Sorry for the long post.
The Can was packed.
I'd have paired Girard and Makar. Put EJ with Zadaorov. The D escaped more than a few times last night but I very much liked how they covered the slot and intercepted passes for the most part while the Flames were sending them through. We all knew the D would have some rough spots but overall, you can see that it should solidify as a unit sooner rather than later.
Timmins was good overall but had a couple of bad plays.
I think Jost lost the puck while the Avs were cycling down low, it may have been on the PP early on which was a disappointment. Wouldn't say he had a bad game but nothing spectacular. I'm a Jost fan but I also can see the merits of a Compher-Kadri-Donskoi line. It would allow the Avs to fully utilize Kadri's skill.
Loved the fact the Avs had secondary scoring.
Burakovsky was decent. He got one shot off from the slot and I liked that he took it rather than looked to pass.
I also liked the team's on ice awareness for the most part. Say what you will about Graves but that included him in quickly locating and grabbing loose pucks. He wasn't great early but improved by the end.
The Flames attempted to stand up the Avs transition game and clog the neutral zone to block zone entry. It reminded me of the Avs Wild PO series under Roy. After the Wild eliminated the Avs, the Blackhawks overcame the Wild by simply chipping the puck over the Wild players in the neutral zone and sent their forwards flying into the O-zone to chase the puck down. It forced the Wild D to back off the forecheck pressure. That's what I thought JB should have done here.
The Avs forecheck was great. Intercepted a lot of passes.
I understand why Makar drops the puck off or back passes it to MacKinnon when on the breakout but when he finally gets comfortable with carrying the puck in, the opponent's D is going to have a horrible time choosing to cover him or MacKinnon rushing into the O-zone.
JB should have been pretty upset with the players immediately after the Avs 4th goal. The defensive effort on the Flames third goal immediately thereafter was lame.
Grubauer looked great in the third but the Avs sat back. I kept watching the Flames rapidly catch up in shot totals in the last 10 minutes.
Overall, the pace is much more fun to watch with JB's transition game. The Avs did not get interminably pinned in their zone on the cycle but watching that third period was worrisome.
Someone mentioned that they don't think EJ is 100% yet. I agree. You can see players like EJ are slow in comparison to some of our speedier forwards. The Avs team speed is insane.
Zadorov had some brain farts, as usual, but also some nice plays.
The rust was a little more evident as the game progressed but not with Rantanen. What a Big Moose.
Love me some Donskoi. We're gonna love that the Avs acquired him.
Forgot to mention Nichuskin looked very good for his role. If he can be another Calvert then the team depth will be insane.