GDT: Game 23, November 23: Avs vs Leafs | 5 PM MT | Hey Man, Nice Shot

[dahrougem2]

Oh wow, I didn't realize that we fell out of the top-3 in the Central and are now WC1.

Only 3 points up on San Jose, too. Crazy. Gotta beat the Oilers on Wednesday. Get some breathing room.

 

[klozge]

Get Cole off this team now. Seriously. I'm so over his stupid penalties. Probably cost us the game. Again. And it's not as if his defense was good enough to be worth his idiocy.
Also, when do they start to work on the penalty kill?

 

[Foppa2118]

Not sure what the hell Bednar was thinking shaking up the lines to start this game YET AGAIN. They looked very out of sync. Every time the lines start working he breaks out the blender. I can't figure out why.

Don't really like his call on the face-off after the timeout either. He decides to put Compher out there because he's 10-6 on draws for the night, but he's 43% on the season. Kadri should have been the obvious choice going 11-5 in the game, and 56% on the season. Compher loses the draw and they never really get setup before giving up the EN goal.

I don't know when Kerfoot turned into Brad Marchand. An incredibly dangerous cross check on EJ may have f***ed up the same left shoulder he had surgery on. Then sprays Francouz for no reason. Wish someone would have slapped him upside the head afterwards.

Oh well. Anderson and his posts stole that one for the Leafs. At least Nichushkin finally buried one. If he keeps working hard, the flood gates may open for him.

 

[the_fan]

To be fair it was against the Leafs.

Leafs with a new coach is different, previous Leafs with Babcock Avs probably win the game

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Final thought before slumber.

I thought the Power play looked really good tonight. Now that Makar is starting to realize what he wants to do on the man advantage, it’s going to be nasty when Rantanen gets back.

 

[the_fan]

I'm also against changing the lines which previously worked and got the team wins. Bednar seem to do that time to time which I dont get, but you cant blame this loss on that. The 1st line got the goal with Mack and Kadri as the Avs came out flying, then they stopped playing for some reason and gave up 4 goals by the end of the 1st period, and that was pretty much game over.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Getting healthy will make a big difference. However, it won't change the D core which is not cup material and is going to hold this team back.

Makar is fantastic, Girard is good for the 2nd pairing and everyone else a 3rd pairing guy.

 

[Grigowski]

We lost this game in the 1st (or gave it to Toronto) and because of our coach, who messes the lines around for no need! Stop that bullshit and find solutions for our PK and D!

Ian Cole, btw, is done. Sorry, but paying that man 4.5 for another 1 1/2 season is terrible.

 

[Ceremony]

I can see Cole getting the Beauchemin treatment next summer.

 

[benzino]

I can see Cole getting the Beauchemin treatment next summer.

When will Avs learn and stop giving multi year contracts to defensive D-man over/near 30? Hannan, Beauchemin, Stuart, Hejda now Cole I probably forget a few...

 

[Ceremony]

When will Avs learn and stop giving multi year contracts to defensive D-man over/near 30? Hannan, Beauchemin, Stuart, Hejda now Cole I probably forget a few...

Nothing wrong with the Hannan and Hejda signings. Cole was also effective initially, but since he's now at the point where receiving passes makes him fall down, it's time to go.

 

[CB Joe]

Cole is only getting $3m next season. I can see some team picking him up. Even if it's just to the Wings for some old bottom 6er.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

At this point, I don't know if it's a fluke. One of them is doing something wrong, because Makar has hit him so many times from the point with Kadri standing in the slot.

It's such an awkward position to be in as a forward when the shot is coming from the point. You aren't far enough away from the puck to avoid it in time, most of the time.

It's definitely just a fluke...


Kadri is standing in front of the net to try and block the goalies view and Makar is trying to shoot it through Kadri essentially. It's going to happen and both guys know this. I'm sure Kadri has been hit tonnes of times before from friendly fire and will get hit again playing that style.

 

[CB Joe]

Machine Gun Makar cutting down Kadri at the knees.

I don't blame Makar. I think he has a deceptively hard shot and Kadri just got caught in a bad spot.

 

[tucker3434]

Other than our 5 game skid in the middle, I don’t mind the way we’re losing games. I don’t think they’re indicative of some great flaw that’s on the verge of being exposed. They feel more like bad puck luck than poor play (overall). I hate that we weren’t able to scratch out a loser point in either of the last two games, but we’ll bounce back.

