Jarome Iginla (12) upends Chicago Blackhawks left wing Brandon Saad (20) as they chase down the puck during the first period November 26, 2014 at Pepsi Center. (Photo By John Leyba/The Denver Post)
First off, happy Thanksgiving. Let’s think of the less fortunate in times like these.
Avs lose 3-2, on a late Bryan Bickell goal. I interviewed him earlier in the day, and told him to enjoy the goal he would score in the game, because almost every single time I interview an opposing player on the day of a game, they score a goal. I mean, it’s spooky. So, you can blame me for the loss I guess.
The Avs blamed the referees for the loss too. Patrick Roy and Alex Tanguay both verbalized their displeasure in the disparity in power-play time (almost 10 minutes to less than three minutes). Do I think the Avs got jobbed by the refs too? A little, yeah, but the best team won tonight. That’s the bottom line.
But the Blackhawks should have won. They were a rested, healthy team playing a team missing TEN regular players, one that played the night before on the road. So, congrats on a one-goal win I guess.
It just felt too much like the Avs were hanging on for dear life too often in this game, though. The defense just showed Chicago too much respect at the wrong times, especially on that Bickell winning goal. Nick Holden had a chance to take the body on Patrick Kane cutting in front of him, but let him keep skating and that led to chaos in front after he put a puck on net. Bickell was just given too much time and space on the rebound and that was that.
Holden, to me, just has been the biggest liability on the team this year, to this point. He’s a minus-14, with one goal. Not moving his feet enough, not physical enough, not making the simple plays in his own zone.
I asked Patrick Roy after the game about Holden, and he soft-pedaled it, saying Holden has been playing better of late after he had a talk with him last week.
Look, far be it from me to question the public comments of Saint Patrick. The guy knows more about hockey in his pinkie finger than I do in my entire body. He’s standing up for his player, and you have to respect that. One thing we’ve come to know by this point with Roy: he almost never will publicly criticize one of his players.
But, hey, I’ve seen enough of this game over the years to know a guy who isn’t playing well enough, and that’s Holden. We’ve all seen it. Holden got beat around the left end by Andrew Shaw and had to take a holding penalty, leading to Shaw’s power-play goal not long after in the second period to make it 2-1. That was a killer moment of the game, I thought, even though the Avs tied it in the third (with Holden helping out on Ryan O’Reilly’s goal).
But it’s hard to rip on the Avs tonight otherwise. They’re missing their starting goalie, key third-line center, a couple of physical forwards and two D-men (Erik Johnson and Brad Stuart) who started the year as the team’s top two on the depth chart.
Roy, by the way, said Johnson was doing better and that he thought he might play Saturday night.
Meantime, enjoy Turkey Day.
Here’s some video, starting with Roy:
Alex Tanguay
Calvin Pickard, who was excellent:
