St. Paul, Minn. – Joel Quenneville is the type of coach who loves 2-1 victories, such as Saturday night’s Avalanche shootout win over the Minnesota Wild. He’s not so wild about those 6-5 games.
So the Avs coach is feeling better about his team’s defensive play the past two games, which have been won by a combined 5-1 score. While there are many times when the Avs have hiccups with the puck in their end or in other areas that lead to odd-man rushes against, there seems to be more commitment to defense from them.
It also helps, when the defense is totally beaten, that the goalie is there to bail them out. Like Peter Budaj did in the two weekend victories.
“I think the last four or five games, we’ve been more responsible. That’s something we addressed,” Quenneville said. “I think we were just exchanging chances there for about four games in a row. I think defense wins. I still think we’ve got enough offense to win, although our power play tonight wasn’t good enough for me.”
Avs defenseman Patrice Brisebois, a plus-1 in more than 23 minutes of action Saturday, said there is better communication among his teammates on the ice now.
“Success is very simple,” he said. “It’s just five-man units, playing together. That’s it.”
Footnotes
Former Avs defenseman Curtis Leschyshyn, now the team’s radio color commentator, led the traditional “Let’s play hockey” salutation prior to the game. Leschyshyn was a member of the Wild’s inaugural season, in 2000-01. … Avs rookie Wojtek Wolski, who scored a pretty goal in the shootout, nonetheless went without an official point for the fifth straight game. Center Brad Richardson went his ninth straight game without a point and right wing Ian Laperriere went his ninth straight game without a goal. … Wild star Marian Gaborik missed the game with a groin strain. … Several Avs players will attend today’s Indianapolis Colts-Dallas Cowboys game at Texas Stadium.
