GDT: Avs vs Vegas 7:30 MST Phone Edition.

[littletonhockeycoach]

Dubnyk wasn't brought in to start against St Louis or Vegas. He was supposed to be the guy here for the back to back or the odd game here and there against the California teams. Can't really fault him for not being a starter.

Wait a minute....... Joe went out and got JJ once it was seen that the rest of the stable was lame. Dubs was basically a trade deadline acquisition....insurance for the coming playoffs. He's not just a practice goalie or someone who takes up bench space. He's expected to win games if he's selected to play.

"He coulda been a contender..."

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

In regards to Kadri still getting a lot of ice-time... I’m fine with it, especially with the lineup the Avs iced tonight.

The reality is, there’s not a lot of skill out there right now and even though Kadri has sucked there’s at least potential for him to do something.

 

[crue7]

I mentioned Nemeth

Truth.

Hilarious that we all want MacDonald back over him. Nemeth shouldn’t be THIS bad. Then again, it sucks to be compared to a Norris candidate.

 

[dahrougem2]

So how'd we look? I intentionally skipped this one because I figured we'd get slapped the **** around with everyone that's out and how good Vegas has been playing.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Didn't love the play tonight, wasn't hideous but wasn't great either, and I hate the injury excuse. But having 9-10 regulars out against a top tier team on the road is a mighty tall task.

With the amount of guys out right now, we won't be winning very often. You can't have minor legaue caliber guys and backup goalies come in and fill in for that many roles. No team in the league can do that. You can maybe lose a few guys but 10 is nearly impossible to replace.

We need some health ASAP or our season will be wasted again with a short playoff run getting bounced by a team that simply has more regular players available to them.

Can't disagree with that. All I'm saying is that if more fall to injuries or those already injured can't come back..... then the band aid trade deadline acquisitions aren't gonna suffice. They already appear overwhelmed.

 

[chet1926]

Your whole rant was satisfying. Thank you lol the PP runs on talent alone, I swear it.

You only missed one more thing to be pissed about. The PK

Nailed it on the PP. Absolutely no structure what so ever. We try to out talent the other team. Sometimes it works. Often times it doesn't.

If we had any semblance of a PP coach it would be a scary situation for teams taking a penalty. But since we don't, it's not that big a deal to take a penalty, more than likely it won't cost you.

 

[Avs425]

Avs, likely pretty much every team in the world,
Won’t win with a back up. Dub was brought in as a vet to give Gru some time off. That’s it - if the Avs play any team in the west other than Vegas that is without their starter for 7 games Avs win every time no question. Dub + injured & slumping Avs vs MAF = bad 9/10 times. A couple of posts against tonight and lucky bounces for Vegas. Not worried and people need to give the Avs a break (except Kadri, f*** that dude right now)

 

[MarkT]

Didn't love the play tonight, wasn't hideous but wasn't great either, and I hate the injury excuse. But having 9-10 regulars out against a top tier team on the road is a mighty tall task.

With the amount of guys out right now, we won't be winning very often. You can't have minor legaue caliber guys and backup goalies come in and fill in for that many roles. No team in the league can do that. You can maybe lose a few guys but 10 is nearly impossible to replace.

We need some health ASAP or our season will be wasted again with a short playoff run getting bounced by a team that simply has more regular players available to them.

Yeah let's see how Vegas does if they're missing Pacioretty, Smith, Tuch, McNabb, Hague, Coghlan, Reaves, Roy, Fluery and Lehner.

There are lot of things to complain about with this team, but compare Vegas's lineup in this game and ours. They should win that game 10/10 times.

 

[crue7]

So how'd we look? I intentionally skipped this one because I figured we'd get slapped the **** around with everyone that's out and how good Vegas has been playing.

Special teams garbage, Nemeth trash, Girards worst game of the year?, and we can’t compete when trailing after the second.

Dooob was bad.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

 

[crue7]

I’d say it’s your shit special teams Bednar.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

In regards to Kadri still getting a lot of ice-time... I’m fine with it, especially with the lineup the Avs iced tonight.

The reality is, there’s not a lot of skill out there right now and even though Kadri has sucked there’s at least potential for him to do something.

I get ya. But why is Kadri allowed to play what appears to be his own game?

