Coming off an ugly 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Avs bounced back to beat the Minnesota Wild 2-0.
Jamie McGinn scored his first two goals in an Avalanche sweater, both of them assisted by Peter Mueller and Stefan Elliott while Semyon Varlamov was a wall again with his second shutout in 10 games.
Varlamov was as he has been the past two weeks: quick feet with great positioning. Varlamov has been getting into position and using that to his advantage to kick out his pads to make all the saves that he needs to make.
Even in spite of a bad loss, something good did come from the loss to Pittsburgh: Matt Duchene is back at center. Duchene, who just was not gelling on the line with Paul Stasny, was taken off the wing and put at his natural center position with Peter Mueller and new call-up Mike Connolly.
Connolly did nothing to really stand out, either for good reasons or bad but he did feed the puck to the Duchene-Mueller pairing. Duchene looked much more relaxed, more than he has all season. Pair that with Mueller, a player who approaches the game the same way and suddenly the line looks better.
Duchene's puck possession outlook is way too similar to that of Paul Stastny. Moving him back to center was the logical move and also the move that makes the most sense considering the Avs' offensive whoas this season.
Tonight was a must-win game and the Avs approached is as such. It won't get any easier as the Avs still need to win seventy percent of their remaining 15 games and the Avs will have to come to play the rest of the season the way they did tonight.
Three Stars
1. Semyon Varlamo- 30 save shutout
2. Jamie McGinn- two goals right where the Avs need him to be: in front of the net
3. Stefan Elliott- two assists during an overall great game
Facepalm of the Game
Darrell Powe wins for his hauling down of Shane O'Brien behind the Avalanche net, leading to the Avs' second goal of the night. Powe really cost his team with that play.
Bang bang play of the Game
Semyon Varlamov's best save, sure to be one of the NHL's top 10 during this week, wins. Dany Heatley had the puck in front of the net with Varlamov seemingly out of the play but Varly extended his leg and made a huge kick save to preserve the shutout. Trying to decide if the call is as great as the save or not.
Colorado Avalanche Blogger • 
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