 

[21]

When will Avs learn and stop giving multi year contracts to defensive D-man over/near 30? Hannan, Beauchemin, Stuart, Hejda now Cole I probably forget a few...

Aquiring Cole when you already had a stay at home dman like Nemeth doing well was questionable. Then getting rid of Nemeth and keeping Cole. I feel this money (Cole's contract) could have been used more wisely. Cole is lacking consistency.

 

[Avs9296]

Cole was pretty good for us before his hips gave out, which I'm assuming was at some point mid way thru last year.

I think he needs to not play every game. Give him rest and rotate him in.

Problem is Graves is also not good. Meaning to do this we need to call up 2 dmen or acquire them.

 

[Avs_19]

Lost the game is around half a period of play. Credit to the Leafs for taking advantage but far too many mistakes in the defensive zone again and Grubauer didn't make any saves to bail them out. They played well for the last two periods but 4-1 is just way too much to come back from, especially when you're missing as many players as the Avs are.

I don't have many concerns about the forwards because they'll get healthy and it should be fine but I can't say the same about the defense. It's not good when I think there are three guys you could make a case for sitting on any given night in Graves, Cole, and even Zadorov. Then two of the other three (Girard and EJ) have had their share of struggles as well lately. I don't even know what the best possible pairings they could put out there. Maybe Girard-Makar, Zadorov-EJ, and Cole-Timmins?

Happy to see Nichushkin finally get on the board. Too bad it happens on a night where his turnover was directly responsible for a goal against. Although, Grubauer has to make that save.

I thought Kadri had a great game. Picked up two assists and came close to scoring a couple of times.

Well deserved love for Barrie from the team and fans.

Anyone catch the Bednar presser? Dater asked about the lines and if he'd do it differently after seeing how the first period played out. Bednar gave him a not so friendly stare and responded with, "probably not since I did it in the 2nd and 3rd periods too."

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Problem is Graves is also not good. Meaning to do this we need to call up 2 dmen or acquire them.

And Zadorov isn't that great either let's be honest he hits but he's not good with the puck and he's slow to react a lot of times. So I think we have 3 dmen that aren't very good plus a declining Johnson. Timmins can maybe fill in for one of them, Byram probably won't be able to for at least a couple years, so where does that leave this team?

I think it's the elephant in the room that people don't wanna face because the coach is doing a good job, the stars are playing like they're supposed to, and Sakic has built some good will but he hasn't assembled a strong defence yet.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

And Zadorov isn't that great either let's be honest he hits but he's not good with the puck and he's slow to react a lot of times. So I think we have 3 dmen that aren't very good plus a declining Johnson. Timmins can maybe fill in for one of them, Byram probably won't be able to for at least a couple years, so where does that leave this team?

I think it's the elephant in the room that people don't wanna face because the coach is doing a good job, the stars are playing like they're supposed to, and Sakic has built some good will but he hasn't assembled a strong defence yet.

Absolutely, the defense is not good enough but that is strangely being ignored because we have some shiny prospects in the system. Maybe Byram and Timmins will change the D core in a year or two, but right now the defense kinda sucks and there are no guarantees those two will hit their potential.

 

[forsbergavs32]

I’d really like to see a trade made for a d-man that can play top 4 consistently. I know this is tough to find, especially in the middle of the season but this D isn’t working out. I want to keep Z because of how effective he is at keeping teams honest and setting a tone even if he isn’t the best hockey player, but having Graves and Cole out there every night is killing us and EJ is slowing down very fast.

Not sure who would be out there that’s a good fit though

 

[kl35ha]

What the hell happens to G...he has been a total disaster the past few games. Other than Makar, our other 5 Defenseman isn’t doing anything good atm. EJ is passable tho, Z after he returned from the broken jaw injury hasn’t been the same. Cole and Graves just need to not be on this team.

Entertaining game nevertheless.

 

[forsbergavs32]

What the hell happens to G...he has been a total disaster the past few games. Other than Makar, our other 5 Defenseman isn’t doing anything good atm. EJ is passable tho, Z after he returned from the broken jaw injury hasn’t been the same. Cole and Graves just need to not be on this team.

Entertaining game nevertheless.

Unfortunately, Z can’t really do much in regards to his physical game because he’s wearing the fish bowl

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

If Cole Graves and Z got waived I would not care.