GDT: Emergency Game Day Thread! Game 3 of round 2 vs the Blues. Series tied 1-1. 6:00PM MST

[Northern Avs Fan]

Berube is a child and is an elite whiner. This is how a grown man answers a question.

 

[Azrael89]

Nate is such a spoiled brat and how about Rantanen he should swap places with Bura.
Anyway if they start playing with intesity like they did in 3rd period they can win this series.

His refusal to use teammates not named Makar is starting to wear thin. He's either moping around the ice or trying to do entirely too much. He needs to wake up and play the game the right way.

 

[chet1926]

Lol gotta to love the MacK hate around here. Without him we aren't close to where we are. I've never seen a star player who is one I'd the guys carrying the team most nights get so much hate for being too competitive. Sure it hurts him sometimes, and he needs to learn to deal with it better. But who f***ing cares, more often than not he is going to help the team than hurt it.

 

[sethro109]

MacK was definitely not happy about taking that faceoff. I guess it's good he know his weaknesses, but I don't like him blowing up at the coach afterwards. I don't know if it's something he and Bednar talked about before the game, but he's gotta be more composed. Everyone and their granny knows RoR is a great shutdown C and I don't know why we keep trying to get the first line out against theirs. Bednar should have used home ice and put Kadri, Nuke and Lehky vs that line more. Also if having Landy taking those draws helps MacK. Then just keep 9269 together or, move Rants to the second line.

 

[Azrael89]

MacK was definitely not happy about taking that faceoff. I guess it's good he know his weaknesses, but I don't like him blowing up at the coach afterwards. I don't know if it's something he and Bednar talked about before the game, but he's gotta be more composed. Everyone and their granny knows RoR is a great shutdown C and I don't know why we keep trying to get the first line out against theirs. Bednar should have used home ice and put Kadri, Nuke and Lehky vs that line more. Also if having Landy taking those draws helps MacK. Then just keep 9269 together or, move Rants to the second line.

I agree with all of this. I'm starting to worry that our top guys egos are getting in the way of success. Landeskog will play where he's asked, but MacKinnon and Rantanen have been spoiled to long and now neither is very effective.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

At first I thought he was a bit of accidentally on purpose, but after seeing the replays Sportsnet showed, I think he's just trying to poke the rebound in. Rosen cuts in front of him and puts his rear end into him, which if you look, actually knocked Kadri so off balance his skate went in the air.

That's why he couldn't stop. He wouldn't have intentionally put his skate in the air there. That's the skate he would have used to stop or angle away. His other skate is too far back while he's extending with the poke.

Nah, Rosen had nothing to do with it. He wasn't really even there. Naz just ran over Binner going full speed, trying to kill him. Binner should have thrown an axe at him, not a water bottle!

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Stunned, happy, but stunned. I did not think they had it in them to win a game in St Louis.

Binnington going out has a lot to do with that. For record completely clean play. Going for the puck he and the defender are wrestling and they slam into Binnington. They can cry all they want about it but there's nothing there.

Girard hit on the other hand. That was dirty. Not sure how that's not boarding. Running start slams from a borderline position face first into the boards. f*** that. Not surprised he f***ed up his nose and is done. That was garbage.

They need to split up MacK and Rantanen they are both in need of a kickstart and honestly are to the point of hurting each other now.

Darcy scares me, he's kind of doing just enough right now, but it feels like he could break anytime.

Nice PKs tonight, Blues couldn't gain momentum from a PP goal tonight. Which helps us a lot.

Overall did just enough to get the win which is all that matters.

In the other thread you voted the Avs to win in 6 and now you are stunned that they won a game in St. Louis? How did you think they would do in 6?

Darcy has been pretty darn good in these playoffs. He is doing his job.

 

[Avs_19]

Woke up this Sunday morning happy with the win and about the fact that Kroenke stole their football team.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

They got better when they swapped Landeksog and Nichushkin.

Good maneuvering by Bednar. Hopefully he sticks to these lines for next game. Let the top line build chemistry again and Nichushkin can be a two-way bull on the second line.

Landeskog is better offensively than Nichushkin, so I think Bednar was just trying to spread out the scoring by putting him on the second line. But, both Lehkonen’s goals and Landy’s goal came after the line switches. Better play driving numbers too.

You have got it all wrong...

Obviously Landy and Nuke decided on their own to switch lines because you know...........Bednar doesn't make in-game adjustments.

 

[Avs_19]

 

[Richard88]

The narrative that Kadri ran Binnington is not close to accurate. There is a perfect overhead view that shows him going for the puck but the angle he was on would have easily missed Binnington. Then Rosen collides with him which alters not only Kadri's angle but also his own angle right into Binnington. Both guys miss Binnington if Rosen doesn't make any contact. It's physics 101.

The only guy blues fans have any reason to be angry at is Rosen.