There was a sequence in the 2nd where he should have hit Nuke with his stick down at the crease in behind Fluery and shot instead. Later Nuke gives him a drop pass after attacking through the bottom left circle and runs interference for Nazem. Who proceeds to hit Fluery right in the chest with his shot.

Nuke is the team player. Kadri is an individualist.

 

[chet1926]

Can't disagree with that. All I'm saying is that if more fall to injuries or those already injured can't come back..... then the band aid trade deadline acquisitions aren't gonna suffice. They already appear overwhelmed.

Absolutely, we are kind of SOL right now. Either guys like Kadri/Jost/Nichushkin/Compher start scoring more or we are going to have a really disappointing rest of the season.

That or stay healthy and get guys back. But with the way the last few years have gone with injuries I'm not really expecting us to be this fortunate.

 

[MarkT]

He's not wrong. The difference between Fleury and Dubnyk was probably the difference in the game. You trade those two for each other and we win this game despite our shit lineup and poor special teams.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Call up Newhook, nothing to lose really. The playoff matchup is basically set in stone.

 

[avs1dacup]

Um yes please? If we’re comfortably in 2nd (we’re not yet) but with 3 games to go I’d love to see Bowers and Newhook up here for some games!

They're not going to blow a year in their ELC (at least newhooks) for a few games.

 

[Alex Jones]

Ryan Graves. Thats it.

The more I watch Gravy more I think he's going to be a solid 5. When he simplifies his game he is effective. When he goes on adventures he is terrible.

 

[chet1926]

Yeah let's see how Vegas does if they're missing Pacioretty, Smith, Tuch, McNabb, Hague, Coghlan, Reaves, Roy, Fluery and Lehner.

There are lot of things to complain about with this team, but compare Vegas's lineup in this game and ours. They should win that game 10/10 times.

Agreed, it would have been laughable had Vegas lost tonight.

We are in a horrible spot right now. Got to get healthy or we are screwed.

 

[Bender]

We were never going to beat a team like Vegas with subpar goaltending and our 2nd line center playing like an AHL call-up.

The 1st goal should never have happened, the 4th goal certainly should never have happened, that was all on Kadri and the 2nd goal was a shitty deflection from our own guy. We still made a game out of it, even though a large portion of team didn't play well and seemed out of sync.

With 9 games left, I think it's time to call-up Newhook. He had a pair of assists tonight and is over a PPG (6GP 3G 4A 7PTS) in the AHL to start his pro career. With 4 more games against SJ and 4 more against LA, this would be the perfect time to see if he could be a sparkplug for our offense.

* I think the Liam O'Brien experiment should end. He started out great - hitting everything in sight - and then he made a couple of decent plays and seemingly started thinking he was a skill player or something?? If he's not going to hit the opposition at every turn - he should go back to the AHL.

* I'm not expecting much of out Kaut especially as a 3rd or 4th liner but I've noticed he is really often out of position in the defensive zone - he needs more time in the AHL.

* What the hell has Compher done to warrant 1st line PP ice-time for the past 4-5 games?? Why does Bednar keep putting him on as the C in the defensive zone when we are down on a 5-on-3?? He sucks at faceoffs... 42% on defensive zone faceoffs. How is he not getting that he's just not a good PK option???

* Nemeth has been really bad. I don't know if he's still injured but Jacob MacDonald was much, MUCH better than Nemeth has shown so far.

Luckily, with the way the schedule has worked out, the Avs still have a good opportunity to get that top spot in the division. We have 8 games against teams that are out of the playoffs and 1 left against Vegas. The Golden Knights have the opposite schedule with 7 games against teams still in the playoffs (or in the hunt - 2x Ari, 2x STL, 2x MIN, 1x COL) and 1 game against SJ.

 

[crue7]

Just shaking my head at the ice time Compher continues to receive. Mind blowing.

It’s not all doom and gloom, we’re getting lots of people back.

 

[chet1926]

He's not wrong. The difference between Fleury and Dubnyk was probably the difference in the game. You trade those two for each other and we win this game despite our shit lineup and poor special teams.

Yep I mean we hit the post what 4 times tonight?

