The war of words between Avalanche winger Ian Laperriere and Los Angeles Kings pest Sean Avery heated up again after Wednesday’s game – with Avery doing the talking.
Laperriere, a former King, has bad-mouthed Avery and has tried to start several fights with him on the ice. At the end of the Avs’ 5-3 loss Wednesday, Laperriere tried again to drop the gloves and exchange punches with Avery, with no luck.
Avery indicated he hasn’t fought the bigger Laperriere because it is working to the Kings’ advantage.
“How many times can you drop the gloves? I think it’s safe to say I took him off his game,” Avery said.
Laperriere wasn’t available to comment after the game.
Kolesnik reassigned
Vitaly Kolesnik was given his walking papers by the Avalanche.
Kolesnik, 26, was reassigned to Lowell of the American Hockey League, leaving Peter Budaj and David Aebischer as the top goalies. Kolesnik went 3-3-0 with the Avs, with a 3.29 goals-against average and .887 save percentage.
“He (showed) great upside,” Avalanche coach Joel Quenne- ville said. “We were impressed with both his performance and his progress. We had a very special stretch of games in December, and we believed it was the right time to give Vitaly a chance with our team.”
Kolesnik hurt his chances of staying in Colorado with a poor performance Monday night against the Phoenix Coyotes, allowing two goals on two shots.
Rumors continue to swirl that teams – including the Avs – are looking for a goalie via the trade market. Florida’s Roberto Luongo, however, may not be one of them. Panthers general manager Mike Keenan said Wednesday that Luongo is not on the market and never was.
There has been some discussion that Montreal might be willing to part with goalie Jose Theodore. But his contract could be prohibitive: Theodore is making $4.5 million this season and is slated to earn more than $5 million next season. The Avs have about $1.8 million in salary cap room.
For the second consecutive game, a scout from the Canadiens was in attendance Wednesday night.
Footnotes
Kurt Sauer and Cody McCormick were healthy scratches for Colorado. … The Avs changed up their lines against the Kings, moving Antti Laaksonen to the second line with Pierre Turgeon and Marek Svatos. Alex Tanguay played on a line with Brett McLean and Ian Laperriere, and Milan Hejduk was with Joe Sakic and Andrew Brunette.
