GDT: Game 44: Avs @ Sharks | Saturday, January 21st, 8:30pm MT | Just Another Day

[The Kingslayer]

on Beauch's goal, very surprise Grigorenko and Mack don't get another point

If it was Crosby that would have been an assist for him

 

[El Travo]

on Beauch's goal, very surprise Grigorenko and Mack don't get another point

It is weird that they didn't get points. The San Jose player didn't actually gain possession of the puck. He just changed it's trajectory. If their claim to points were nullified by this then shouldn't MacKinnon's assist be taken away on the first goal as well? The puck was redirected by a defender prior to reaching Grigorenko.

 

[agentblack]

Missed the game but they actually outshot them...cool

Sounds like Z had a nice game, seems to be a pattern if they actually let him play

Cant wait till after teh deadline and they hopefully let Bigras come up

 

[Foppa2118]

Oh the irony in MacK making a terrible line change in OT to leave the man wide open for the game winner, just a week or so removed from him chewing out his teammates at the bench for a bad change. This is why he needs to keep his mouth shut and focus on his own game.

Avs played one of their better games of the year though. Martin looked pretty solid for a first outing too. Typical Avs fashion though they find a way to come up short.

 

[maxim84]

For us it's speculation, but for them it's possible they know if he'll actually come over next year. It could even be a "make it out of camp, or go back to the KHL thing" without any issue.

He only played in October and eliteprospects says he is injured. Anyway KHL starts at late august so for a player who missed almost entire year to go to camp and then come back to russia and have limited options in choosing a club...I don't think is very likely. Dynamo Moscow is in a very strong western conference and by the time he comes back their roster will be full. So IMO if he won't play 3rd line minutes in Moscow and decides to come to camp it has to be nhl/ahl or some sibirian village...

Edit: sorry haven't been here a long time and I don't know what report are you reffering to.. so I might be completely wrong

 

[forsbergavs32]

He only played in October and eliteprospects says he is injured. Anyway KHL starts at late august so for a player who missed almost entire year to go to camp and then come back to russia and have limited options in choosing a club...I don't think is very likely. Dynamo Moscow is in a very strong western conference and by the time he comes back their roster will be full. So IMO if he won't play 3rd line minutes in Moscow and decides to come to camp it has to be nhl/ahl or some sibirian village...

Edit: sorry haven't been here a long time and I don't know what report are you reffering to.. so I might be completely wrong

We don't have a lot of info either, all we know is Sakic said Mironov could come over next season.

 

[Hesher]

They have been playing much better since their bye week. It's still not good enough but there are some encouraging signs.

 

[Rumplesnipeskin]

The last five periods played have actually been pretty good, and this has been on the road against a couple solid teams. Glad I got to watch them and hope it continues on, they'll get some wins if they put together three periods like they did last night. Not great hockey, but competitive hockey at least.

 

[Avs71]

Did Zadorov play RD last night?

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Did Zadorov play RD last night?

Yeah. Only his third or fourth game on that side this year but he looked pretty good there. You could tell in offensive zone he wasn't as comfortable on that side.

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

That was about as positive as a debut from a 21yo goalie in their 2nd pro season as you can get in the circumstances. Something I noticed as the game wore on was Martin adjusting to the speed of the game. After the first period I said that Martin was just primarily focused on stopping pucks with not much emphasis on where he was putting the rebounds. As the game wore on we could see Martin getting possession of the puck more often. By the time we were in the last half of the 3rd period he was doing really well getting control of pucks and not giving the Sharks extra offensive opportunities. I also thought the guys in front of Martin did well to step up in front of him which helped him slow the game down.

Also as many of you noticed Martin is more aggressive in his crease depth than pretty much every other NHL goalie. It's a little funny to see him like that when barely an hour earlier I just finished watching Windsor/Niagara and Niagara goalie Stephen Dhillon liked to get very aggressive as well. This aggressive crease depth from Martin will be interesting. Martin can keep being aggressive but he'll have to learn to adjust in-game when teams start realizing what he's doing and take advantage of it by making him commit to the shot and pass it for an open net. The plus side though is his speed can mitigate whatever issues this aggressive challenging may bring up.

