This game should be advertised like a heavyweight title match: #1 draft pick John Tavares and the New York Islanders travel to Denver to face off against #3 draft pick Matt Duchene and your Colorado Avalanche, live, from the Can! See the battle for rookie points leader as Duchene attempts to dethrone Tavares in a battle to the death, starting at 7 pm MST.
With Tavares sitting on the Rookie points lead, at 28 points, don’t be surprised to see Duchene, a self-professed competitor, turn on the heat tonight a notch a few more marks on his goal scoring belt. Duchene is hot and Tavares is not, lately- I think at least 2 points are coming for Dutchy tonight.
Despite hardly playing each other, the Islanders have had a tough time with Colorado, going 1-6-1-1 since the franchise moved to Denver. That said, they did win the last pairing 4-2 and starting goaltender Dwayne Roloson has been to this dance numerous times before – most recently with the Edmonton Oilers. Big news for the Isles is that MIA goaltender Rick DiPietro will be on the bench as tender support tonight. DiPietro hasn’t played an NHL game in over a year, suffering a major injury and surgery after receiving a near 100-year contract extension from New York.
Those of you that regularly follow the Avs know who the starting keeper for the Burgundy and Blue will be but, I’ll say it anyway: Craig Anderson. Look for Andy to really pick up his game after being snubbed for the Olympics, especially when the the Avalanche take on the Kings on Feb. 13th.
Other news, brought to you by Adrian Dater, is that Brett Clark will have an operation on his face following the injury sustained in Detroit and Mark Svatos is still fighting his groin injury and hasn’t been at practice.
Speaking of Dater, today is apparently his birthday, so I’d like to send out a big Happy Birthday from us at the Burgundy Blog and suggest that our readers do the same!
Duchene on Tavares (compliments of the birthday boy):
I’ll be supporting the boys tonight (wearing an old 3rd Foote jersey), will you? What do you think of this matchup? Do you think it deserves more publicity from both parties? Who do you think is better? Can the Avs keep up their phenomenal streak?
Related posts:
- Duchene Named NHL Rookie of the Month
- Avs. vs. Wild – Round 5
- Avs vs. Jackets Game Notes
- Budaj In, Duchene 3rd Star
- Liles Benched, Anderson In Net
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