It was announced on Friday that our dear Gabriel Landeskog is suspended for two games after what was determined to be an illegal check to the head against Boston Bruin, Brad Marchand. While Landy has been fined before, this is his first suspension, and will lose $59,907 in salary from the suspension and will not play against the Canadians and the Maple Leafs.
While I support the league in protecting players from on-ice injuries, after watching the replay, Landeskog’s initial hit was to the shoulder, and looks to me like it was an accident. What was not an accident was when Marchand sucker punched Landy in the face after the play. At least Marchand did receive a penalty and was fined $5,000 for the hit. At 6’1 and 210 pounds, Landeskog is a strong and aggressive player, I mean we don’t call him Mandeskog for nothing, but in this Av’s opinion it was clearly unintentional.
Grigorenko, a name I have the hardest time remembering and always want to call him Gregorovitch, will play in the place of Landy on the line with MacKinnon and Dutchy. While it certainly blows to have our captain out, that line produced 3 goals in the first period tonight, with the first by Grigorenko, and the second two by Mr. Natty Mack himself, scoring two goals in just 13 seconds. If Grigorenko continues to play this well, he will be deserving of my fictitious nickname. Like the famous wandmaker of Harry Potter who possessed the most powerful wand in the wizarding world, Grigorenko’s own Elder Wand may be in the form of a hockey stick, and could be an important figure in the Avalanche’s comeback. Is comparing a Russian hockey player to a wizard from Harry Potter too much? As a diehard Potter geek, I’m going to say that Harry Potter analogies are always applicable.
Anyways, back to our game in Montreal… With Berra’s solid 18 saves in the first, combined with our three first period goals, and Comeau’s short-handed goal, I am feeling good about things. Let's defeat the team with the best record in the league, give the Canadian's their first home loss, and bring in our third win in a row.