If the Avs had to run a Varly/Martin tandem it would be the quickest tandem in the league. I'm not sure how much of Martin's game was pure adrenaline but he was moving out there. Whether it was dropping to his knees, moving across the crease or going into the reverse-VH Martin had only one speed and it was quick. Obviously Martin isn't going to reach Varly's top end speed but something you can see is that Allaire/JIF influence already where Martin isn't losing his positioning like a younger Varly did when making those quick movements.

This game was also the type of puck handling game that we'll see from him for the rest of his career. 20% of the time Martin will make a great stretch pass or just a good decision with the puck. 60% of the time Martin will make the right decision with the puck by either covering it or just settling it down. The other 20% will be Martin misplaying the puck which leads to at least a scoring chance or a goal. This game we saw a scoring chance from Martin misplaying the puck behind the net in the 3rd. I don't view Martin missing the puck on the play that lead to the 2nd goal as misplaying the puck. Goalies miss the puck tons of time. Martin did get back into the net on time and in position.

One part of Martin's game we saw small pieces of was his "battle" mentality. One big positive about Pickard is how he battles for the puck and wins during scrambles. Martin was never really in one of those situations during the game. Martin did fight through screens (quite literally moving players out of the way) in order to track the puck and make sure there wasn't a cross ice pass that he was behind on.

All-in-all this game was a positive for Martin. This was probably the best start we've seen from a 21yo rookie goalie in the Avs organization in a while (Small sample size but it sounds good right?). I'm happy that the coaching staff is looking to give Martin more starts and will not relegate him to the bench for a long period of time. Now is a good time for Martin to learn what works or doesn't work at the NHL level. This is an important first step and I can't help but feel happy for the guy despite the outcome for the game.

 

[ABasin]

That was about as positive as a debut from a 21yo goalie in their 2nd pro season as you can get in the circumstances. Something I noticed as the game wore on was Martin adjusting to the speed of the game. After the first period I said that Martin was just primarily focused on stopping pucks with not much emphasis on where he was putting the rebounds. As the game wore on we could see Martin getting possession of the puck more often. By the time we were in the last half of the 3rd period he was doing really well getting control of pucks and not giving the Sharks extra offensive opportunities. I also thought the guys in front of Martin did well to step up in front of him which helped him slow the game down.

Also as many of you noticed Martin is more aggressive in his crease depth than pretty much every other NHL goalie. It's a little funny to see him like that when barely an hour earlier I just finished watching Windsor/Niagara and Niagara goalie Stephen Dhillon liked to get very aggressive as well. This aggressive crease depth from Martin will be interesting. Martin can keep being aggressive but he'll have to learn to adjust in-game when teams start realizing what he's doing and take advantage of it by making him commit to the shot and pass it for an open net. The plus side though is his speed can mitigate whatever issues this aggressive challenging may bring up.

If the Avs had to run a Varly/Martin tandem it would be the quickest tandem in the league. I'm not sure how much of Martin's game was pure adrenaline but he was moving out there. Whether it was dropping to his knees, moving across the crease or going into the reverse-VH Martin had only one speed and it was quick. Obviously Martin isn't going to reach Varly's top end speed but something you can see is that Allaire/JIF influence already where Martin isn't losing his positioning like a younger Varly did when making those quick movements.

This game was also the type of puck handling game that we'll see from him for the rest of his career. 20% of the time Martin will make a great stretch pass or just a good decision with the puck. 60% of the time Martin will make the right decision with the puck by either covering it or just settling it down. The other 20% will be Martin misplaying the puck which leads to at least a scoring chance or a goal. This game we saw a scoring chance from Martin misplaying the puck behind the net in the 3rd. I don't view Martin missing the puck on the play that lead to the 2nd goal as misplaying the puck. Goalies miss the puck tons of time. Martin did get back into the net on time and in position.

