Post-Game Talk: Game 1 Afterglow: Still Undefeated

[tigervixxxen]

I know the GDT will go long, first win and all. So keep it going here. I'll put up the next week's PGT later tomorrow.

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[UncleRisto]

Operation 104 W.

 

[Pokecheque]

Did people really think Smith was that bad? The whole 4th line for that matter? I'll admit I thought Comeau looked terrible (took two stupid penalties to boot) but the play of Martinsen and Smith didn't really bother me that much. Of course that's just "eye test" ya know...

Chet made a comment in the previous thread about Duchene, he definitely looked a bit off, thought IMO I didn't think he looked outright bad. Unfortunately I think that shoulder is still really bothering him and might be a thing that hampers him for a good long while.

Thoughts on Iggy's play? I thought he definitely had more jump but was not a huge factor otherwise. I thought that line as a whole was good though.

 

[klozge]

Did people really think Smith was that bad? The whole 4th line for that matter? I'll admit I thought Comeau looked terrible (took two stupid penalties to boot) but the play of Martinsen and Smith didn't really bother me that much. Of course that's just "eye test" ya know...

I liked both Smith and Martinsen a lot in this game. They worked hard, created and preserved momentum. Comeau had a terrible game.

 

[Avs71]

Martinsen had a really good game I thought. No one on the team can hit like him, and it can really change the way the game is going when he squashes a guy like Sharp right in front of the Dallas bench. Hopefully he keeps it up. He belongs in the lineup when he plays like that.

 

[JWK]

Varly is always ****** against the stars...but that last goal wasn't his fault. Weirchouch didn't tie up his man.

In the pre-game they were talking about how he's apparently 10-0 against them in his last ten starts.

Before the game started tonight, Altitude said he was 10-0 against the Stars in the last 10 games, so...

Varly is 10-0-0 against The Stars in his last 10

10-0 in his last 10 games vs the Stars though

So much nonsense D2M. 10-0 with a .935 save oerfdentage in his last 10 against them

I got a good chuckle from this

 

[CB Joe]

Varly is always bad after long stretches of no hockey. He's a notorious slow starter.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

First game of the season and I missed it. Not happy.


On the plus side, All 3 of Colbornes goals were the type of goals we need him to score and the type of goals we didn't score a lot of last year. Soderbergs goal was a beauty and a fantastic pass from Barrie.

 

[UncleRisto]

First game of the season and I missed it. Not happy.

Ditto.

Stupid brain... Not letting me wake up at four in the morning... I'll show you what's best for myself.

On the plus side, All 3 of Colbornes goals were the type of goals we need him to score and the type of goals we didn't score a lot of last year. Soderbergs goal was a beauty and a fantastic pass from Barrie.

That's right, we haven't seen too many goals like that in a while. Good to see that stuff on offense.

 

[CB Joe]

Soderberg has got to be the best on the team at slipping in behind the defense. His speed is actually pretty deceptive.

 

[forsbergavs32]

I was happy to see a couple of dirty goals, we're gonna need to score like that some to have a chance to win. It's refreshing to see guys going to the net

 

[linusandvarlamov]

Did people really think Smith was that bad?

the play of Martinsen and Smith didn't really bother me that much.

Thoughts on Iggy's play?

I thought Martinsen and Smith looked fine. Martinsen was hitting everything out there last night and he feels like a bigger and better checking version of Mcleod but without the scoring touch Mcleod usually brings to the table.

Bednar was in love with that Marty, Smith, Comeau line last night. He was throwing them out on the ice very often.

I hardly noticed Iggy throughout the game. I mean, in the 1st he did have that breakaway chance but he was unlucky and had the puck bounce over his stick. Other than that whenever I saw him he seemed to be skating at a slugs pace . Whenever he was trying to skate back to the defensive zone as fast as he could the Stars players seemed to be putting a lot less effort into their skating and were all going faster than him . His 5 million contract is might look kind of bad this year but that was somewhat to be expected. I think Rantanen could bring more to the table at this point than he can.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Tried to watch the game live...but my NHL.tv was doing this weird thing where it would just drop back and replay the last 3-5 seconds like a record skipping. Was seriously annoying me to no end so I took my wife out to dinner. Came back and finished the game on repeat.

Not the best game I've ever seen the Avs play but after the last few years, it's hard for me to be upset at a win.

Joey is a player. I don't expect his goal scoring to stay this high but it is kinda cool because he finished last year strong and appears to have had it carry forward...at least for one game. I love seeing someone standing in front of the net so much. The AVs have been missing that for a long, long time. Really hope it continues.

Varly...meh, he got the win...against one of the better offensive clubs in the league. Lots of rust though.

Don't really recall seeing Duchene do much of anything, I actually don't remember seeing Iginla at all and Comeau needs a night off after tonight. Give McLeod a spot on Monday...he should be fired up after being a healthy scratch and having his A removed.

After so much time off, it was good to see hockey again. Really good to see the AVs come back and take a lead and then after allowing things to get scary manage to hang on for the win.

Not sure what to make of this team, but I will say, the league can always use some more high scoring games. That was fun watching it on TV and I can only imagine what it was like in person.

Oh yeah....Martinson....he can make himself a useful player if he continues to play like he did tonight. Wow....not too many gaffs but a lot of solid, clean hits. I really appreciated his effort there.

 

[Freudian]

Ben Smith shouldn't play 14 minutes, but he was good on faceoffs and did his Cliche+ thing ok.

We have to remember that the coach have never even coached against these players, so we have to give him some time to learn what they can and can't do.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

PSA (semi-off topic)...I saw some of y'all (looking at you RiaL) talking about drinking scotch.

