GDT: Avs vs. BJs | 4-1-14 @ 5:00 PM MT

[tigervixxxen]

MacK is better as a top 6RW than the #3C. I don't even think it is that close.

Hearing Roy on the radio today, I'm sticking by my prediction that MacKinnon will never play 3C again. He very very well could be the O'Reilly version of a RW.

If they beat St Louis on Sat, things could get interesting. Unlikely still, but interesting.

 

[OldSchoolAvalanche*]

glad we got the points

 

[Foppa2118]

Sure looked like Roy moved O'Reilly back to center at the end of the third. He was staying high at center, and letting the wingers chase down pucks on the forecheck, when that's usually his main job. He stayed in the middle of the ice instead of switching over when he could have too.

Wonder if O'Reilly will get his wish and shift back to center down the stretch?

 

[chet1926]

This. Why don't people understand the new format, it's not hard.

If the Blues lose, and the Avs win their series...we'd be playing Minnesota in round 2 by the looks of things right now.

Actually the current matchups are:

(C1)STL vs (W2)Dallas
(C2)Avs vs (C3)Chicago
(P1)Anaheim vs (W1)Minnesota
(P2)San Jose vs (P3)LA

STL as of this moment gets the lowest wildcard team because they have the most points, so they'd get Dallas and Anaheim would get the higher of the two wildcard teams Minnesota. As of this moment the only way the Avs could play Minnesota would be in the conference championship.

 

[CoachBadkitten]

Sure looked like Roy moved O'Reilly back to center at the end of the third. He was staying high at center, and letting the wingers chase down pucks on the forecheck, when that's usually his main job. He stayed in the middle of the ice instead of switching over when he could have too.

Wonder if O'Reilly will get his wish and shift back to center down the stretch?

Once PAP gets back, I'd much rather see:

McGinn-ROR-PAP (I know McGinn's played RW this year, but I know he played a lot of LW in the past.)
Landy-Staz-MacK

We can keep the line that's doing well together, and I feel like PAP setting up O'Reilly might be very nice if we don't have Dutchy.

 

[dahrougem2]

Sure looked like Roy moved O'Reilly back to center at the end of the third. He was staying high at center, and letting the wingers chase down pucks on the forecheck, when that's usually his main job. He stayed in the middle of the ice instead of switching over when he could have too.

Wonder if O'Reilly will get his wish and shift back to center down the stretch?

I'm starting to wonder if O'Reilly even cares about being moved back to centre though. I mean, we see him switch with Duchene all the time in the defensive zone down low to centre, and he does take face-offs a lot in both the offensive zone and defensive zone. I can think of multiple times this season where the Avs had a late lead and Roy sent Duchene's line out there for a d-zone draw only to have O'Reilly take it, or in the offensive zone in the same situation.

I think he and Roy have an understanding of one another and that O'Reilly may be fine as a permanent LW on this club

 

[Foppa2118]

I'm starting to wonder if O'Reilly even cares about being moved back to centre though. I mean, we see him switch with Duchene all the time in the defensive zone down low to centre, and he does take face-offs a lot in both the offensive zone and defensive zone. I can think of multiple times this season where the Avs had a late lead and Roy sent Duchene's line out there for a d-zone draw only to have O'Reilly take it, or in the offensive zone in the same situation.

I think he and Roy have an understanding of one another and that O'Reilly may be fine as a permanent LW on this club

He definitely would rather be playing center you can tell. He'll never make a fuss about it, but whenever he's been asked about it this year he always says the right things, but then adds how much he likes and misses playing center.

Like he did the other day when Frei asked him about it.

“I do love center and miss it a bit,†he said. “But I like playing the wing and I think it’s good when I can be versatile like that.â€

A bit too much is made I think about Dutchy and O'Reilly switching back and forth. They definitely do it more than most lines, but Duchene still handles most of the down low defensive coverage, and handles the puck more to create plays as the center. O'Reilly helps in both areas when he can, but he doesn't do it nearly as much as when he was a center.

 

[RockLobster]

I don't know Foppa, I don't see anywhere in that comment where it's obviously telling that he would rather be at Center. He was asked if he misses it and he admitted that he does "a bit". In the end I think he's happy playing Top-Line minutes and actually contributing both offensively and defensively

I do not want to see O'Reilly back at Center, not long-term because it just creates another need, we're "Robbing Peter to pay Paul".

If the plan is MacKinnon at Center for the long-term, they need to utilize Duchene's absence to help make him a better NHL Center, I know it's tough to do when they're chasing down Home-Ice but that's just my viewpoint.

O'Reilly and Duchene are great on their line and I'd really like to continue to see them play on the same line for many years to come.

 

[Foppa2118]

I don't know Foppa, I don't see anywhere in that comment where it's obviously telling that he would rather be at Center. He was asked if he misses it and he admitted that he does "a bit". In the end I think he's happy playing Top-Line minutes and actually contributing both offensively and defensively

I do not want to see O'Reilly back at Center, not long-term because it just creates another need, we're "Robbing Peter to pay Paul".

If the plan is MacKinnon at Center for the long-term, they need to utilize Duchene's absence to help make him a better NHL Center, I know it's tough to do when they're chasing down Home-Ice but that's just my viewpoint.

O'Reilly and Duchene are great on their line and I'd really like to continue to see them play on the same line for many years to come.

I'm fine keeping O'Reilly at wing long term, and I'm not sure what to do for that line short term, but I think it's pretty obvious he'd want to play center if it were up to him. He can't say he misses it a lot. That would sound pretty selfish, and that's not really in his nature. Contract negotiations aside.

Given the choice between playing as the 3rd center vs 1st line winger might be a different question though. If he could play with a quality linemate like Landy again, I'd bet he'd choose 3rd line center.

