Jean-Sebastien Giguere was signed by the Avs to be a backup to the young Semyon Varlamov but now he might be making a case for being starter.
24 hours after taking the tough-luck loss 1-0 to the Minnesota Wild, Giguere pitched a 24 save shutout in a 3-0 Avs win over the Dallas Stars.
Giguere was solid and the Avs match his effort with the most complete performance of November, maybe the most complete at home this season.
Chuck Kobasew and Paul Stastny scored while Matt Duchene added an empty net goal but it was really the Giguere show.
Giguere played big all night and kept things calm in net on the occasions where the Avs started to scramble around. He pushed out to challenge shots and was never shy about covering the puck, given the Avs won 62 percent of their faceoffs all night.
Around Giguere, the Avs had good gap control, rarely turned the puck over in their own zone and kept Dallas away from any rebound. The Avs also kept their legs moving all 60 minutes and did not stand and watch the Stars come at them.
Ryan Wilson was the paragon of how the Avs played. He was physical, played smart and picked all the right spots to pinch in on offense. Wilson has been maligned for being inconsistent early in his career but he has found some consistency and continues to be one of the surprises of the team.
The Avs used their speed so well that they made Dallas look like the team playing the second half of a back-to-back. They pushed the Dallas defenders back and gave themselves more room to enter the zone.
Only when the Avs have a powerplay did they not enter the zone with speed. The Avs still remain persistent on gaining the red line, firing the puck into the zone, then chasing after it. At best, the Avs get to the puck the same time as the defenders and spend 30 seconds fighting for it in the corners. Worst case, the puck gets stopped by the opposing team and is fired back out.
On the other side of the rink, Kari Lehtonen was phenomenal as well, making 42 saves in a game in which could have been blowout if not for some timely saves. Dallas could not muster any offense for the second straight game and ultimately Lehtonen took the loss.
A good start to the critical 8-game homestand the Avs have which continues Sunday against San Jose.
Three Stars
1. Ryan Wilson- assisted on the first goal and was outstanding all night
2. Jean-Sebastien Giguere- got his 35th shoutout
3. Kari Lehtonen- Could have been a lot worse without him.
Facepalm of the Game
Brandon Yip wins for turning the puck over twice in his own zone, once while the Avs were changing. If not for Jan Hejda, it could have been really bad for Yip.
Bang Bang play of the Game
Landeskog wins this for his shot on goal that led to Stastny's powerplay goal. Stastny had a chance from the same spot and passed to Landeskog in the corner so Landeskog rotated up and made a great shot low left side that Lehtonen kicked right to Stastny driving to the front of the net.
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