The Avalanche penalty killing hasn’t been much to brag about this season – at least not until the past three weeks.
In addition to getting two goals from rookie winger Wojtek Wolski and one from Joe Sakic, the Avalanche killed off all five Chicago power plays Saturday night, including an extended one triggered by Milan Hejduk’s double-minor for high-sticking late in the second period, as the Avalanche beat the Blackhawks 3-2 at the Pepsi Center.
The Avs have allowed only one goal in their past 23 shorthanded situations, and only four in the past 46.
“We’ve made some adjustments,” said Avalanche winger Ian Laperriere, who got the most penalty-killing time among the forwards Saturday. “I think we’re bringing more pressure. At the beginning of the year, I think we were running (around) a little too much. The coaching staff came to the conclusion a couple of weeks ago that we need to put the pressure in the right place.
“We’re facing more shots from the forwards now, but when you’re running around, it’s tough to block those shots. We’re trying to discourage those guys taking shots from the point. Our ‘D’ has been doing a tremendous job down low of putting pressure on them, and I think that’s why we’ve had more success.”
Avalanche defenseman Ken Klee said Colorado has “become a little more aggressive. We were trying something different before, where our forwards were bringing pressure. Now we’re trying to get our ‘D’ to pressure a little more, and it’s been more effective. I think we’re fresher, we’re rotating faster, we’re on the puck. The only problem before was that we were spending two minutes in our own end. You spend two minutes like that, the chances of them scoring are pretty good.
“Now we seem to be getting chances to get clears, and we’re getting them done. It’s a lot easier when you can get fresh guys on to be aggressive and have good kills.”
Making his second start in the past three games, Jose Theodore had to make only 17 saves in the victory that gave Colorado 38 points for the season, lifting it into a first-place tie with Edmonton and Minnesota in the Northwest Division. Calgary was one point back after losing 4-1 at San Jose.
“I really liked the way we played,” Theodore said. “When you have the shots, you just want to make sure you see them, and it’s so much easier to control the rebounds. Tonight, when they had the shot, I didn’t give too many rebounds, and when I did, they were clearing it right away. They played aggressive and put a lot more pressure on the other team.”
The Avalanche broke a 2-2 tie at 4:32 of the second period, when Sakic’s blind backhand pass from the end boards set up Wolski for his second goal of the game and 10th goal of the season. That was the final time the Avs got the puck past Nikolai Khabibulin, who had 19 saves for the night. But the Blackhawks couldn’t generate anything, either.
The Blackhawks had first- period goals from former Avalanche winger Radim Vrbata and Patrick Sharp against Theodore, who appeared shaky early but made the key saves he needed to make the rest of the way.
