Aw, shoot. Alex Tanguay hears that a lot. From fans. From his coaches. From virtually anyone who watches the Avalanche left winger play and display an unselfish, yet sometimes maddening, tendency to want to make one more perfect pass instead of taking the shot himself.
“I’m well aware of that,” Tanguay said Tuesday after practice. “I tell myself that. With some of the guys leaving from last season’s team – (Paul) Kariya, (Teemu) Selanne and (Peter) Forsberg – my role offensively is probably a little bit more than it has been in the past. I have to make sure that I use those chances that I have to shoot the puck.”
Said Avalanche coach Joel Quenne- ville: “I’d like to see him shoot more. We saw the finishing touches of a great move the other night (on his goal against Vancouver), and his shot is very accurate. He can get out of that habit, and instead of making one more great play, he can get it at the net and get a lot of action off of that.
“But not very many guys at this level can see and make the plays he can.”
Going into the Avalanche’s game against Anaheim at the Pepsi Center on Thursday, the 25-year-old Tanguay – the NHL’s ninth-leading scorer in 2003-04 – has three goals and nine assists, and his 12 points are second on the team to defenseman John-Michael Liles. It’s not as if Tanguay has struggled, but there are times when he doesn’t seem to be taking full advantage of the obstruction crackdown and new rules.
“I don’t know about goal production, but I expected a lot more as far as assists and overall point production to help the team a little bit more,” Tanguay said. “I know I can do better than that. We’ve played 11 games, and I haven’t done all that well, but you go through streaks like that. October’s never been my month over the years.
“I’m probably my own worst critic. It’s up to me to do better.”
In the first week of the season, Quenneville tried Tanguay at center, where he played in major junior. But that experiment quickly ended, and Tanguay is back at left wing on the top line with Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk.
“I know what to do at center, but to get to the tempo was hard,” Tanguay said. “I was a half a second late in everything, but I don’t mind playing center.”
Quenneville said Tanguay will see some shifts at center.
“I think that’s a weapon we can use, so I’m not going to say we won’t revisit it,” Quenneville said. “But I like the line right now. The five games we’ve played with them together (since Hejduk’s return from knee surgery), our whole team game has been consistent.”
Footnotes
Avalanche defenseman Bob Boughner and winger Brad May will visit with students at the National Jewish Hospital’s Kunsberg School today, taking part in an art project and signing autographs. The school is for students too ill to attend regular classes. … Winger Dan Hinote, who has missed the past six games with a bad back, fully participated in practice and said he hopes to be able to play Thursday.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