Fleury made a bunch of key saves, Dubs let in 3 softies. Not unreasonable to say goaltending made a difference.

 

[nammerus]

They're not going to blow a year in their ELC (at least newhooks) for a few games.

I think we lose an ELC year anyways regardless.

 

[The Abusement Park]

How many posts have we hit the last 4 games? It has to be close to 20.

 

[PowerMac]

For anybody who said we should let Saad go in order to keep our defensemen, this recent stretch of games should make you re-think that. The 20 game point streak was all thanks to Compher getting injured forcing Bednar to roll the proper lines which resulted in this team being able to roll out at least 3 if not 4 loaded lines attacking in waves that negated any strategy that the opponent might be able to counter with so Bednar really didn't have to do too much coaching.

As usual I see Girard getting a complete pass for his ineffectual play, it seems like people around here are quicker to blame things on Makar or even Mackinnon.

Had that play been somebody else like Timmins it'd be like send him down he's not nhl caliber. The first goal was just another result of Girard having slow reflexes and not so great hands. Why is his play so casual in these situations? It seems like the only defensive plays he makes are the ones where the opposition just happens to throw the puck into his stick. Tired of Girard giving up free zone entries, he allows the skaters to carry the puck into the zone with possession too much. Tired of his usage offensively when his offensive skillset isn't that good. I had to laugh when he ignored a wide open Makar a couple of games ago so he could take shot himself. I don't know why people are suggesting we trade Byram before Girard.

Bednar really isn't a good evaluator of talent, sending Kadri and Compher out their in big roles is on him and a detriment to this team that the other more capable players around them have to compensate for and that can only be kept up for so long before things break down. I don't like this team's chances to win the cup at all as long as Kadri is the second line center. He had Nichushkin wide open for an easy tap in goal here but decided to shoot instead. Just kills too many plays.


I suppose Jost could play the second line center role but I'd think it would greatly increase the team's chances to win the cup if they could roll out 3 loaded lines. They need to try Rantanen as a center again. The only reason he was brought as a RW was cause of the team's center depth at the time, but that's no longer the case and the team could really use a big two-way C. That's the missing piece imo.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

We were never going to beat a team like Vegas with subpar goaltending and our 2nd line center playing like an AHL call-up.

The 1st goal should never have happened, the 4th goal certainly should never have happened, that was all on Kadri and the 2nd goal was a shitty deflection from our own guy. We still made a game out of it, even though a large portion of team didn't play well and seemed out of sync.

With 9 games left, I think it's time to call-up Newhook. He had a pair of assists tonight and is over a PPG (6GP 3G 4A 7PTS) in the AHL to start his pro career. With 4 more games against SJ and 4 more against LA, this would be the perfect time to see if he could be a sparkplug for our offense.

* I think the Liam O'Brien experiment should end. He started out great - hitting everything in sight - and then he made a couple of decent plays and seemingly started thinking he was a skill player or something?? If he's not going to hit the opposition at every turn - he should go back to the AHL.

* I'm not expecting much of out Kaut especially as a 3rd or 4th liner but I've noticed he is really often out of position in the defensive zone - he needs more time in the AHL.

* What the hell has Compher done to warrant 1st line PP ice-time for the past 4-5 games?? Why does Bednar keep putting him on as the C in the defensive zone when we are down on a 5-on-3?? He sucks at faceoffs... 42% on defensive zone faceoffs. How is he not getting that he's just not a good PK option???

* Nemeth has been really bad. I don't know if he's still injured but Jacob MacDonald was much, MUCH better than Nemeth has shown so far.

Luckily, with the way the schedule has worked out, the Avs still have a good opportunity to get that top spot in the division. We have 8 games against teams that are out of the playoffs and 1 left against Vegas. The Golden Knights have the opposite schedule with 7 games against teams still in the playoffs (or in the hunt - 2x Ari, 2x STL, 2x MIN, 1x COL) and 1 game against SJ.

Great post! With respect to Nemeth watch his feet. He has a tendency to stumble when surprised at the blue line. MacDonald is way, way more smooth in his transitions. I'm not looking at physical stats but I think Nemeth is favored because of his size...... Joe and Beds are trying to compensate for EJ's physicality. But Nemeth cannot skate like EJ..... nor control the puck.