Calgary, Alberta – When Avalanche general manager Pierre La- croix traded David Aebischer away for goalie Jose Theodore last month, he knew it was a gamble.
That gamble was not just about Theodore’s future play, but the knowledge the Avalanche would have to go through the final weeks of the regular season with an untested, rookie goalie in Peter Budaj.
There have been good nights and bad nights for Budaj as Colorado’s No. 1 goalie, but Friday night belonged firmly in the latter category.
In a showdown for first place in the Northwest Division, Budaj was not up to the task in Colorado’s 6-3 loss to the Calgary Flames at the Saddledome.
The loss dropped the Avs two points back of the Flames in the Northwest, with Calgary having played one less game.
Making the playoffs remains an uncertain proposition for Colorado, with just a six-point lead on the ninth-place team in the Western Conference, San Jose. The Sharks have two games in hand.
In a game in which good goaltending easily could have gained the Avs at least a point in their division battle with the Flames, Budaj was too shaky to get it done.
Losing his third game in Calgary this season, Budaj allowed three consecutive second-period goals that erased a 2-1 Avalanche lead built on two goals by captain Joe Sakic in the first period.
Budaj, who was pulled for backup Vitaly Kolesnik after allowing his sixth goal, allowed the three goals on 12 shots in the second. The third, by Daymond Langkow, was a killer. It came with 1:14 left, giving Calgary a 4-2 lead.
It wasn’t all Budaj’s fault, of course. Too many flat-footed moments by Colorado defensemen contributed to the loss. The worst was committed by veteran Patrice Brisebois, on Langkow’s goal. Brisebois failed to gather a bouncing puck alone at center ice, leading to a steal and break-in by Flames captain Jarome Iginla that was finished off by Langkow.
Avs rookie Cody McCormick scored early in the third period to make it 4-3, but former Av Shean Donovan scored a pretty goal off the rush at 9:52 to effectively end it.
In the three losses in Calgary, one thing was made evident: The Avs don’t match up well physically with the Flames. The Flames have been able to pin the Avs in their own zone too often with strong body position along the boards. When the Avs had the puck in Calgary’s zone, they often were taken off it quickly.
Colorado had a horrible second period overall, putting just three shots on Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff. This, after a first period in which the Avs did a lot of good things, not just Sakic’s 29th and 30th goals of the season – the eighth time in his career he’s reached 30.
The Avs outshot Calgary 11-10 and were strong on the puck. Sakic scored his goals 25 seconds apart, the first coming on the power play at 14:26 to tie it 1-1.
