DETROIT — With Peter Budaj making his first start much earlier than last season, the question of whether his workload will be heavier than 11 starts was put to Avalanche coach Joe Sacco after Tuesday night’s 5-4 shootout victory over Detroit.
“I make those decisions game by game,” Sacco said.
But Sacco seemed to admit he doesn’t want to play Craig Anderson 71 times again, which set a team record last season.
“It’s important going down the stretch for a team that’s worthy of being in the playoffs, I think the goalie would benefit (from a rest),” Sacco said. “But the biggest thing is getting to the playoffs.”
Footnotes.
Scouts from 16 NHL teams were in the press box. . . . The Avs will take today off. They’ll resume practice Thursday in Newark, N.J. . . . Healthy scratches for the Avs were Jonas Holos and Kevin Porter. . . . The Avs went 0-for-4 on the power play and are now 1-for-10 on the season. “We’ll continue to work on it and get better,” Sacco said. . . . Former Avs defenseman Ruslan Salei was a minus-1 in nearly 25 minutes against his old team. . . . Ageless Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom played 28 minutes and was a plus-2.
Adrian Dater, The Denver Post
