'Andy' gets well-deserved day off

Photo of Peter Budaj by Getty Images

The Streak ends Wednesday night for Colorado Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson, who has started all 15 of the team's games.

It isn't that Anderson hasn't been playing well. He has, despite back-to-back losses to San Jose and Vancouver last weekend.

But he could use a rest and Peter Budaj needs to shake the cobwebs and rust off, and get into a game for the first time. Budaj has been given the nod to play against another surprisingly-successful team, the Phoenix Coyotes, at the Pepsi Center.

Budaj was scheduled to make his first start back on Oct. 23 when the Avalanche played Carolina at the Pepsi Center, but he came down with the flu, and it turned out to be the H1N1 virus (swine flu).

Budaj regained his health and joined the Avalanche for the games against the Sharks and Canucks but served as Anderson's backup.

"He deserves the opportunity,” coach Joe Sacco said today of Budaj. "Craig has played, as we all know, extremely well for us. I think it’s the right time right now to give Craig a rest and get Peter in there."

It'll be interesting to see how Avalanche fans react to Budaj, who is coming off a poor season in which he had the worst record of his NHL career when the team sank to the Western Conference basement.

Anderson was the NHL's Player of the Month for October when he tied a league record for the most wins by a goalie in that month (10), posted two shutouts and had a goals-against average of 2.04 and a .939 save percentage.

Anderson, who signed as a free agent in July, has become a popular figure in town, which puts more pressure on Budaj to excel. The boos are certain to come raining down from the stands if Budaj allows a soft goal or two.

This is an especially important season debut for Budaj, and a significant homestand for the Avalanche, which has gotten off to a 10-3-2 start despite playing 11 times on the road.

The Avalanche needs to prove that its start isn't a fluke. The Avalanche also needs to show fans disenchanted by last year's poor showing that it's worth purchasing tickets to watch the team play.

This homestand, which includes games against Chicago and Edmonton, could go a long way in doing that, and it all starts with Budaj in goal against the Coyotes.

Anderson could join US Olympic mix

The 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver are still four months away, giving a handful of hockey players who weren't invited to the U.S. orientation camp over the summer plenty of time to impress the powers that be enough to earn spots on the Olympic team.

One of them could be Colorado Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson, who is from Park Ridge, Ill., and makes his offseason home in Chicago.

Anderson isn't thinking a whole lot about the Olympic team at the moment, but he has to be opening some eyes in the American camp, including those of Olympic team general manager Brian Burke.

Burke, who also is GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs, watched Anderson make 30 saves against his team earlier this month at the Air Canada Centre when the Avalanche skated to a 4-1 win.

Anderson has continued his extraordinary play, starting all 11 of the Avalanche's games -- he'll be in the crease again Tuesday night when Colorado visits Edmonton -- while posting an 8-1-2 record with a 2.14 goals-against average and .936 save percentage.

Anderson's numbers certainly stack up well with the three goalies who took part in the orientation camp: Buffalo's Ryan Miller (6-0-1, 1.69, .940); Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick (8-3-0, 2.91, .897) and Boston's Tim Thomas (4-3-0), 2.97, .902).

"I'm getting wins, and that's all that really matters," Anderson said. "The goal is to get 'W's' and try to find a way to win, and right now I'm seeing the puck well and the guys are getting goals for me. I'm just doing my job, and my job is to stop the puck."

St. Louis' Ty Conklin (2-1-0, 2.40, .918) is another possibility. He won 25 games with Detroit last season, and it was a surprise when he wasn't invited to the orientation camp.

This much is certain: it looks like the Americans, while decided underdogs in Vancouver, should be pretty solid in goal.

Young Avs are NHL's biggest surprise

So what's the deal with this young bunch of Colorado Avalanche?

Who would have thought these guys would be 5-1-1 through the season's first seven games, with a 3-1-1 record in the first five games of what could have been a disastrous seven-game road trip?

Not me, and probably not anybody else, either.

The Avalanche was coming off a last-place finish in the Western Conference; team president Pierre Lacroix fired just about everybody in the front office and coaching staff; longtime captain Joe Sakic retired; and co-scoring leader Ryan Smyth was dispatched to Los Angeles.

So much for expectations.

I know it's ridiculously early, but free-agent pickup Craig Anderson has been splendid in the crease; the Avalanche has a potent top line in Wojtek Wolski, Paul Stastny and Milan Hejduk; 14 different players already have scored goals; 18-year-old rookies -- yes, there are two -- Matt Duchene and Ryan "Radar" O'Reilly sure look like they belong; defenseman Kyle Quincey, acquired in the Smyth trade, has been a force at both ends of the ice; and the special teams have been, well, special.

The Avalanche boasts the fifth-youngest roster in the league with an average age of 27.043 years. Ten regulars, four of whom are rookies, are between the ages of 18 and 25.

No problem, apparently.

"We're a young team, but we bring a lot of energy," rookie center T.J. Galiardi, 21, said. "We're just trying to do the right things."

This team hasn't done much wrong lately, though Saturday's visit to Joe Louis Arena to face the Detroit Red Wings will be a stern test.

"You saw what happened last year and we're a lot younger team and there probably aren't high expectations," said Paul Stastny, who's in his fourth NHL season but is just 22. "We're trying to prove ourselves after last year, and we're enjoying the challenge."

The NHL hands out more hardware than any professional league on the planet, but it's too bad it doesn't present one for the best coaching job in the first month of the season.

If there was, it would go to first-year Avalanche head coach Joe Sacco.

Hands down.