[zukes]

The first half of the year saw the Avs win 3 out of about every 8 and slide slowly down the standings, then a funny thing happened, we won 11 out of 12 and shot back into a playoff spot.

Then the opposite happened and we lost 7 in a row.

Right after that, we went 8-1-1 to get back into a tie for a playoff spot.

My next game, feeling confident against a Calgary team that has utterly dominated us all year, we take a 3-0 lead to the 3rd period. Calgary gets one early in the 3rd, then about mid-way through make it 3-2. We take over the next 6 minutes, but Umberger misses a wide open net and Fedotenko rings one off the cross bar.... you know how this is going to end. Calgary hems us in our end for the last three minutes and with 26 seconds left scores to tie it 3-3. They damn near score as the buzzer sounds, but somehow we end up in OT.

OT is much the same as the 3rd, we get our odd chance, but for the most part run around our zone getting dominated. Somehow, we manage to take to a 2nd OT but very early on Calgary scores and wins 4-3.

Despite the loss, (and no OT point, grrr) I take it as a good sign that we can hang with a team that has outclassed us so bad, you never know if we'll meet them in the playoffs.

Well, the players must have taken it a different way. We lose our next two games on home ice, 8-0 to Detroit and 6-0 to Dallas and we are back to the outside looking in, play-off wise.

If you are counting that is 18 straight unanswered goals against us.