I'm a big fan of Laphroaig, Talisker and the real peaty, earthy single malts....I highly recommend just getting a huge (I use one of those big-ass blue plastic 24oz tumblers) glass of ice water to sip on while enjoying the scotch neat. Because this doesn't cut or mix water or ice into the scotch you can enjoy each and every sip as it is intended and still be able to satisfy your thirst while being able to maintain some sense of sobriety over the course of a night.

For the love of god and all that is holy, do NOT ever under any circumstance drink beer (especially a 64oz growler of high alcohol, >10%, stout) while enjoying your scotch. It is entirely possible you will sleep through the next day completely...awaking in time for a massive hangover at supper and then not being able to sleep properly that night.

[edit...I say this like it may help...but in my experience, everyone is just going to have to piss on the electric fence for themselves before they learn.]

 

[tucker3434]

Did people really think Smith was that bad? The whole 4th line for that matter? I'll admit I thought Comeau looked terrible (took two stupid penalties to boot) but the play of Martinsen and Smith didn't really bother me that much. Of course that's just "eye test" ya know...

Chet made a comment in the previous thread about Duchene, he definitely looked a bit off, thought IMO I didn't think he looked outright bad. Unfortunately I think that shoulder is still really bothering him and might be a thing that hampers him for a good long while.

Thoughts on Iggy's play? I thought he definitely had more jump but was not a huge factor otherwise. I thought that line as a whole was good though.

The penalties! Other than those two penalties, I really didn't notice when Comeau was on the ice. He was definitely a minus tonight. The whole 4th line got shelled when on the ice, and the 3rd line wasn't great in that regard either. The top two were good though. It'll be interesting to see if we keep a stacked top 6 after Rantanen comes back. Against a team like the stars, it seems like we're holding on for dear life, when the bottom six is out there.

 

[Iracundia]

Martinsen had a really good game I thought. No one on the team can hit like him, and it can really change the way the game is going when he squashes a guy like Sharp right in front of the Dallas bench. Hopefully he keeps it up. He belongs in the lineup when he plays like that.

Martinsen was great and I thought it was telling when he was out on that critical PK in the last 2 min.

Hope Zadorov cleans up his positioning because he seemed to get lost on that first Dallas PP goal and then the Ritchie goal.

Weircioch I was unimpressed with.

I liked the distribution of minutes for the D, I think having a 3rd pairing that can play 15 min a night will help keep all of them fresher as the season moves along.

 

[shadow1]

Coaching style is unqiue to watch. The Avs are spaced out very wide horizontally, but are close together vertically. The defensemen rush up the ice with the forwards, providing very close support.

It was exciting to watch. The only flaw is it leads to a lot of shots against via the rush; but that is better than being pinned in one's own zone all game.

As stated a million times already, this game could've been 6-2. Varlamov was flat out bad.

I didn't think any other player noticeably hurt the team aside from Comeau's dumb penalties. Though there is no way Iginla will survive in this system; he's too slow.

 

[Drij]

People complain about Comeau but didn't he just come back from injury?

 

[flyfysher]

Coaching style is unqiue to watch. The Avs are spaced out very wide horizontally, but are close together vertically. The defensemen rush up the ice with the forwards, providing very close support.

It was exciting to watch. The only flaw is it leads to a lot of shots against via the rush; but that is better than being pinned in one's own zone all game.

As stated a million times already, this game could've been 6-2. Varlamov was flat out bad.

I didn't think any other player noticeably hurt the team aside from Comeau's dumb penalties. Though there is no way Iginla will survive in this system; he's too slow.

Colborne was also slow. But he was the net front presence with the dirty goals that the team needed.

Rantanen may be a better fit than Iginla with MacKinnon and Landeskog.

I thought the team will likely be a lot sharper, timing wise, in several weeks. They were kind of tight for the first half of the first period.

I was shocked by the PP after railing against Army for the longest time. Keep it up Avs.

 

[flyfysher]

Coaching style is unqiue to watch. The Avs are spaced out very wide horizontally, but are close together vertically. The defensemen rush up the ice with the forwards, providing very close support.

It was exciting to watch. The only flaw is it leads to a lot of shots against via the rush; but that is better than being pinned in one's own zone all game.

As stated a million times already, this game could've been 6-2. Varlamov was flat out bad.

I didn't think any other player noticeably hurt the team aside from Comeau's dumb penalties. Though there is no way Iginla will survive in this system; he's too slow.

Colborne was also slow. But he was the net front presence with the dirty goals that the team needed.

Rantanen may be a better fit than Iginla with MacKinnon and Landeskog.

I thought the team will likely be a lot sharper, timing wise, in several weeks. They were kind of tight for the first half of the first period.

I was shocked by the PP after railing against Army for the longest time. Keep it up Avs.

 

[tigervixxxen]

People complain about Comeau but didn't he just come back from injury?

Someone said he looked overwhelmed, I think that was the perfect description. Either he wasn't feeling great or he had no idea what to do with the system.

I thought Duchene was fine, I saw him have a few shifts where he was causing trouble down low.

 

[Freudian]

Problem with Iginla is that he cheats up the ice to keep up and that leaves him detached from the other players. He's trying to contribute best he can but just doesn't have the legs to do it.

I think a smaller ES role and try to get him 15 goals primarily on the PP is the best we can hope for.

 

[Avsblitzkrieg]

I felt like the game day thread was a morph off one at the orange mane... Puke

 

[Iracundia]

I saw Rantanen was listed at C in SA, is it Bednar's plan to have him be a C with the Avs? Personally I would like to see the 9s line reunited and have Rantanen with Soda and Grigs. I feel Rantanens forecheck, especially in Bednar's system, would make him a real effective RW. The size and skill on that line would be a cycling nightmare and should also be very sold defensively. Another benefit would be Iggy getting bumped down to the 3rd line where he belongs.