GDT: Game 43: Avs @ Caps | January 12th, 5PM MT

[Frenchy]

Sounds like we ran into a hot goalie there in the 3rd. Didn't see any of it.

Varly kept us in the game , he's the only reason we lost by only one goal ... plus the Caps had at least 3 goal posts in this game .

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

well atleast Barrie looked good...

For a period. Stunk the rest of the game, like most of them.

 

[dahrougem2]

Yeah, somebody needs to go into the locker room and break every single one of Matt Duchene's sticks. He's slowly becoming one of the worst puck handlers in the league, worse than Landy with how much he bobbles the puck. A player like Duchene NEEDS a long stick, not a short stick. Don't know why he ever switched. Boneheaded decision to say the least

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Yeah, somebody needs to go into the locker room and break every single one of Matt Duchene's sticks. He's slowly becoming one of the worst puck handlers in the league, worse than Landy with how much he bobbles the puck. A player like Duchene NEEDS a long stick, not a short stick. Don't know why he ever switched. Boneheaded decision to say the least

Don't understand this at all. Somebody like Duchene needs a long stick? How so?
He uses his low centre of gravity to play low to the ice and has very quick hands which he likes to use to stickhandle quick and close to his body. He protects the puck with his body a lot. If anybody in the league needs to use a short stick it's Matt Duchene.

Let's not forget he was a ppg player last year with a short stick. Duchene's problem isn't his stick.

 

[BaconNater]

Isn't Matt Duchene the stick doctor? He probably knows what works and what doesn't work for himself.

 

[Freudian]

Don't understand this at all. Somebody like Duchene needs a long stick? How so?
He uses his low centre of gravity to play low to the ice and has very quick hands which he likes to use to stickhandle quick and close to his body. He protects the puck with his body a lot. If anybody in the league needs to use a short stick it's Matt Duchene.

Let's not forget he was a ppg player last year with a short stick. Duchene's problem isn't his stick.

He switched to the shorter stick this summer, I think. Sounded like it was mostly because Crosby uses one.

edit: nm, it was the year before. Still, he's terrible with the puck this year. It keeps jumping off his stick all the time.

 

[heretik27]

We are Calgary circa 2008-2013

You depend on your goaltending and Iggy to win you all your games? I think he's a bit old for that. The youngens need to step it up.

 

[HockeyFan100]

We obviously need more old players. Young players are overrated anyways.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

He switched to the shorter stick this summer, I think. Sounded like it was mostly because Crosby uses one.

I know his stick was always short and then he switched to a shorter one last year because of talking it over with Crosby. Maybe he did again this year? If so I take back my statement and maybe he went too short.


http://www.denverpost.com/avalanche...-matt-duchene-is-getting-long-results-shorter
That's from 2013^

 

[Freudian]

In games Redmond has played Avs are getting outshot 30-33 on average. In games where he's sat, Avs are getting outshot 27-36 on average.

 

[The Shermanator]

Who made the damn jinx thread on the main board the other day?

 

[S E P H]

This team's passing skill is just atrocious, not particularly the passing, but the catching.....they absolutely ****in suck in.

Frustrating loss.

Then Landeskog misses the net on every ****in shot. He had a horrible game, got out-captained by Ovechkin out of all people.

Lastly, Briere shouldn't be on the first line, but he also gets wasted on the 4th line as well. We still do not have a top line RW to play with Duchene and Landeskog. Even how good Rendulic has played, he clearly isn't ready for 1st line (or ever).

 

[Pokecheque]

Kind of a blah game all-around, even with the extra effort in the 3rd.

So strange that the team plays better when Nate Guenin is essentially pinned to the bench. Yet it's Holden and Redmond who have rotated in and out of the lineup. Much as I don't like Holden, he's definitely a better option than Guenin. Hell, pretty much everything save for Greg Zanon is a better option than Guenin.

 

[AnimalMother73]

I know his stick was always short and then he switched to a shorter one last year because of talking it over with Crosby. Maybe he did again this year? If so I take back my statement and maybe he went too short.


http://www.denverpost.com/avalanche...-matt-duchene-is-getting-long-results-shorter
That's from 2013^

Believe he switched blades (Sakic's) this season, length is the same as last.

 

[RockLobster]

Kind of a blah game all-around, even with the extra effort in the 3rd.

So strange that the team plays better when Nate Guenin is essentially pinned to the bench. Yet it's Holden and Redmond who have rotated in and out of the lineup. Much as I don't like Holden, he's definitely a better option than Guenin. Hell, pretty much everything save for Greg Zanon is a better option than Guenin.

