GDT: COL @ WPG: Checkmate (COL Leads 3-1): 9:30p ET

[dahrougem2]

Lowry is so overrated. He got way too much credit for Nate and Mikko not looking like themselves. Just a lazy narrative that if the stars aren't dominating in the playoffs, then it must be because someone is shutting them down.

Last game he only played one shift against him almost the entire first two periods, and Nate and Mikko looked the same, because it wasn't Lowry shutting them down.

Tonight he plays against Nate and Mikko all night, starts the game going face first into the corner all by himself, and misses the puck, which gives up a 3 on 2 for Nate and Mikko. Second shift, he takes himself way out of position to make a late hit on Cale that he easily spins off, and then is the last man back in the D zone to watch Nate, Mikko, and Toews setup Nuke for a quick tying goal after they just took the lead.

Lowry with last change, in his biggest game of the year, ends the night watching three 5v5 goals from Nate's line. Ends the series -3 while Nate ends +5. Guy Carboneau'esque.

Yeah, to me the Lowry effect was overstated. He wasn't sticking to MacKinnon like white on rice and shutting him down. Nate wasn't skating the way he is known to. Just look at the Avs 5th goal, MacKinnon had so many opportunities to get going with speed this series but often decided to try slowing the game down.

Hopefully he gets out of this funk after the two assist 3rd period. He and Mikko produced on the PP, yes, but the PP will get cold again. They gotta improve at 5v5.

 

[missionAvs]

So can anyone tell me how the Vilardi hit on Cale was originally called a major and then determined to be nothing. All I can guess is they didn't see it, called it a major to review it, then watched it and somehow determined no penalty.

I don't think it was a major, but it was textbook interference and a cheap shot to player nowhere near the puck. Not sure how it was deemed nothing.

I can answer this question. See scoreboard at the time of the infraction.

 

[MonsterMack]

The replay of him snapping his stick in half was probably one of the funniest things I've seen from Mikko, but simultaneously one of the coolest

 

[Chiarelli]

Ya Kovy was trash again. Besides Kivi healing up I'm not sure anyone else available is an upgrade atm.

 

[Polite HKYDiscussion]

Props to the sound guys for catching that amazing sound of the stick snapping.

 

[MacKaRant]

Ya Kovy was trash again. Besides Kivi healing up I'm not sure anyone else available is an upgrade atm.

I'd play Caleb Jones as a 7th defenseman for that extra bit of injury insurance before Kovalenko.

 

[Avs9296]

Toffoli was Kovalenko's man and there wasn't a line change happening. Kovalenko initially collapsed to the bench side (where Colton was already covering) instead of sticking to the middle of the ice in the neutral zone. This lead to the whole box side being covered by JMFJ. By the time Kovalenko realizes it, he's way out of position and Ehlers has a clean entry. Instead of reading the play and knowing his place on the ice.... which would mean passing Ehlers off to Colton, Kovalenko leaves Toffoli wide open at the point with a ton of space. Colton was actually in the right spot and the collision is Colton trying to cover the space that Kovalenko left open.

That coverage mistake is 100% on Kovalenko and started at the Jets' blueline to where it cascaded.

You're wrong. It was Colton's fault.

 

[RockLobster]

You're wrong. It was Colton's fault.

NGL, this is giving bigtime "I am rubber, you are glue..." vibes...

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I thought Kovy has a great start but faded hard as the game went on.

Either way, I loved the move. f*** playing an AHL callup. Chris Wagner took some dumb penalties during the season. I think the staff had enough of him. Play a young guy, give him experience, and now he gets time to go to work with the team. You think the staff didn’t expect mistakes? Guy was with the team for 60 hours. He turned to Mikko in the locker room and was blown away by how much media there was. His head was spinning. Rest of the roster was good enough to hide him.

He’ll come out when Kivi is good to go, but that experience will help him. Bednar likes him. He’s a super competitive guy.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

George has to have that, despite the poor defensive coverage. It was mid level shot, from distance with no one in front of him and he barely reacted. No other goalie in the league is getting burned on 85mph 40ft+ wristers with no one in front. He didn't even touch it, not great.

I'm just glad that it didn't effect George's play after it, he just moved on and made all the saves after that.

