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A rivalry from yesteryear is rekindled tonight as the
Patrick Roy-led Colorado Avalanche (6-0-0) host the once "hated" Detroit Red Wings (5-2-0) in an early season clash (9:00 pm ET, Fox Sports Detroit/Altitude Sports) at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
Tonight kicks off Detroit's first foray outside of the Eastern time zone in the regular season, following their much ballyhooed switch to the league's Eastern Conference. It also represents their 2nd contest against a Western Conference opponent. Given the much talked about success of the Western Conference to date against Eastern teams (the West is 30-10-4 to date), the Red Wings will be eager to return to their old stomping grounds and remind Western teams why they were so happy to see the Red Wings move conferences.
The Wings swept all three contests from the Avs last season. The Red Wings' move to the East means the teams will meet only twice this season. Red Wing fans will get to see first pick overall
Nathan MacKinnon up close and personal on March 6th, when the Avalanche make their sole appearance this season at the Joe Louis Arena.
It seems only fitting that the Red Wings are the team looking to spoil Roy's attempt to break the NHL record for most wins without a loss at the start of a coaching career. It's no secret the Red Wings and Avalanche were heated rivals during Roy's years as a player with Colorado. Despite the majority (if not all) of the combatants involved in those battles have moved on, Roy certainly still
appears to have some major league hate for the Winged Wheel.
Roy has a message for Avalanche fans: Show up at the game Thursday. In recent years, the Pepsi Center has had a lot of Red Wings jerseys in the stands, and Roy wants that to stop.
"I hope I'm not going to see a lot of red jerseys, that's all I can say. I want to see burgundy and white," Roy said.
Furhtermore, when you factor in that Roy is tied with
Mario Tremblay, who won his first six games with Montreal in 1995-96, a team Roy played for before being traded to the Avalanche later that season, you know St. Patrick would love to win this game tonight.
As you may or may not recall, Tremblay played a big role in the trade after not pulling Roy out of a game soon enough in a lopsided loss (9-2), against none other than the Detroit Red Wings at the old Montreal Forum. Roy informed president
Ronald Corey immediately that he would never wear "le bleu, blanc et rouge" ever again.....and the rest as they say is history.
Nevertheless, a major reason for Colorado's early season success has been the stellar play between the pipes by
Semyon Varlamov. The 25-year old Russian has been in goal for five of Colorado's six victories and made 39 saves on Tuesday night in the club's 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars. Varlamov is 5-0-0 with a 1.20 goals-against average and .965 save percentage.
Undoubtedly, Varlamov's numbers will cool off over the duration of an 82-game regular season. Time will tell if this early season stretch of hot goaltending is merely a mirage for the Avs or whether both he and
J.S. Giguere can provide strong enough goaltending over the long haul to spearhead this talented group.
If Varlamov is in goal Thursday as expected, he may need to steal another one against a Red Wings hockey club that's averaged more than 35 shots in its last five games. In addition, Detroit has been stout defensively in their victories, limiting the opposition to only 8 goals during those 5 games.
Colorado's offense has been led by
Matt Duchene, with four goals in his past three contests, while the aforementioned 2013 No. 1 overall draft pick MacKinnon notched an assist on Tuesday and has recorded points in five of his six games for the Avs.
Former Avalanche rearguard
Kyle Quincey, now with the Red Wings, shared his thoughts on the up-and-coming Avalance:
“They’re building their team similar to how we are -- their centers are unbelievable. They got Ryan O’Reilly … that’s how good their centers are, he has to move to the wing. He’s a great player. Paul Stastny, (Duchene) and the MacKinnon kid, they got a great core of guys. This should be a fun game.’’
Bottom line for the Avalanche is they have benefitted early on from fantastic goaltending and an opportunistic group up front. The team's save percentage thus far is 97.2%. The league leader last season (over a 48 game schedule) were the Ottawa Senators at 93.3%. Last season, Colorado's team save percentage was 90.1%.
