The Avalanche followers did prove faithful, providing another packed house at the Pepsi Center on Monday night for the team’s home opener.
That makes an NHL-record 440 consecutive sellouts.
It looked like by game’s end the Avalanche might score 440 goals.
The Avs ran through Calgary 7-3 in a game they led 5-0 before the Flames gained a whiff of the net. It was fast and purposeful skating by the Avalanche, and the Flames were swept up into the middle of it.
The Flames’ goaltender, Miikka Kiprusoff, can probably at this very moment still hear the clacking sound of sticks meeting pucks and the swooshing sound of pucks flying past him into the net.
The Flames have allowed five or more goals in three of their four games. Little wonder they have won only once.
This up-tempo, freestyle, quick-flowing brand of hockey that is now being served in the NHL emphasizes scoring but, in effect, places a premium on firm defense and goaltending. The team in this offensive-minded season that finds enough unyielding defense and goaltending will make its season unique.
David Aebischer is the Avalanche’s hope.
He is backed by Peter Budaj, but the bulk of the work is Aebischer’s, a Patrick Roy understudy who now absorbs all shots.
“I don’t know if their problem was so much their goalie as it was the whole team,” Aebischer said, speaking like a goalie while defending one. “Their defense made some mistakes that hurt their whole team. I try not to look too much to the other side. I try to look at myself.”
He is 6-feet-1, 185 pounds, age 27, comes from Fribourg, Switzerland, and has the respect of his teammates. Marek Svatos was the game’s star with a hat trick and a solo, spotlight bow afterward. But even Svatos recognized that the Avalanche’s early scoring spree was matched by an early defensive stand.
“Our defense was good tonight and it can get better,” Svatos said. “Abby is a great young goalie. He was strong and comfortable tonight. Hopefully, he can keep stopping pucks.”
All goaltenders are more exposed, with reduced goalie equipment mandated by the league and with an onslaught of new offensive style pushed their way.
Aebischer believes that maybe after 20 or so games, goalies may get a feel for these new offenses and may be able to combat them in surprising ways.
He reminded everyone that two years ago the Avalanche won its home opener 5-0 over Chicago and everyone was talking about the Avalanche sailing to an 82-0 record. Winning can feel that good.
Just remember its listless season-opening loss at Edmonton only six nights ago.
The Avs do.
They remind me of another pro sports team in town that opened its season with a horrific, lousy road loss and that snapped them to attention and toward a winning streak.
The difference between the Avalanche now and that opener at Edmonton is like the difference between grass and dirt.
“We are playing much better than that now,” Aebischer said of his team, which has won at Dallas and beaten Calgary since Edmonton. “They came out hard that game and we really didn’t show up. Everyone was upset about that. It’s not too far from our minds how things can go when you don’t compete. We didn’t compete that night. We are a team that expects to always compete.”
Hockey is hockey, Aebischer said, and he is correct that after all of the fancy offensive stuff, by the time we get to playoff hockey things could settle. The sport, even though the scores should remain higher, will still feature plenty of games in which one shot, one goal, makes the difference.
Especially one that is suavely defended.
“It is fun in hockey to have teammates I rely on,” Aebischer said. “It is fun to have teammates rely on me.”
Staff writer Thomas George can be reached at 303-820-1994 or tgeorge@denverpost.com.
