Colorado Beats Montreal To Win 6 straight

Added on Dec 20, 2010 by J Merrill in

NHL

In front 18,007 people at the Pepsi Center in Denver Colorado, the Avalanche pick up their sixth in a row in a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens. The Avs have now gone 7-0-1 in their last 8 games, and they have been doing it all while having to shuffle their line ups because of injuries.

The winning goal came at the end of the second period, when a review determined that T.J. Galiardi didn’t bat the goal in, but it just deflected off of his chest and went it. Galiardi wasn’t worried though, as he knew he didn’t do anything wrong. He said “I knew I didn’t do any motions with my hands or a high stick so I figured it would stand.” Galiardi couldn’t keep the grin off his face, he concluded “It was ugly but they all count.”

This is his second game back after a wrist injury kept him off the ice for 17 games, and he has a goal in each game so far. He said “It feels great to come back and make an impact. That’s what I tried to envision when I was out. We got two wins in my two games back so I’m pretty happy. There are a few things I still need to work on and getting the rust out a bit, but two wins is what we wanted.” He was also hoping they wouldn’t lose so people wouldn’t blame him, Galiardi said “It’s nice to come back and get a couple wins. I was a little worried when I came back because we were on a winning streak and I didn’t want us to lose and make it look like it was my fault. It feels good to be back and make contributions.”

Obviously Coach Joe Sacco is happy with the wins, and is enjoying the momentum. “We’ve got a good thing going. The one thing we’ve got to guard against is not getting too high. We should be proud of the fact we’ve won six in a row, but we’ve got to keep on an even keel. I like the direction the team is going and the way we played tonight.” He also thinks his team is as durable as any in he NHL right now, he said “I’ve used this word before, but we have a resilient group here. It certainly feels good, and it should feel good for the players, too.”

Ryan O’Reillly was on the ice for both Montreal goals, and not only set up Galiardi for the game winner, but was also part of killing the last two penalties off. O’ Reilly said “I think we came together as a team there. That’s the most important time to get the penalties killed. I don’t think I had the best night on the penalty kill, but I was able to help out offensively and maybe make up for it. Plus, Andy stood on his head when the pressure was on us.”

Goalie Craig Anderson put in a solid night of his own as he stopped 27 of 29. He said of the game he played “I had a good effort and gave my team a chance to win. My job is to give the team a chance to win, whether it’s 6-5 or 2-1. We did a great job of blocking shots and allowing me to see the puck, doing everything to win a hockey game there at the end.” Anderson feels the most important thing is that the team finds a way to make things happen, and to manufacture goals. He continued “We found a way. It doesn’t matter if it’s 3-2 or 6-5, we’re finding ways to win. We’re getting things done on the power play and finding ways to score lots of goals. Tonight, we got three and it should be more than enough most nights. I gave my team a chance to win.”

The Canadiens wanted to start their seven game road trip with a win, but now must regroup and not let the frustrations set it. Michael Cammalleri, who had one of Montreal’s two goals, thinks the team is frustrated, but only because they know the type of hockey they are capable of. He said “The anger and frustration lies in the fact that this group of guys expects to win hockey games.”

The Montreal Canadiens (19-12-2, 40pts), who are 1st in Northeast Division, will face the Dallas Stars(20-10-3, 43pts), and The Colorado Avalanche (19-10-4,42pts), who are 1st in Northwest Division, will face the Los Angeles Kings (18-12-1, 37pts.) Both games happen on Tuesday night.