Series Talk: 2020 Avs Playoffs | Round 2: Dallas Stars

[TruePowerSlave]

The Avs scored 29 goals against Dallas, 4 goals per game. The Stars did a good job on the PK/PP but otherwise they weren't all that impressive and got outplayed 5 on 5.

We lost due to injuries, weak PP/PK and awful goaltending. If even one of those things would have not been an issue the Avs walk over the Stars.

Francouz especially had a pathetic performance and would have looked shaky stopping beach balls. If he was injured his play was understandable, but then you really have to questions why was he playing in the first place.

 

[Pokecheque]

Francouz especially had a pathetic performance and would have looked shaky stopping beach balls. If he was injured his play was understandable, but then you really have to questions why was he playing in the first place.

Well, it was understandable why they'd be reluctant to go to Hutchinson, it ain't like he had a stellar track record prior to arriving in Colorado. And really, he was only marginally better than Francouz in the end. I don't mean to diss the guy, he was at least adequate enough to give the Avs a fighting chance in a series that nearly ended in five games. But they really wanted Frankie to try and solidify that spot, and he obviously didn't. He was bad in the first four games, and utterly abysmal in game 5.

 

[Foppa2118]

I also thought that playing the round robin was just a waste of time and might have contributed to more injuries. I still believe that some players get too much ice time and it wears the bodies down. Bednar needs a bigger view of how to allot ice time to go into a 7 game series. For example in the game 5 win against the stars ( 6-3 ) Makar played 24.26.minutes and Nathan played 22.19. This was a game where those guys could have gotten a little rest to stay sharper for later games.

I think Makar was fine with his minutes, but like Kingslayer said, MacKinnon didn't look like himself in the last couple games. The last three games IMO.

Game 5 was the second of a back to back, and they had a 6-2 lead for the entire third period until Benn scored with 5:48 to go. Why did MacK need to play 22:19 in that game? That just seems like a cut and dry mistake by Bednar.

Jost and Namestnikov finished with 8:24 and 8:38 respectively. They didn't stand out a whole lot in the series, but both are good defensive players that wouldn't have hurt the team. No reason for Nate to play that much and them to play so little in a semi blowout. I don't have many problems with Bednar, but again, this just seems like a preventable mistake on his part.

I mean look at Nate's ice time in this series, especially with that back to back in games 4 and 5. You got to find him a game in there to rest. Not coincidentally, starting with the second back to back in game 5 is when his game started to fall off.

Game 1 - 24:14
Game 2 - 23:48
Game 3 - 23:06
Game 4 - 22:38
Game 5 - 22:19
Game 6 - 22:10
Game 7 - 27:55

 

[Richard88]

I think Makar was fine with his minutes, but like Kingslayer said, MacKinnon didn't look like himself in the last couple games. The last three games IMO.

Game 5 was the second of a back to back, and they had a 6-2 lead for the entire third period until Benn scored with 5:48 to go. Why did MacK need to play 22:19 in that game? That just seems like a cut and dry mistake by Bednar.

Jost and Namestnikov finished with 8:24 and 8:38 respectively. They didn't stand out a whole lot in the series, but both are good defensive players that wouldn't have hurt the team. No reason for Nate to play that much and them to play so little in a semi blowout. I don't have many problems with Bednar, but again, this just seems like a preventable mistake on his part.

I mean look at Nate's ice time in this series, especially with that back to back in games 4 and 5. You got to find him a game in there to rest. Not coincidentally, starting with the second back to back in game 5 is when his game started to fall off.

Game 1 - 24:14
Game 2 - 23:48
Game 3 - 23:06
Game 4 - 22:38
Game 5 - 22:19
Game 6 - 22:10
Game 7 - 27:55

The lack of a competent 3C/3rd line hurt us here.

 

[The Kingslayer]

I think Makar was fine with his minutes, but like Kingslayer said, MacKinnon didn't look like himself in the last couple games. The last three games IMO.

Game 5 was the second of a back to back, and they had a 6-2 lead for the entire third period until Benn scored with 5:48 to go. Why did MacK need to play 22:19 in that game? That just seems like a cut and dry mistake by Bednar.

