It hasn't gone unnoticed to Colorado Avalanche players that David Aebischer holds himself accountable for his performances, a trait they find most admirable.

Win, lose or tie - regardless of how he has played - the 25-year-old goaltender always can be found at his locker after games, whether to accept praise for a strong effort or heap blame on himself for a bad one.

It helps that the good outings have far outnumbered the poor as the Avalanche reaches the halfway mark of its schedule today by meeting the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.

But Aebischer, who's expected to make his 32nd start of the season today - he played a total of 69 games his first three NHL seasons - didn't sleep all that well Thursday night after he allowed four goals on 23 shots in the Avalanche's 4-3 overtime loss to Nashville.

"I have to learn from my mistakes and shake it off," he said.

Replacing a legend such as Patrick Roy can't be easy, and Aebischer has been under the microscope since training camp. But he has given the Avalanche a chance to win in almost every one of his starts and stolen some points when the team probably didn't deserve any.

Yet Aebischer was willing to take the blame for the loss to the Predators, even if he hardly was the only reason for the defeat.

"I know there are going to be games like this," he said. "I'm disappointed and I'm pretty mad at myself, but I just have to go back to work. I have to fight through it. It shouldn't bother me too long."

Aebischer allowed as many as three goals only three times in the previous 13 games, and he has relinquished two goals or fewer in 18 of his 31 appearances overall.

As with Roy, who usually could be counted on to play well after a bad game, Aebischer has permitted a total of seven goals while posting a 4-0 record in starts immediately following games in which he's given up four goals.

"The thing he has done is, he's allowed this team to win every game he's been in, and that's all you can ask from a goaltender," defenseman Rob Blake said. "He's made the saves when he's had to and put us in position where when we come out in the third (period) we can win games. He's been great, our best player in the first half of the season."

With the exception of three-time Stanley Cup winner Martin Brodeur of New Jersey, Aebischer's statistics compare favorably with other goalies around the NHL who have played as often.

Aebischer has fashioned a 17-8-5 record with three shutouts, a 2.09 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage; Brodeur's save percentage, by the way, is .923.

"I don't think he's surprised us," Avalanche coach Tony Granato said.

"I think this is what we expected him to do. We expected him to play very confident. We expected him to be very solid and very consistent.

"Am I surprised that a lot of people say we didn't expect him to be like this? Yes, because people who only saw him play once every two or three weeks over the past three years or didn't see his work ethic in practice or didn't see his development could say, 'Who knows how he's going to respond?' Well, we had a good feeling that this was going to be the way he was going to play and so far he's lived up to that."

While Aebischer's teammates expressed confidence in camp that he would be able to handle the No. 1 chores, he still had to prove that he actually could do it.

"Everyone needs that opportunity," Blake said. "Patty needed that opportunity, and so did Brodeur and (Toronto's Ed) Belfour. All the great goalies have had to be given an opportunity at some point. David studied behind the best for several years and he understood this was a great opportunity. Look at his off-ice training; he's in the best shape of his career. He took control of his situation. He knew this was his opportunity and he's carried it from there."