Following Monday’s morning skate at the Scottrade Center, Avalanche forward Daniel Briere talks about what worked so well in the 5-0 rout over St. Louis last Tuesday in Denver:
ST. LOUIS, MO. — Our mothership , including the Avalanche’s 5-0 rout last Tuesday in Denver, and future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur in net for St. Louis.
Nick Groke’s Monday story stemming from Sunday’s practice is .
You may have noticed I never write “getting back to .500” or the like when it comes to NHL standings, and I try not to use quotes from players or coaches. Because the Avs, at 13-14-8, are far from .500 when it comes to actual wins and losses. In reality, they are 13-22. Thirteen times they have skated off with two points, and 22 times they have skated off with a point (OTL) or none (L).
The NHL wants you to think teams are better than they are, so they count a overtime/shootout win as a “W” and an OT/SO loss basically as a tie. Example: two of St. Louis’ “wins” came over Colorado in a shootout and overtime, but the Avs were given a point apiece in the “tie” column. Thus, the Blues are 2-1-0 (four points) against the Avs this season, but Colorado is 1-0-2 (four points) against St. Louis. Bottom line is, the current standings are better than the four-column format the league formerly used, but the “.500” thing is incorrect.
Tonight’s lines, D-pairings etc. at St. Louis:
Talbot-Duchene-MacKinnon
Landeskog-O’Reilly-Briere
Tanguay-Mitchell-Iginla
McLeod-Cliche-Holden
(Note: Holden will again play some F, some D)
Hejda-Johnson
Guenin-Barrie
Stuart-Redmond
Varlamov
Berra
Healthy scratches: none
Injured on trip: F Winchester
Noteworthy: Ryan O’Reilly required stitches above his left eye after taking a Chicago stick in the face when he was down on the ice during a 5-on-3 power play late in Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Blackhawks. … In the last six games against Colorado, St. Louis forwards T.J. Oshie (1-6-7), Vladimir Tarasenko and Alex Steen (3-1-4) have been hot. … Blues forward Jaden Schwartz of Colorado College remains out with injury. … St. Louis placed forward Magnus Paajarvi, 23, on waivers Monday. Paajarvi was the 10th overall pick in the 2009 draft, by Edmonton.
