Uniondale, N.Y. – After goaltender David Aebischer’s terrible night against the Islanders on Saturday night, his Avalanche teammates arguably came to his defense better than they had in many stretches of Colorado’s 5-4 loss at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
At the time, the Avalanche was preparing to board a bus for a trip into Manhattan. They didn’t toss their goalie under it after Aebischer gave up five goals on 19 shots before being yanked early in the third period.
“He’s been having some bad games, but he’s not by himself,” veteran center Pierre Turgeon said after his latest return to Long Island, where he once had a 58-goal season for the Islanders in three-plus seasons of stardom. “You can’t say it’s all him. It’s a group here. We have to come back and make sure we start with good first periods and go from there.”
Winger Alex Tanguay said: “It’s tough going through what he’s going through. There’s not much we can say or do right now. I know David’s a good goaltender, though, and it’s a matter of him getting his confidence back. That’s the hardest thing to do. But we need him to play well, and whoever’s back in net, we have confidence in them. We have to find ways to win hockey games, and we didn’t play with desperation.”
Sauered
In 2003 as an NHL rookie, Kurt Sauer was a top-four defenseman for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. In 2005, he can’t even get on the ice for the Avalanche.
After being a healthy scratch for 26 consecutive Colorado games, Sauer is on what is expected to be a week-long “conditioning assignment” with the Lowell Lock Monsters of the American Hockey League. He isn’t with the Avalanche on the swing that began against the New York Islanders on Saturday and continues today against the New York Rangers.
Footnotes
The Islanders didn’t cut ticket prices after the lockout, and now they’re trying to mend some fences. In newspaper ads the past few days, Islanders owner Charles B. Wang offered “A Holiday Greeting” to fans on behalf of himself, general manager Mike Milbury, coach Steve Stirling and captain Alexei Yashin. He said season ticket-holders will get a 10 percent price cut for next season, and that same cut for next season will be available to those who buy packages for the rest of the season. …
A Maricopa County (Ariz.) civil jury ordered former Phoenix Coyote Brad May to pay a sheriff’s sergeant $26,570 for punching him at a Scottsdale nightclub.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