They can be mad at Kadri for being so aggressive towards the puck. But the guy was just finishing the play hard and not quitting until the whistle. Which is what you are supposed to do. Binnington doesn't cough up a huge rebound then Kadri doesn't go for the puck and Rosen doesn't plow both guys into Binnington.

And it's hard to say that Blues fans have the right to be mad at the refs for being bad. If anything they gave the Blues much more than they did the Avs. We had a guy break his f***ing sternum by getting plowed into the boards from behind and didn't even get a 2 mins PP. Had Rantanen get tackled no where near the puck moments before they score their 2nd goal. In a fairly physical game we had all of 1:10 of PP time. The "offside" goal was way too close to overturn, not nearly enough absolute evidence so that's a nothing play.

This is now the 2nd year in a row the refs have absolutely swallowed the whistle for the Avs opponents in the 2nd round. It's absurd to not get at least 2-3 PPs a game nobody is clean enough to make it through an entire playoff game with only 1, 2 mins minor.

I've had a closer look at the replays since I wrote that post, and yeah I agree with you that he does get influenced by Rosen more than I initially thought. Kadri turned his skates to have a line to move to the side of the net, but Rosen got in his way, and forced his momentum to carry him straight towards Binnington instead.

That said, even if a player is challenging for a puck or they have their path changed by a Dman, you're still responsible for your body and your stick. It's a borderline case and there have been goalie interference calls made for far less than that.

The refs not calling stuff can get a bit frustrating at times, but in this series, and especially in this game, I think it might actually help the Avs a bit. Referees tend to keep PP's fairly balanced by managing games (not a fan of that, but it is what it is...), so it's probably for the best that the game sees fewer PP's against St Louis who have a potent PP.

PP's tend to present opportunities for big momentum changes, and can help get a crowd fired up a bit. The Avs were managing the game well at 5v5 after the 1-1 goal, and had silenced the crowd. The lack of PP's for both teams gave the Blues and their fans absolutely nothing to get excited about. The Avs just slowly ground them down at 5v5 until they had a lead and then played out the clock.

 

[Azrael89]

I've had a closer look at the replays since I wrote that post, and yeah I agree with you that he does get influenced by Rosen more than I initially thought. Kadri turned his skates to have a line to move to the side of the net, but Rosen got in his way, and forced his momentum to carry him straight towards Binnington instead.

That said, even if a player is challenging for a puck or they have their path changed by a Dman, you're still responsible for your body and your stick. It's a borderline case and there have been goalie interference calls made for far less than that.

The refs not calling stuff can get a bit frustrating at times, but in this series, and especially in this game, I think it might actually help the Avs a bit. Referees tend to keep PP's fairly balanced by managing games (not a fan of that, but it is what it is...), so it's probably for the best that the game sees fewer PP's against St Louis who have a potent PP.

PP's tend to present opportunities for big momentum changes, and can help get a crowd fired up a bit. The Avs were managing the game well at 5v5 after the 1-1 goal, and had silenced the crowd. The lack of PP's for both teams gave the Blues and their fans absolutely nothing to get excited about. The Avs just slowly ground them down at 5v5 until they had a lead and then played out the clock.

I was legitimately impressed with how the Avs managed the third period. They didn't give the Blues much of anything to try and build on that whole 20 minutes.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

I've had a closer look at the replays since I wrote that post, and yeah I agree with you that he does get influenced by Rosen more than I initially thought. Kadri turned his skates to have a line to move to the side of the net, but Rosen got in his way, and forced his momentum to carry him straight towards Binnington instead.

That said, even if a player is challenging for a puck or they have their path changed by a Dman, you're still responsible for your body and your stick. It's a borderline case and there have been goalie interference calls made for far less than that.

The refs not calling stuff can get a bit frustrating at times, but in this series, and especially in this game, I think it might actually help the Avs a bit. Referees tend to keep PP's fairly balanced by managing games (not a fan of that, but it is what it is...), so it's probably for the best that the game sees fewer PP's against St Louis who have a potent PP.

PP's tend to present opportunities for big momentum changes, and can help get a crowd fired up a bit. The Avs were managing the game well at 5v5 after the 1-1 goal, and had silenced the crowd. The lack of PP's for both teams gave the Blues and their fans absolutely nothing to get excited about. The Avs just slowly ground them down at 5v5 until they had a lead and then played out the clock.

Also in another angle which I can't find now you can clearly see Kadri's left skate doing something weird which clearly indicates that he had intention of stopping. They actually talked about it in the intermission on the Sportsnet broadcast.

 

[chet1926]

In the other thread you voted the Avs to win in 6 and now you are stunned that they won a game in St. Louis? How did you think they would do in 6?

Darcy has been pretty darn good in these playoffs. He is doing his job.

