I don't know how good the Avs are going to be this year. It's a bit over a tenth of the way through the season, and they're midding in their division. But that's not saying much because the division is the toughest in the league. The top and bottom teams are not separated by much. After losing Peter Forsberg, I thought the Avs might suffer offensively. Certainly, Peter the Great has been having an incredible year in Philly and I miss him terribly. But, the Avs have been scoring quite highly. It's their team defense that's suspect.
One thing that has clearly improved over any other Avs team I've seen is the ability of their third line to score. Those guys can fly. In this game, I watched Antii Laaksonen shed a defender at around mid-ice and score a shorthanded goal. He left that defenseman in the dust.
