CALGARY — Colorado winger and Calgary native TJ Galiardi still was getting questions about the cheap shot he took from Los Angeles winger Wayne Simmonds on Saturday in Denver.
Simmonds drew a major for butt-ending.
The incident was especially curious considering Simmonds and Avs winger Chris Stewart are best friends, and Galiardi has gotten to know Simmonds through his teammate. Simmonds, Stewart and Galiardi were part of a group trip to Cancun during the Olympic break earlier this year.
As he stood a few feet from Galiardi in the Saddledome dressing room after the morning skate Thursday, Stewart said he has tried to talk with Simmonds about the incident.
“I asked him what he was doing, and he didn’t say much,” Stewart said. “He kind of stuck with ‘No comment.’ He kind of big-timed me a bit. It was kind of a foolish mistake. It could have cost them the game, but we made a couple of mistakes on the power play. If it had gone another way, he might have heard about it from his teammates.
“He’s an honest player. Everybody makes mistakes. . . . Sometimes the emotion gets the best of you.”
Grahame back in the NHL.
Denver native John Grahame, a veteran of 224 NHL games in goal, joined the Avalanche in Calgary and for the foreseeable future will serve as Peter Budaj’s backup.
“You never wish anything like that to happen to anybody,” Grahame said of Craig Anderson’s minor knee injury.
Asked if he still had aspirations to be a No. 1 goalie in the NHL again, he responded: “I think you always have to, know what I mean? I’ve been around a long time and been through a lot of different situations. The day you give up on yourself, there’s no reason playing. I definitely have the confidence to know that I can come in and do it. If that’s what they need, I’ll be ready. If they need a good cheerleader, I’ll do that as well.”
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
