Joe who?
OK, let’s not get crazy, but let’s also give fans of the Colorado Avalanche a chance to be a little excited here.
A 2-0 start probably isn’t indicative of how the Avs will fare this season, especially with the team set to play 11 of its next 13 on the road. Still, it’s great to see Craig Anderson kick off his Colorado time by providing the Avs with the kind of goaltending they haven’t seen much of in the post-Patrick Roy era.
Anderson stopped 38 of San Jose’s 40 shots on opening night, which started with the club retiring No. 19 in honor of franchise face Joe Sakic. Another 35 saves versus Vancouver in Game 2 – to earn him his first shutout of the season – and suddenly the Avs and Anderson were on a roll.
But what the Rocky Mountain region should be most invigorated by is the play of rookie center Matt Duchene. Here’s betting that in about three years, a 1-2 pivot punch of Duchene and Paul Stastny will be about as good as it gets outside of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
And we all know where the formula of building a team around two star centers has landed Colorado in the past.
The Hockey News ranks the teams 1-30 each Monday based on a combination of last week’s play and a squad’s overall outlook.
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