In addition, the team's shooting percentage thus far is 11.5%. The league leader last season (over a 48 game schedule) were the Toronto Maple Leafs at 11.5%. Last season, Colorado's team shooting percentage was 8.1%.
When it's all said and done, Colorado is likely to improve upon last year's numbers this season. But to expect them to maintain the level they have produced over their opening six contests is highly unlikely....especially their save percentage. Whether that inevitable return to the mean takes place this evening, remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Detroit's big offensive guns have begun hitting on all cylinders. Newcomer
Daniel Alfredsson and
Pavel Datsyuk each have five points in their past 3 games. Captain
Henrik Zetterberg added two assists against the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night to continue his hot start (5 goals, 4 assists through 7 games).
Alfredsson weighed in on what he expects tonight:
“From what I’ve heard, they’re a young team and they’re skating. They’re coming at you in swarms. I’m sure in their building they’ll be even more aggressive. We’re going to need to play a smart game and move the puck well to hopefully get away from their forechecking.’’
In goal, no word as of yet definitively on who will start in goal for Detroit. However, the belief is that
Jonas Gustavsson will receive another start to give starter
Jimmy Howard more time to heal his bruised left (catching) hand.
UPDATE: Gustavsson starting has been confirmed by beat writer
Ansar Khan
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS (Subject to change)
DETROIT RED WINGS
40 Henrik Zetterberg - 13 Pavel Datsyuk - 44 Todd Bertuzzi
93 Johan Franzen - 90 Stephen Weiss - 8 Justin Abdelkader
71 Daniel Cleary - 18 Joakim Andersson - 11 Daniel Alfredsson
20 Drew Miller - 43 Luke Glendenning - 22 Jordin Tootoo
55 Niklas Kronwall - 52 Jonathan Ericsson
27 Kyle Quincey - 65 Danny DeKeyser
4 Jakub Kindl - 23 Brian Lashoff
50 Jonas Gustavsson
[35 Jimmy Howard]
COLORADO AVALANCHE
Ryan O'Reilly -- Matt Duchene -- Steve Downie
Gabriel Landeskog -- Paul Stastny -- Alex Tanguay
Jamie McGinn -- Nathan MacKinnon -- PA Parenteau
Cody McLeod -- John Mitchell -- Patrick Bordeleau
Jan Hejda -- Erik Johnson
Andre Benoit -- Cory Sarich
Ryan Wilson --Nate Guenin
Seymon Varlamov (starting)
Jean-Sebastien Giguere
************************************************************************
In some exciting news for Red Wing fans who like following the progress of their recent draft picks, first-round selection
Anthony Mantha received the following accolades earlier this week:
Toronto, ON – The Canadian Hockey League today announced that Detroit Red Wings prospect Anthony Mantha of the Val-d’Or Foreurs is the CHL Player of the Week for the week ending October 13 after recording 10 points in just two games scoring five goals and five assists with a plus-minus rating of plus-7.
Mantha exploded offensively recording back-to-back five-point games helping the Foreurs earn a pair of victories last week to extend their winning streak to five straight games. On Friday night Mantha scored twice and added three assists as first star of a 6-4 win over the Drummondville Voltigeurs, then netted a hat-trick with two assists on Saturday as first star of a 6-5 overtime win over the Sherbrooke Phoenix.
Mantha, a 19-year-old from Longueuil, Quebec, is playing in his third QMJHL season with the Foreurs. A first round pick of the Red Wings, selected 20th overall in 2013, Mantha just recently signed an NHL entry-level contract and currently leads the QMJHL in scoring with 16 goals and 12 assists for 28 points in just nine games.
Also considered for the award this week was Toronto Maple Leafs prospect and OHL Top Scorer Connor Brown with three goals and four assists for seven points in three games, while Matt Pufahl of the Everett Silvertips scored four goals with two assists for six points in four games last week.
Mantha will be attending Team Canada's World Junior Team Evaluation Camp in December and should have a decent shot of making the roster if his play continues to impress and turn heads.
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