three last season. Probably a good time to come alive. Probably.

4:58, 2nd: One of the things I’ve noticed about the Penguins is there poise. Look no further than Pittsburgh’s most recent power play–the cycling, passing and even position was perfectly calm. There’s a reason why everyone says Sidney Crosby works best under pressure.

0:00, 2nd: Save from maybe Chara’s fight and you’ll find another inspired period of Bruins hockey. Boston has been held to only five shots in the first two periods while Pittsburgh continues to pepper Rask. Sloppy play coming from Wideman and Blake Wheeler tonight as both seem to be elsewhere rather than on the ice at TD Garden. Two goal deficits have been overcome here before, though. Only problem was that it’s usually the other team.

14:46, 3rd: Rask is getting beat everywhere tonight as Rupp puts the third Penguins goal past the Finnish goaltender. Cue the beginning of exodus at the Garden–only 5 minutes too early.

13:50, 3rd: The night gets interesting as a buddy of mine and I come up with decent trade proposals for Dennis Wideman. The best one, in my opinion? Half of a grilled cheese and his 21st round pick in our fantasy baseball draft this Sunday.

11:32, 3rd: Who are the untouchables for the Bruins come the offseason? Savard, Bergeron, Krejci, Chara and Rask? Honorable mention to Lucic, Stuart and Boychuk maybe? Start planning ahead.

4:57, 3rd: Comedy of errors for Boston tonight. The Matt Cooke situation was addressed but the scoring, lack of want and any type of inspired play was not.

0:59, 3rd: Yeesh. Aside from the first ten minutes of the game. Nothing to see here. More problems offensively for the Bruins who are shut out at home against Pittsburgh for the first time since 1968. S.O.S.?