The Avalanche apparently didn't care for Joe Sacco very much. Last year, the Avs were atrocious. This season? They have the second best record in the Western Conference, apparently living in fear of coach Patrick Roy. It's understandable, since Roy has quite the temperament on him, Former coach Bob Hartley, under whom the Avs won the Stanley Cup, had a run-in with St. Patrick where the goaltender smashed up video equipment after a heated "discussion" in Hartley's office.
Yeah. "Intensity." That's the ticket.
Roy is the prototypical bat-shit insane goaltender, but he's not a bat-shit insane coach. He has the Avalanche clicking on all levels, proving that maybe coaching does make all the difference in the world. He's got passion (read: crazy) and that passion has the Avalanche off to a 14-3-0 start. Both of his goalies are next to impossible to get a puck through, too. Were you frustrated with Mike Smith in the third period of Tuesday night's game? Were you getting annoyed that the Blues couldn't get a puck past him? Expect more of that tonight. The Avs are starting "backup" J.S. Giguere, who is 5-0 with a teeny tiny 1.00 GAA and a .970 save percentage. He has two shutouts this season to boot.
Tonight won't be easy. Halak will have to be as sharp as humanly possible to get one over on the Avs, and the Blues are going to have to pick up the pace. The first and fourth lines are doing fine, but the other six forwards on the team need to focus, especially Patrik Berglund and Chris Stewart. Get that puck in the net, guys - I know you can do it.
Sure the Avs lost to the Hurricanes the other night, so that means that they're beatable. Now the trick is following through on that, and it's going to take a full 60 minute effort for the Blues to do so.