 

[The Kingslayer]

lol man those goals. Oh CBJ I feel for them

 

[AvsRobin]

Everyone sure jumped off the "MacKinnon should be a center" bandwagon quick after tonights game

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Everyone sure jumped off the "MacKinnon should be a center" bandwagon quick after tonights game

It was his first game at center in a good chunk of time. I'm not surprised he struggled. I still want him at center and without Duchene, I think it's as good a time as any to give him a chance to play there.

 

[AvsRobin]

A few tough games coming up now, hopefully we can keep the Hawks behind us despite that.

 

[freeboy]

did we really win this one! I saw it happen but still dont believe it!

 

[tigervixxxen]

Couple numbery things. We've officially clinched at least third in the division now. Also, we hold the tiebreaker over Chicago. If you believe in the Sports Club Stats site, they give us 85% chance to take second in the division.

 

[henchman21]

Everyone sure jumped off the "MacKinnon should be a center" bandwagon quick after tonights game

I've been off that bandwagon since January. MacK should be a center at some point in his career, but right now the Landy-Stastny-MacK line is too effective and MacK isn't as capable as our other centers at handling bigger responsibilities.

 

[Avs71]

Have the Avs played the Blues yet with both Duchene and Stastny in the lineup?

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

was at the game, didn't have time to do a write-up last night. A few quick points:

-Columbus controlled the action for most of the game with the exception of the last ten minutes. Played to their style and almost completely negated Colorado's ability to create chances off the rush. Most of the game was east-west instead of north-south.

-a lot of time was spent on and around the boards. McLeod, Landy, and McGinn were the best at board play, the rest of the team (especially MacKinnon and Barrie) were pretty bad.

-extreme difficulty getting pucks to the front of the net. I don't think Colorado connected more than one or two centering passes inside the hash marks all game.

-worst game I've ever seen Mitchell play.

-The bottom six got killed. Talbot had to do all the heavy lifting on his line. Malone and Carey aren't NHL players.

-EJ had a great game. Hedja did his job well enough that I never noticed him on ice.

-Guenin looked tired the entire game. I don't think he's got the stamina for 82 NHL games.

-Varly was great per usual.

-Johansen is a really good puck distributor, I'm surprised he has more goals than assists.

-JJ looked really good despite the own goal. Great rushing D.

-Dubinsky was everywhere.

 

[Ivan13]

Have the Avs played the Blues yet with both Duchene and Stastny in the lineup?

Yes, but then our goalies didn't show up. That's why I'm not worried about the Blues, they aren't the big bad wolf everyone makes them out to be.

 

[LazRNN]

Everyone sure jumped off the "MacKinnon should be a center" bandwagon quick after tonights game

It wasn't long ago if you floated the idea of playing MacKinnon at wing you were branded part of a disreputable "Mack at Wing crowd". When Roy joined the crowd and Mack's first period at wing was not a smashing success, this was suppose to silence the crowd, you see. I love hfboards.

Mack is versatile enough to play both positions which is a bonus, but he's also raw enough that he probably can't be switched back and forth without a period of adjustment.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Yes, but then our goalies didn't show up. That's why I'm not worried about the Blues, they aren't the big bad wolf everyone makes them out to be.

Joe Sacco somehow managed to beat them all the time. They have the same team pretty much just add Miller and we only played Miller once this season as a Blue.

 

[The Kingslayer]

was at the game, didn't have time to do a write-up last night. A few quick points:

-Columbus controlled the action for most of the game with the exception of the last ten minutes. Played to their style and almost completely negated Colorado's ability to create chances off the rush. Most of the game was east-west instead of north-south.

-a lot of time was spent on and around the boards. McLeod, Landy, and McGinn were the best at board play, the rest of the team (especially MacKinnon and Barrie) were pretty bad.

-extreme difficulty getting pucks to the front of the net. I don't think Colorado connected more than one or two centering passes inside the hash marks all game.

-worst game I've ever seen Mitchell play.

-The bottom six got killed. Talbot had to do all the heavy lifting on his line. Malone and Carey aren't NHL players.

-EJ had a great game. Hedja did his job well enough that I never noticed him on ice.

-Guenin looked tired the entire game. I don't think he's got the stamina for 82 NHL games.

-Varly was great per usual.

-Johansen is a really good puck distributor, I'm surprised he has more goals than assists.

-JJ looked really good despite the own goal. Great rushing D.

-Dubinsky was everywhere.

I dont think Guenins tired I think hes just that slow and dumb. Guenin moves and makes decisions slower then anyone I have ever seen. Both goals the Jackets scored last night was due to his dumbass. I dont like Benoit much more but come playoff time I rather he play since he has some experience and isnt a complete tard like Guenin is.

 

[Hesher]

It's nice to have a coach that can adjust and change things during the game.

 

[Foppa2118]

This. Why don't people understand the new format, it's not hard.

If the Blues lose, and the Avs win their series...we'd be playing Minnesota in round 2 by the looks of things right now.

Actually the current matchups are:

(C1)STL vs (W2)Dallas
(C2)Avs vs (C3)Chicago
(P1)Anaheim vs (W1)Minnesota
(P2)San Jose vs (P3)LA

STL as of this moment gets the lowest wildcard team because they have the most points, so they'd get Dallas and Anaheim would get the higher of the two wildcard teams Minnesota. As of this moment the only way the Avs could play Minnesota would be in the conference championship.

Love when people freak out over a mistake and still get it wrong.

 

[TheStranger]

Love when people freak out over a mistake and still get it wrong.

Yeah that's my bad. I guess I didn't realize about Division winners and wildcards and how that was organized. I guess I'm also confused

So highest division winner plays lowest wildcard. Got it