St. Paul, Minn. – In the wake of the Avalanche’s 2-1 shootout victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night, this isn’t going out on a limb: Peter Budaj has supplanted Jose Theodore as Colorado’s No. 1 goaltender.
For now.
Budaj made his fifth consecutive start in the Colorado net, had 24 saves in regulation and overtime, and then came out the winner as the tiebreaking shootout went through four cycles in the Xcel Energy Center.
After Milan Hejduk’s backhander past Minnesota goalie Manny Fernandez gave the Avalanche a 2-1 edge in the shootout, the Wild’s Pierre-Marc Bouchard fired a shot off the crossbar – and the Avs came off the bench to mob Budaj.
“He made a good shot,” Budaj said. “Fortunately for me, it didn’t go in. That’s a big two points for us.”
The victory was Colorado’s third straight, giving the Avs 44 points at the halfway point of the 2006-07 season and leaving them three points behind first-place Vancouver in the Northwest Division. Minnesota, which has 45 points, is an NHL-best 17-4-2 at home for the season.
Colorado’s only goal in regulation came from rookie defenseman Kyle Cumiskey, playing his third NHL game after his recall from Albany. Budaj allowed only Mikko Koivu’s goal at 18:22 of the first period – the shot got between his legs – and then was staunch the rest of the way.
“Rock-solid,” Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said of Budaj’s play. “That first period, we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be. They came at us really hard, and he kept us in the hockey game, only down one. We worked ourselves back into it, but he was the real reason we won tonight.”
Budaj wasn’t going to get drawn into any discussion over whether he has claimed the No. 1 job, but did say of his second game in two nights: “I felt good. I would like to play as many games as possible. I’m very happy that the coaches are giving me a chance to play. Hopefully, I’ll make the most of the chances I’m getting right now and keep helping my team to win hockey games.”
Five of Budaj’s 24 saves came on his Slovakian Olympic teammate and friend, Wild star winger Marian Gaborik, who returned to the Minnesota lineup after missing 34 games with a severe groin strain.
In the shootout, the first shooters for each team – Colorado’s Wojtek Wolski and Minnesota’s Pavol Demitra – were successful. Then, in quick succession, Minnesota’s Koivu and Brian Rolston and Colorado’s Paul Stastny and Joe Sakic failed to get the puck in the net. Budaj’s pad save on Koivu was the toughest and the key save in the sequence, and it was 1-1 after the “regulation” three shooters. Hejduk then lifted the backhander past Fernandez.
“At first, I wanted to go to the forehand,” Hejduk said. “But he was kind of there, so I went to the backhand.”
The Avalanche was 3-6 in shootouts in 2005-06, and Hejduk was successful only once in seven shots. This season, they’re 3-0, and this was Hejduk’s first chance. “This year, it’s a little different story. It feels great,” he said
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