I'm NO George fan but I have been watching Toffoli for years now. He has an incredible snap shot.

His unimpeded shot was better than Georgiev's ability to react.

Toffoli was better. Why can't we leave it at that?

We'd say the same about a number of of Avs players (MacKinnon, Rants) and others (Ovechkin, Pasternak, Robertson, McDavid, Draisaitl, Crosby, etc.). Some times the best shooters beat the best best goalies.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

That was me. I would not have picked Vilardi as the goon. Only shady play I can remember from the game though. Well maybe the cross check on Colton, but that happens dozens of times every game.

Miller was trying to make a statement. Lots of late cross checks and inside hits. He's both a goon and a buffoon.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

85 MPH wrister from Toffoli with speed at the top of the circle is not a "mid level shot", it beats quite a few goalies, and he did f***ing touch it what are you even talking about man

 

[henchman21]

I thought Kovy has a great start but faded hard as the game went on.

Either way, I loved the move. f*** playing an AHL callup. Chris Wagner took some dumb penalties during the season. I think the staff had enough of him. Play a young guy, give him experience, and now he gets time to go to work with the team. You think the staff didn’t expect mistakes? Guy was with the team for 60 hours. He turned to Mikko in the locker room and was blown away by how much media there was. His head was spinning. Rest of the roster was good enough to hide him.

He’ll come out when Kivi is good to go, but that experience will help him. Bednar likes him. He’s a super competitive guy.

That line was great to start and in the first they played very well. The 2nd was bad and the third was quickly a disaster. None of this means Kovy can’t be successful, but that he’s not at all ready right now and it is abundantly clear.

I know the desire for him to be a success is high, but that shouldn’t get in the way of putting the best roster on the ice for this run. He shouldn’t play unless there are multiple injuries up front from here.

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

So can anyone tell me how the Vilardi hit on Cale was originally called a major and then determined to be nothing. All I can guess is they didn't see it, called it a major to review it, then watched it and somehow determined no penalty.

I don't think it was a major, but it was textbook interference and a cheap shot to player nowhere near the puck. Not sure how it was deemed nothing.

I think it was called a major for an elbow or hit to head.

Vilardi's elbow went flinging up after the hit but there was definitely no elbow contact.

The major was reviewed and there was no elbow or head hit. They can't review and change to interference or roughing.

The fact that Vilardi braced himself and put enough force into it so that his elbow came up shows he knew exactly what he was doing and it was a dumb play that should have been 2 minutes. But the Avs got away with plenty of stuff that should have been a minor throughout the series.

 

[dahrougem2]

I thought Kovy has a great start but faded hard as the game went on.

Either way, I loved the move. f*** playing an AHL callup. Chris Wagner took some dumb penalties during the season. I think the staff had enough of him. Play a young guy, give him experience, and now he gets time to go to work with the team. You think the staff didn’t expect mistakes? Guy was with the team for 60 hours. He turned to Mikko in the locker room and was blown away by how much media there was. His head was spinning. Rest of the roster was good enough to hide him.

He’ll come out when Kivi is good to go, but that experience will help him. Bednar likes him. He’s a super competitive guy.

I wish you could have worked in media when Everberg was here. He would have stuck around for certain.

 

[henchman21]

I think it was called a major for an elbow or hit to head.

Vilardi's elbow went flinging up after the hit but there was definitely no elbow contact.

The major was reviewed and there was no elbow or head hit. They can't review and change to interference or roughing.

The fact that Vilardi braced himself and put enough force into it so that his elbow came up shows he knew exactly what he was doing and it was a dumb play that should have been 2 minutes. But the Avs got away with plenty of stuff that should have been a minor throughout the series.

I thought they called a major for interference. If they called elbow, then yeah they can’t rescind and then call a new penalty within the rules (it has mistakenly happened before).

 

[TatteredTornNFrayed]

I think Bednar saw an opportunity to get Kovalenko's feet wet, and see where he is at, and trusted the team could still be successful around him, and it probably went about how they suspected it might.

But I'll guess in round 2 that they'll go back to Kiviranta, or another guy who knows the system better and who they have more trust in. And even that 7D idea someone threw out wouldn't be surprising for a game or two. Unless Kovy really impresses them in practice this week with his progression. Even still, Kivi was looking really good early in the PO, so I think he'll go when he's ready.

