Thoughts:
Zach Parise. Not much else needs to be said. He's everything you want in your best player. The Kessel/Parise threads continue to still look laughable.
I've given Coyle a lot grief over his game the last several years. He's turning a corner and putting all of his unique skill set to use. Outside of Parise, I thought he was consistently one of the best players on the ice even if he didn't really jump out until the Vanek goal. And wow, what a great play it was. I like the makeup of that third line of Vanek-Graovac-Coyle if it can stay together.
Fingers crossed on Nino. He was a threat nearly every time he was on the ice last night. Good bet he was concussed.
Hard to know how concerned to be with Dubnyk. The team had to know they were going to have to stem a tide from Colorado and push back as the game went on. The first goal was what it was, nicely placed shot from a hall of famer. On the second, just a completely unacceptable goal. Straight up shot from the point can't go in with no traffic in front him. The game snowballed from there. Luckily they team came back and got the win but they can't afford to be put in these holes from their goaltenders again. Dubnyk just did not look comfortable all night.
I wasn't a huge fan of what the team got from the Brodin-Dumba pairing. Namely the first part of the game. A lot of timid play in the defensive zone. Brodin turned it around as the game went on, but Dumba never did IMO.
Not sure what's going on with Scandella either. Don't know if the "third pairing" thing got in his head or if the team wasn't thrilled with him and how he showed up this year. Thought it was strange he played most of the preseason in games where essentially all of Iowa played. Regardless, he didn't look comfortable and was only jumping into plays one or two times in transition and that's not really him. Could be the comfort level with Folin just isn't there yet. Don't know.
Did the Avs get two timeouts last night? Because Roy clearly called one when the Wild came back. And then late in the game there was another. The public announcer could be heard on the TV saying Colorado timeout. It was a defensive zone faceoff for the Avs at a time where it would make sense to use one and plan to get the goaltender out. Completely possible Yeo called one but that's typically not a time when you're looking to help out the other team. I'd assume if Yeo didn't call it, there would have been something post game about it so I'm guessing the PA guy had it wrong.
Avs:
Landeskog has the complete skill set to be such a better player than he is right now. Physical, skilled, and a good enough skater. I don't know who's getting into his head about his game but he could be so much better than he is now if concentrated more on playing the game than getting himself out of position and the play by running around a bit.
They will have a tough time in this league, especially this conference/division when the top two centers are Duchene and McKinnon. Duchene continues to be one of the softer players in this league and just generally disinterested and incapable of playing all areas of the ice. That's not going to work in the West. One of the most overrated players in the league, IMO. McKinnon looked a bit like a return to his rookie year self, but I don't see him as a guy who's ready to play center in this league.
You can clearly tell where the Wild want to go on Varlamov; up top. And it's nothing new.
Let's hope he can keep it up.
