Another Impressive Victory

That’s it. The Avs are now officially off to their best start in franchise history. I can’t say enough about the tenacity of this young team. Last night they start about as slow as you can get – 2 goals down less than two minutes into the game?! Like a team heavy on veterans, the team calmed down, focused up, and played some solid hockey. By the end of the 1st, they had the game tied 2-2 thanks to a strong effort by David Jones and a nice deflection by David Koci’s butt.

The second period was a little slow, a little unexpected based on how the 1st period went, but the real highlight happened in the 3rd period. Is this finally Wojtek Woski’s year? I was a little skeptical at first, since he seems to always start strong before puttering out. It seems to me though that Wolski is finally starting to transition his impression shootout abilities into the actual game, which in my opinion was his biggest problem. Take a look at Wolski’s first goal Tuesday, against Avs-killer Nikolai Khabibulin:

Avs vs. Oilers Highlights 10/27 (His goal is about 30 seconds in.)

Those are the skills we all know he’s got in the shootout, and he’s bringing it when we need him the most. That shows a lot of heart.

I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but after those two early goals (neither of them his fault btw) Craig Anderson was a brick wall once again. My favorite goalie in the NHL is Ilya Bryzgalov (more for his hilarious interviews than his play, which isn’t too bad either), but Anderson is certainly making a case for himself. It looks like the Key to Our Success might finally get a break too. According to the Denver Post, Peter Budaj will be joining the team in San Jose, and might start his first game Friday night against the Sharks. Budaj has been suffering from the H1N1 virus.