Jost and Namestnikov finished with 8:24 and 8:38 respectively. They didn't stand out a whole lot in the series, but both are good defensive players that wouldn't have hurt the team. No reason for Nate to play that much and them to play so little in a semi blowout. I don't have many problems with Bednar, but again, this just seems like a preventable mistake on his part.

I mean look at Nate's ice time in this series, especially with that back to back in games 4 and 5. You got to find him a game in there to rest. Not coincidentally, starting with the second back to back in game 5 is when his game started to fall off.

Game 1 - 24:14
Game 2 - 23:48
Game 3 - 23:06
Game 4 - 22:38
Game 5 - 22:19
Game 6 - 22:10
Game 7 - 27:55

Even for a guy whose hockey fit thats a ton of ice time especially for a guy like mack who relies on power and speed. At some point its going to cost.

 

[Foppa2118]

The lack of a competent 3C/3rd line hurt us here.

It does, but they still could have given Jost and Namaste more than 8:24 and 8:38 in game 5, so they could rest Nate a little in what was a 6-2 game for most of the third period.

They're good enough defensively for Bednar not to be worried about them hurting the team.

 

[sethro109]

 

[klozge]

I don't even know what to say. Looks like everybody was injured.

 

[tigervixxxen]

The lack of a competent 3C/3rd line hurt us here.

Nate having to double shift in game 7 because they only trusted Dries for 6 minutes of TOI didn’t help either.

 

[henchman21]

I don't even know what to say. Looks like everybody was injured.

Nearly all players end up with some sort of injury after the regular season and playoffs. Not really unusual.

 

[klozge]

Nearly all players end up with some sort of injury after the regular season and playoffs. Not really unusual.

It should be unusual, though. Especially when there's such a long break between regular season and playoffs.

 

[henchman21]

It should be unusual, though. Especially when there's such a long break between regular season and playoffs.

All the teams remaining will have injuries they announce after that players played through and some that kept them out. We're going to hear the Seguin likely needs surgery. Hedman too, and he will probably start next season on IR depending on the start date. The Avs had a rash of injuries, but to various extents, all teams are dealing with them. I mean... just look at Barzal's face.

 

[klozge]

All the teams remaining will have injuries they announce after that players played through and some that kept them out. We're going to hear the Seguin likely needs surgery. Hedman too, and he will probably start next season on IR depending on the start date. The Avs had a rash of injuries, but to various extents, all teams are dealing with them. I mean... just look at Barzal's face.

Yeah, I know, but I don't like it.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

The one thing other teams didn't have that the Avs unfortunately did, was injuries to both the starting goalie and the backup goalie.


Of the teams remaining only Dallas doesn't have both of it's goalies healthy right now. And in Dallas' case they basically have nobody else out of the lineup.

 

[S E P H]

The one thing other teams didn't have that the Avs unfortunately did, was injuries to both the starting goalie and the backup goalie.


Of the teams remaining only Dallas doesn't have both of it's goalies healthy right now. And in Dallas' case they basically have nobody else out of the lineup.

I don't like using injuries as the full time excuse, Avs still could've passed the Stars - though they were without Bishop as well - with better goaltending and special teams regardless of who got injured. However, it was the amount of injuries at one time,where it happened - like getting three effin' injuries in game one really sucked.

I think if an injury happened to Girard instead of EJ that would've been worse for us, but EJ can play against the Stars forecheque. Grubauer with all his issues would've stopped like 60% of the goals that Francouz was letting in. Calvert like EJ would've been able to handle positively the Stars game more than Burakovsky did (not saying he had a bad playoffs because he didn't). It wasn't just the injuries, but it was the injuries on who it happened to which I consider more significant. Like if Radulov got injured for the Stars instead of Cogliano then Avs would've won game 7 easily, regardless if *insert random Finnish name here* player would've dressed.

 

[Balthazar]

Stars after 2 games vs Avs: 10 goals
Stars after 2 games vs Vegas: 1 goal

 

[PAZ]

Stars after 2 games vs Avs: 10 goals
Stars after 2 games vs Vegas: 1 goal

Yup, the Stars aren't an offensively gifted team. They got hot briefly and got to play versus some very weak goaltending.