That was before the series. Then I watched us crap away game 2, in less than steller fashion. And it looked like same old same old for us. Figured we'd fold and lose in 5 or 6. But they proved me wrong.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

That was before the series. Then I watched us crap away game 2, in less than steller fashion. And it looked like same old same old for us. Figured we'd fold and lose in 5 or 6. But they proved me wrong.

And that is the problem with a lot of you guys on this board. People let one game sway their thinking completely the other way. Something that happened in the past does not mean it will happen again.

 

[SaltySkywalker]

That was before the series. Then I watched us crap away game 2, in less than steller fashion. And it looked like same old same old for us. Figured we'd fold and lose in 5 or 6. But they proved me wrong.

*feigned surprised*. You guys were all pretty insufferable after that last loss. Should be a bit embarrassed honestly

 

[Richard88]

I was legitimately impressed with how the Avs managed the third period. They didn't give the Blues much of anything to try and build on that whole 20 minutes.

A very mature 3rd period indeed.

Started off the period by pushing hard for a 4th goal, but with ~10-12 minutes left the focus turned to just playing the clock down.

The Avs boxed things out well in their own zone and controlled their blueline, and with the puck they just got it to the red line and dumped it deep. Totally measured and controlled period. Then they sucker-punched the Blues with the Landeskog goal just as they were getting ready to make their last push.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Well game 3 certainly built up the hatred between these two sides.


It'll be interesting what we see on the ice for game 4. After the Girard hit and the Binnington injury, surprisingly there wasn't much in terms of altercations in game 3 even after the Avs put the Blues away at the end of the 3rd.

It feels like game 4 is going to be dirty and very chippy but the fact game 3 had nothing makes me wonder if the Blues are going to try and focus on winning the series instead. It would be the smart thing to do because the moment they start running around, is the moment the ice opens up again for us and we start having our way with them. They aren't a physical team and will take themselves way out of position throwing late hits.



Its too bad MacDermid is so awful because it would be nice to find a spot to insert him in the lineup for game 4.

 

[chet1926]

And that is the problem with a lot of you guys on this board. People let one game sway their thinking completely the other way. Something that happened in the past does not mean it will happen again.

It wasn't one game it was 3 years of the same lackluster play in big moments that led up to this. This was the first time they proved me wrong. Maybe, and I'm hoping since I would really enjoy watching them win, they can build from here.

They got bullied in game 2 and tucked their tails. In the past if that happened it took to long to adjust and respond. This year they responded immediately in hostile environment. It's a positive. Still doesn't change the fact that I'm stunned, but happy, it happened.

Now they need to build from here. Play another solid road game and you could break the Blues. Killer instinct is the next step they need to learn. No better time than now.

 

[Avs_19]

I've seen the Kadri play described as "bulldozing" and "dumping Rosen into Binnington" today. Both from so called media members.

 

[Azrael89]

I've seen the Kadri play described as "bulldozing" and "dumping Rosen into Binnington" today. Both from so called media members.

No mention of trying to play a legal puck at all huh? Lol

 

[niwotsblessing]

Its too bad MacDermid is so awful because it would be nice to find a spot to insert him in the lineup for game 4.

You put him on the 4th line and let him forecheck like a demon, grind their defense into dust, and harass bitches like Barbashev after the whistle when they start engaging in BS.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

It wasn't one game it was 3 years of the same lackluster play in big moments that led up to this. This was the first time they proved me wrong. Maybe, and I'm hoping since I would really enjoy watching them win, they can build from here.

They got bullied in game 2 and tucked their tails. In the past if that happened it took to long to adjust and respond. This year they responded immediately in hostile environment. It's a positive. Still doesn't change the fact that I'm stunned, but happy, it happened.

Now they need to build from here. Play another solid road game and you could break the Blues. Killer instinct is the next step they need to learn. No better time than now.

Again you let results cloud your judgement and forget about context altogether. I have talked often about this in the past. Context matters when talking about the first two 2nd round losses. The first was actually a success story not a failure. They were not even supposed to win round one against the Flames. The second loss was because of a ton of injuries to key players which two of those injuries forced us to play our 3rd string goalie let alone the injuries to Landy, EJ, etc. And we still took Dallas to game 7. That is again hardly a failure. People just keep looking at the those series' results and all they see is 3 Ls.

 

[Azrael89]

Does the mod/admin on the Blues board just not care about what goes on over there? Lol

 

[niwotsblessing]

Again you let results cloud your judgement and forget about context altogether. I have talked often about this in the past. Context matters when talking about the first two 2nd round losses. The first was actually a success story not a failure. They were not even supposed to win round one against the Flames. The second loss was because of a ton of injuries to key players which two of those injuries forced us to play our 3rd string goalie let alone the injuries to Landy, EJ, etc. And we still took Dallas to game 7. That is again hardly a failure. People just keep looking at the those series' results and all they see is 3 Ls.

Hey, we don't do nuance or thoughtful analysis here. This is HF!