I've defended Grubauer most of the year, far more than most. He does get unfair blame around here. He's had some good games, Bednar hasn't been very consistent with him, and it's always an adjustment switching teams, especially going from Washington to one as scrambly as the Avs. And I'll still give him time. But man, tonight he was bad. I don't put the first two goals on him at all, but come on...make a save. Especially the fifth goal. The Avs don't need a goalie to win them games, they need one who doesn't lose them games, and tonight I thought Grubauer did just that. Far too often lately we've said that if the goalies were switched the Avs would have won, and tonight was sure one of those nights.
Cole was great up until game #17 by my count. He then went on a stretch of utterly abysmal hockey that should have seen him benched, slightly recovered, and is now back to sucking again. He's exactly as advertised. A #4/5 guy who all too often clearly belongs on the bottom pairing because he gets exposed with too many minutes. Right now he's just a Patrick Nemeth playing 20 minutes a night. Can't wait to pay this guy $4.25 million for a further two seasons after this instead of a real top four defender.
The team as a collective deserved better tonight. It might sound like sour eggs but I think the Jets were awfully lucky to take this one. Every bounce went their way. Normally going into Winnipeg and outshooting them 41-21 would be a recipe for success.
Overall, a really ugly night for Sakic's big offseason. His 1B goaltender acquisition was poor, his big UFA splash on defense sucked, PK specialist Matt Calvert has done **** to improve the PK, and the forward "depth" on the team was abysmal -- the fourth line let the Jets kick the front door down, steal their wallets, rob the joint, and mug them.
I'll also keep saying it: We need a defensive pair we can rely on. EJ isn't good enough to carry a pairing right now (will he ever be again?), Girard is really struggling in his own end, Cole was brilliant at the start of the year and was fulfilling that role but has been very poor (and frequently a liability) since, Nemeth is Nemeth, and Barrie -- who I think is our best D -- isn't good enough to go out there and play ~23 minutes of mistake free hockey against the opposition's best players because that simply is not his game and shouldn't have to be. It's bloody ugly without a reliable, big-minute pairing right now to settle things down when the team needs it. This team needs a Ryan McDonaugh trade to fall into their laps in the worst way.
On the Jet's side of things...give me Adam Lowry. What a fantastic player.