 

[Balthazar]

Yup, the Stars aren't an offensively gifted team. They got hot briefly and got to play versus some very weak goaltending.

Huge coming back to Earth moment for them to face a normal NHL goaltender after facing Cam Talbot, Pavel Francouz and Mike Hutchinson in the first two rounds.

 

[McMetal]

I also thought that playing the round robin was just a waste of time and might have contributed to more injuries. I still believe that some players get too much ice time and it wears the bodies down. Bednar needs a bigger view of how to allot ice time to go into a 7 game series. For example in the game 5 win against the stars ( 6-3 ) Makar played 24.26.minutes and Nathan played 22.19. This was a game where those guys could have gotten a little rest to stay sharper for later games.

I don't think it had any meaningful effect. I mean, in a normal season they would have gone straight from the regular season to the playoffs, with all the wear and tear associated with that. Three games isn't going to do anything to them that 82 wouldn't.

 

[Pokecheque]

I also thought that playing the round robin was just a waste of time and might have contributed to more injuries. I still believe that some players get too much ice time and it wears the bodies down. Bednar needs a bigger view of how to allot ice time to go into a 7 game series. For example in the game 5 win against the stars ( 6-3 ) Makar played 24.26.minutes and Nathan played 22.19. This was a game where those guys could have gotten a little rest to stay sharper for later games.

What was the alternative, they just sit around until the qualifiers are over? I promise you the injuries would've been far worse and the Avs would've looked like they were getting up from a long nap against whoever the qualifer winner was (yes, even Arizona).

The Round Robin, if nothing else, allowed the Avs to get acclimated and get real game experience before the first round started. And they looked great in most of those games so I don't buy that it was a complete waste of time. The Avs have shown for the most part that they actually do very poorly after an extended rest. Usually if the game wasn't two days later they laid a big egg--and certainly did so in Game 1 of the series against Dallas.

The Avs just never really got any luck when it came to injuries this year. They were lucky in other aspects, but certainly not there.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Stars after 2 games vs Avs: 10 goals
Stars after 2 games vs Vegas: 1 goal

Goaltending.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

I don't think it's just goaltending. Vegas does a better job of keeping stuff to the outside. They're also a bit more physical so those Stars dmen can't jump up from the blue line as easily to cycle the puck.

Either way, it's showing that we just need to upgrade on two of the dmen and that we're almost there if not for injuries. The rest of our effort has been better than Vegas has done so far and we outplayed Dallas a lot more as well imo than Vegas has so far. If say Cole/Zads had been upgraded for more mobile dmen and two guys who could clear the zone better then we might just have had the edge even with the EJ injury.

 

[Bender]

All the teams remaining will have injuries they announce after that players played through and some that kept them out. We're going to hear the Seguin likely needs surgery. Hedman too, and he will probably start next season on IR depending on the start date. The Avs had a rash of injuries, but to various extents, all teams are dealing with them. I mean... just look at Barzal's face.

Yeah, I know, but I don't like it.

You don't like Barzal's face?

 

[klozge]

You don't like Barzal's face?

It's an okay face, I guess

 

[Pokecheque]

I don't think it's just goaltending. Vegas does a better job of keeping stuff to the outside. They're also a bit more physical so those Stars dmen can't jump up from the blue line as easily to cycle the puck.

Either way, it's showing that we just need to upgrade on two of the dmen and that we're almost there if not for injuries. The rest of our effort has been better than Vegas has done so far and we outplayed Dallas a lot more as well imo than Vegas has so far. If say Cole/Zads had been upgraded for more mobile dmen and two guys who could clear the zone better then we might just have had the edge even with the EJ injury.

Both teams proved last night they're just as prone to defensive breakdowns as the Avalanche. TBH I don't think Brayden McNabb is much better than either Zadorov or Cole, but I could be wrong. They have Nick effing Holden in a top-four role so that's telling to me. I like Schmidt and Theodore a lot but beyond that I don't love that defensive corps. Unless Zach Whitecloud is some stud-in-waiting and I'm missing something but all I ever see him do is find ways to faceplant into the boards and stuff.