Avs reach 50wins; Blues hit sour note
Roy calls Backes “gutless” for hit on MacKinnon
st. louis » All thatwas missing was for Patrick Roy to push the glass toward Ken Hitchcock.
If there was one lesson to be learned from the Avalanche’s opening-night victory over Anaheim, in which the Avs beat the Ducks and Roy was victorious over the glass separating the benches, it was this: The Avs won’t be pushed around anymore.
That much was made evident again Saturday, when the Avs not only mopped the ice with the Western Conference-leading St. Louis Blues in a 4-0 win, they stood up to some questionable tactics by a frustrated Blues squad in the third period.
When it was over, the Avs had their 50th win of the season, their goalie tied the coach’s franchise record for wins in a season and the coach called the actions of the Blues captain “gutless.” There’s still an outside shot these two teams could meet in the first round of the playoffs, folks, and regardless if theydoor not, weofficially have ourselves a vicious divisional rivalry for the foreseeable future.
SemyonVarlamovmade 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and tied Roy’s 2000-01 franchise record with his 40th win, while Paul Stastny scored a goal and added two assists as the Avs beat St. Louis for the first time and thus have now beaten every NHL team at least once this season.
But now back to the juicy stuff: The game devolved into a parade to the penalty box in the third, mostly by Blues players. Things were simmering already, with the Avs up 3-0, whenAvs enforcer Patrick Bordeleau knocked Kevin Shattenkirk into the boards with a big hit. The Blues started looking for their pound of flesh in response, and their captain, David Backes, looked toward 18-year-old rookie Nathan MacKinnon. After some pushing between the two, including MacKinnon knocking Backes downwith a clean check as they jousted, Backes got back up and dropped his gloves and toppledMacKinnon to the ice. Backes, 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, stayed on top ofMacKinnon and kept trying to drive him into the ice. MacKinnon left for the dressing room and initially appeared hurt but returned to the bench and said he was fine after the game.
Roy wasn’t so fine with Backes’ actions.
“Tome, it’s gutless fromBackes. He showedwhat kind of leader he is, if you’re going after an 18-yearold,” Roy said. “Not very impressed. Gutless, in my opinion.”
Hitchcock, whose “junior hockey” jibe at Roy over the glassshoving incident hasn’t been forgotten by Roy, seemed to be coaching straight out of Kamloops, British Columbia, again in the third with one player after another making big runs atAvs players. All that got the Blues was a pile of penalties, but itwas Bordeleau’s hit on Shattenkirk that Hitchcock said should be the most-examined hit of the game by theNHL’s disciplinary committee.
“Down the line we’ll deal with Bordeleau and all the debris around the game. He’ll have to fight somebody, and we’ll get rid of that debris. Or if we feel he went after Shatty, there will be a response from us on their defensemen,” Hitchcock said.
If he had to second-guess anything he didn’t do, Hitchcock added, it was in not playing his enforcer, Ryan Reaves, more toward the end “to create an even bigger explosion.”
Roy and the Avs were unfazed by anything the Blues did.
“It’s over with. They were frustrated, butwewant to stand up for our guys,” Stastny said. “If they’re (running around), that means they’re frustrated and not playing their game, and that’s what we want.”