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San Jose coach Ron Wilson spent much of his session with the media on Wednesday lavishing praise on Colorado Avalanche goaltender David Aebischer, calling him one of the best young goalies he has ever seen.
Little did the coach-of-the-year candidate know that the usually solid Swiss
goalie wouldn't even see the third period of Thursday night's Game 1 of the
Western Conference semifinals.
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Aebischer didn't get much help from a porous defense, but it's clear he played the worst game of his young playoff career, giving up all five Sharks goals before giving way to backup Tommy Salo late in the second period.
It was the fourth time this season he yielded five scores in a game, the last
time coming on March 3 in a wild, 5-5 overtime tie in Denver against Vancouver.
Wilson may want to try buttering Aebischer up some more heading into Saturday's
Game 2.
"The good thing about the playoffs is, it's just one game," Aebischer
said. "We have to go into Game 2 like it's zero-zero. I have to just put
this game behind me, forget about it and think about Saturday."
That won't be easy. Aebischer probably saw Sharks captain Patrick Marleau in
his dreams on Thursday night, setting up shop in front of him with little interference
from the Avalanche defensemen.
"Tonight, we had a lot of confusion in our own end," Aebischer said.
Confusion is right. Consternation, too - especially when dealing with Marleau.
The San Jose center's hat trick was pretty easy pickings, as the Avalanche failed
to get a body on him around the net.
Marleau opened the scoring with a point-blank wrist shot from the slot. He was
wide open after receiving a perfect pass from behind the net from Jonathan Cheechoo.
His second goal, which made it 4-1 in the second period, came at the end of
a two-on-one break, as he beat Aebischer low on the glove side.
Marleau's third goal came less than a minute later, as he beat Aebischer after
Peter Forsberg went to the penalty box for tripping.
"He's the kind of player who's going to put it in when he has a good chance,
and we gave him a lot of space," Colorado defenseman Adam Foote said. "We
know they're going to keep coming at us, but there's no question we have to
be better overall defensively."
The good news for the Avalanche is Aebischer has a well-deserved reputation
for bouncing back from unsavory performances.
After giving up four goals, including two unusually soft ones, in Colorado's
4-3 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars in Game 3 of the first round, he was solid
during the rest of the series. He gave up only three goals the last two games,
while facing the desperate Stars.
To his credit, Aebischer was a stand-up guy on Thursday night, saying he didn't
play well but preferring to view the night as an aberration.
At least the Avalanche hopes it is, but Joe Sakic isn't worried about his teammate
between the pipes.
"We know the kind of guy David is, and we know he'll bounce back,"
the Avalanche captain said. "It's one game, and it's going to be a long
series. We just have to get right back in it, learn from this and play better
the next game."
But Sakic knows if Aebischer and Colorado's defensemen don't step up their performances
that, before long, the Avalanche will run out of next games.