This would be like trying to reach conclusions about the course of a presidential election after all 11 voters in a tiny town in Maine cast their votes one minute after midnight.
But with Denver on the verge of getting its first regular-season look at the New NHL tonight, when the Avalanche faces the Calgary Flames at the Pepsi Center, the question can at least be asked with caution: Are the rules changes and the obstruction crackdown working during the first week of the 2005-06 season?
“Yes, no question at all,” Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said Sunday. “It’s a great change to our game. Probably most noticeable is that the guys are having freedom to skate. Now if you feel like you’re going to get stopped or tied up, just push the puck behind and go on the other side of the guy, and get a free puck. You have a lot more ability to sustain some offense.”
Yes, said Avalanche defenseman Rob Blake, who along with Calgary winger Jarome Iginla is among the four players on the NHL’s competition committee.
“We played with them in preseason games,” Blake said, “but even more so in the regular season, you’re seeing a bigger difference in the speed of the game. From one end to the other, unobstructed, the plays are moving and the flow is there.
“I think that’s what we wanted to accomplish, to increase scoring chances. We wanted more goals, but the key thing was more scoring chances.”
On Saturday, the NHL’s fourth regular-season night, there were two 7-6 games.
The catch to this would be if the increased scoring was only because of scrupulous officiating and constant power-play time, and there indeed was some of that involved: In Boston’s 7-6 overtime victory over Pittsburgh, the teams were a combined 4-for-16 with the man advantage. In San Jose’s 7-6 win over St. Louis, the tally was a combined 4-for-12 on the power play. Still, the indications are the ice and the league have opened up, even in the stretches of 5-on-5; and the referees aren’t backing off the obstruction crackdown, challenging the players to adapt.
“We’ve had a couple of conference calls since training camp started,” Blake said. “It was always the same thing: Keep to the mandate on the calls. The battles in front of the net, the battles going into the corner, that’s fine; there’s going to be contact. But if you’re in the corner, and you’re in the lesser position, you can’t hook and hold. That’s the way we want it played throughout. I think you’ll see the refs adjust, and there will be a little more contact in front of the net, because that’s where the battle is.
“The other thing we talked about on the calls was that it’s tough for the refs to watch 10 guys on the ice. If they see something out of the corner of their eye, if they see a guy go down, don’t make that call. We’d rather have it not made than have it be a guess. I think they’ve done a great job of adapting to that.”
Avalanche winger Steve Konowalchuk, one of Colorado’s top penalty killers, smiled.
“There’s definitely more power plays,” he said, “so there are more goals. More power plays, more goals, right? Is that working? I think the guys are still adjusting, and we’re going to have to wait and see about 10 to 15 games into the season to see how guys have adjusted. I think at that point, it will work.”
Avalanche captain Joe Sakic laughed and said, “Yeah, they’re calling everything. There are a lot of power plays. We have to remind ourselves to keep our sticks on the ice or it’s going to get called. As long as they keep doing that, everybody’s going to adjust. I think it’s working. You’re seeing a lot of high-scoring games now. You didn’t see that before. It’s good.”
CALGARY AT COLORADO, 7 p.m., ALT
AVALANCHE STARTERS
Left wing: Alex Tanguay
Center: Joe Sakic
Right wing: Andrew Brunette
Defense: Rob Blake
Defense: Karlis Skrastins
Goalie: David Aebischer
FLAMES STARTERS
Left wing: Tony Amonte
Center: Daymond Langkow
Right wing: Jarome Iginla
Defense: Rhett Warrener
Defense: Jordan Leopold
Goalie: Miikka Kiprusoff
SPOTLIGHT ON DARREN MCCARTY
The hues of red have changed for the Avalanche nemesis. No longer a Red Wing, McCarty is a Flame. He made his return to Detroit on Sunday, a 6-3 Flames loss. He has one goal in three games, after being sacrificed to the salary cap gods in the offseason by Detroit. Aside from Steve Yzerman, he might have been the most popular Red Wings player of the past decade.
NOTEBOOK
* MAY OUT AGAIN: Avs left wing Brad May will not play tonight. He remains bothered by a groin problem. He has yet to play this season.
* NOTES: About 4,000 fans attended Sunday’s Avalanche practice at the Pepsi Center. … Now with the Flames, Darren McCarty leveled former Wings teammate Kirk Maltby with a big check in Sunday’s game in Detroit. … Former Avs backup goalie Phil Sauve did mop-up duty Sunday, after Miikka Kiprusoff allowed five goals on 36 shots. … The Avalanche forced 27 giveaways by the Dallas Stars in Saturday’s 3-2 victory. Colorado committed just six giveaways.
– Adrian Dater, Denver Post staff writer