One part of Martin's game we saw small pieces of was his "battle" mentality. One big positive about Pickard is how he battles for the puck and wins during scrambles. Martin was never really in one of those situations during the game. Martin did fight through screens (quite literally moving players out of the way) in order to track the puck and make sure there wasn't a cross ice pass that he was behind on.

All-in-all this game was a positive for Martin. This was probably the best start we've seen from a 21yo rookie goalie in the Avs organization in a while (Small sample size but it sounds good right?). I'm happy that the coaching staff is looking to give Martin more starts and will not relegate him to the bench for a long period of time. Now is a good time for Martin to learn what works or doesn't work at the NHL level. This is an important first step and I can't help but feel happy for the guy despite the outcome for the game.

Nice post. We don't get too many in-depth ones about goaltending nuances, etc.

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

Nice post. We don't get too many in-depth ones about goaltending nuances, etc.

Thank you. I don't normally get the opportunity to do this so I decided to ruin everyone's day by posting this

 

[DanishAvsfan]

Thank you. I don't normally get the opportunity to do this so I decided to ruin everyone's day by posting this

On the contrary very enlightening.

 

[McMetal]

I really like that he handles the puck well. That was always a big weakness in Varley's game. Hopefully he'll only get better at it and minimize the risks associated.

 

[S E P H]

Throwing it up the boards for Z wasn't the best play, but the two forwards on the ice went to change, and he had two Sharks players on him, so he didn't exactly have an outlet.

They sure did miss Barrie in the 3 on 3.

You're correct, right after I posted that I continued watching the post game where Rycroft ripped MacKinnon for that change. Called it a "selfish play" and concluded that this is why the Avs are the worst team in the league, "because of plays like this".

That was about as positive as a debut from a 21yo goalie in their 2nd pro season as you can get in the circumstances. Something I noticed as the game wore on was Martin adjusting to the speed of the game. After the first period I said that Martin was just primarily focused on stopping pucks with not much emphasis on where he was putting the rebounds. As the game wore on we could see Martin getting possession of the puck more often. By the time we were in the last half of the 3rd period he was doing really well getting control of pucks and not giving the Sharks extra offensive opportunities. I also thought the guys in front of Martin did well to step up in front of him which helped him slow the game down.

Also as many of you noticed Martin is more aggressive in his crease depth than pretty much every other NHL goalie. It's a little funny to see him like that when barely an hour earlier I just finished watching Windsor/Niagara and Niagara goalie Stephen Dhillon liked to get very aggressive as well. This aggressive crease depth from Martin will be interesting. Martin can keep being aggressive but he'll have to learn to adjust in-game when teams start realizing what he's doing and take advantage of it by making him commit to the shot and pass it for an open net. The plus side though is his speed can mitigate whatever issues this aggressive challenging may bring up.

Yeah Martin was really aggressive last night which you like to see. I saw a couple of occasions where he was in the front net battles to get an extra foot on the shot. Never seen someone conduct this type of goaltending since honestly Patrick Roy off the top of my head. However, I also saw a couple of occurrences where he was too aggressive leaving a man open at the side of the net if the puck ever went to him. It's based more on inexperience and young age than a lack of cerebral play from Martin himself. Will need a couple of seasons to adjust to these factors and read the play better, but that was a great start for him.

 

[Freudian]

Zadorov very snakebitten as an Avs player. Still haven't scored a goal in 60+ games. Two posts last night.

Avs had a good game. Shame they broke down in OT with a bunch of bad decisions in a row. If you just have to get a change, at least get the puck out of the zone first.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Zadorov very snakebitten as an Avs player. Still haven't scored a goal in 60+ games. Two posts last night.

Avs had a good game. Shame they broke down in OT with a bunch of bad decisions in a row. If you just have to get a change, at least get the puck out of the zone first.

Im already settling into the idea that Z will never score for us.

 

[dahrougem2]

Im already settling into the idea that Z will never score for us.

Hat-trick next game