 

[BoxOfChocolates]

Kovalenko getting a taste is much more important long term than Wagner.

Avs won, got away with a rookie and now Kiviranta can come back for round 2.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Kovalenko kinda just looked lost on that toffoli goal. Set a pick against Colton basically. I think he also had a bad turn over that didnt turn into a goal against. Kiviranta will play rest of this year but im excited for kovy next year in lower stake games.

I'd play Caleb Jones as a 7th defenseman for that extra bit of injury insurance before Kovalenko.

Id use olofsson before kovalenko at this point.

 

[Foppa2118]

I thought Kovy has a great start but faded hard as the game went on.

Either way, I loved the move. f*** playing an AHL callup. Chris Wagner took some dumb penalties during the season. I think the staff had enough of him. Play a young guy, give him experience, and now he gets time to go to work with the team. You think the staff didn’t expect mistakes? Guy was with the team for 60 hours. He turned to Mikko in the locker room and was blown away by how much media there was. His head was spinning. Rest of the roster was good enough to hide him.

He’ll come out when Kivi is good to go, but that experience will help him. Bednar likes him. He’s a super competitive guy.

I don't think the coaches had enough of Wagner. The Avs wouldn't have re-signed him at the end of the year, if their coaches didn't trust him.

They probably just thought Kovalenko had more upside in a 3rd line role, which is true. It just seems like too big an ask for him to step right into the NHL and learn about the intensity and speed of the playoffs, and Bednar's systems all at the same time. Goes without saying, but not everyone is Cale Makar.

What they really liked about Wagner, is his ability to play center, and Trenin has been outstanding at 4C. If they lose a center, Wags will probably be the first guy to draw in.

 

[5280]

Wasn’t the greatest game we’ve ever played, but we got the job done.

Georgie is going to have to do a lot more for me to trust him but I at least have hope now. I didn’t really before.

Thank God Cale just got the wind knocked out of him.

Best think of the night for me was that Rants might be back up.

We back up f***ers!!!

 

[Pokecheque]

Once again, I love that Bednar's willing to roll the dice on young talent, even when the stakes are raised exponentially in the postseason. Obviously it's a gamble that isn't paying off but he deserves credit for trying nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Bones would rather roll with a winger who has a grand total of 23 career NHL points on his 2nd line instead of the 22-year-old 10th overall pick who scored 38 points this season along.

 

[Foppa2118]

Wasn’t the greatest game we’ve ever played, but we got the job done.

Georgie is going to have to do a lot more for me to trust him but I at least have hope now. I didn’t really before.

Thank God Cale just got the wind knocked out of him.

Best think of the night for me was that Rants might be back up.

We back up f***ers!!!

It was more than the wind. The way he was holding his body skating off and sat down slowly was the look of someone with an injury.

If it's just the wind, you sit down pretty quickly. He got hit earlier in the game too and was grimacing on the bench just as much.

He's played banged up all year. Getting up from the ice slowly, grimacing on the bench, quick skates before every period stretching to loosen things up, trainers always talking to him, etc.

 

[5280]

It was more than the wind. The way he sat down slowly was the look of someone with an injury.

If it's just the wind, you sit down pretty quickly. He got hit earlier in the game too and was grimacing on the bench just as much.

He's played banged up all year. Getting up from the ice slowly, grimacing, quick skates before every period stretching to loosen things up, trainers always talking to him, etc.

You’re probably right. I was honestly surprised he came out for another shift so soon. Wonder what it was.

I am just hoping it wasn’t a cracked or separated rib or something. Who knows, I guess it might have been.

 

[Foppa2118]

You’re probably right. I was honestly surprised he came out for another shift so soon. Wonder what it was.

I am just hoping it wasn’t a cracked or separated rib or something. Who knows, I guess it might have been.

Just my speculation, but I think he's got a couple things going on at this point. He's managed the hip issue all year after saying it didn't heal in the off season with rest and rehab, and it's not gonna heal during an 82 game season after that.

But his body language after that hit looked upper body to me. He kept leaning back on the bench to stretch something, and every time he did he winced. Maybe a rib muscle or something? Just a guess.