I don't know...I still view Holden as the worst player between the two. Since changing from the Man-to-Man Guenin has been...how to put this, "tolerable" (but would still VERY MUCH prefer to not see him on the ice).

Holden is still a trainwreck at everything he does.

 

[Kschey]

This team's passing skill is just atrocious, not particularly the passing, but the catching.....they absolutely ****in suck in.

Frustrating loss.

Then Landeskog misses the net on every ****in shot. He had a horrible game, got out-captained by Ovechkin out of all people.

Lastly, Briere shouldn't be on the first line, but he also gets wasted on the 4th line as well. We still do not have a top line RW to play with Duchene and Landeskog. Even how good Rendulic has played, he clearly isn't ready for 1st line (or ever).

He'd get out-captained by everyone. In my opinion Gabriel Landeskog is not captain material. He may be a good captain for marketing and for the media but he's not for the team, that's at least my impression.

 

[Pokecheque]

I don't know...I still view Holden as the worst player between the two. Since changing from the Man-to-Man Guenin has been...how to put this, "tolerable" (but would still VERY MUCH prefer to not see him on the ice).

Holden is still a trainwreck at everything he does.

See, that's just it, he isn't really. He makes the occasional good play in front of the net, but that overshadows the many other things he does wrong that leads to the scoring chance in the first place. Inability to pass or handle the puck. Weak clearing attempts. Inability to win puck battles despite size and (supposed) strength. Poor positioning/decision making. And the list goes on. Holden does a lot of that stuff too, but not all of it.

Holden is bad, yes, but he at least has hands and can actually DO something with the puck when it lands on his stick, that includes getting it out of the zone. No chance of that with Guenin. None.

Holden is a terrible d-man, but Nate Guenin is still the worst defenseman in the National Hockey League. Just because he isn't playing soft hockey and pointing at players like he did earlier in the season doesn't mean he isn't still terrible.

Seriously, I'd like to see Roy try putting Redmond in and putting Guenin in the press box. Ideally he'd just waive the fool and put us all out of our misery, but that's not likely to happen.

 

[BaconNater]

Can't afford to lose tomorrows game. Tis a big one.

 

[RockLobster]

He'd get out-captained by everyone. In my opinion Gabriel Landeskog is not captain material. He may be a good captain for marketing and for the media but he's not for the team, that's at least my impression.

Good lord, are we back to the whole "Landeskog shouldn't be captain" thing again?

 

[tigervixxxen]

I didn't see the third, I guess that was the best period. Did Guenin get injured blocking a shot? The play by play game notes suggest this. Also looks like Rendulic was put on the 4th line.

 

[Foppa2118]

Well that's what happens when you start the game halfway through the 3rd period. The Avs played most of the game the way they did the 1st period last game. They just appear to have an attitude of "we'll figure it out as we go" in their approach to games, instead of focusing on the details of the game and playing hard. They spent most of the game in their own zone, and whether they had the puck or not, I spent most of the game saying, "what the hell are you doing?" to just about every player on the team at one point or another.

This lack of focus and lack of emotion is what's plagued them all year. They're just not focused and not engaged. At least Iggy looked fired up. I guarantee Roy came to him after last game and said he needed more intensity in his game, because he was invisible out there from start to finish. Came out hard tonight though with a couple hits, gave a hard cross check to a guy early in the game, then started the 2nd period with a shoving match after the puck drop. Even on Tanguay's goal he set up there was no smiling happy attitude, it was a fired up fist bump. No everything is great attitude, it was a we got a job to do, and the games not over yet attitude. If only more players tonight had that same mindset to start the game.

McLeod tried to spark the team as always and got them a 4 on 4 to create some plays, but the rest of the team didn't seem too enthralled with the idea because they still managed to skate right into the trap the entire two minutes even the extra ice. Just a terrible lack of focus on playing the game the right way.

Mitchell slept walked through most the night. Lost count of how many lazy passes from him didn't connect. Roy has to find some kind of way to get Talbot away from Mack too. I get that he wants a defensive presence on his line, but he just sucks every ounce of offense from his most talented player. Nate tries to use him, but every time he passes to him the plays over, and if Talbot tries to make a play with the puck, a five year old could break it up or make the save.

Dutchy still has 0 confidence. No way for him to turn it around except just keep working hard and fight through it. The sooner the better.

O'Reilly didn't have a very strong game either. That's two in a row. Hope he's not feeling self satisfied with that streak of good games he had last week, because they need his dogged forecheck and neutral zone presence.

They need to come out hard tomorrow and put it all on the table. They've had a little luck with other teams dropping games while they've won, and got back in it here. They need to capitalize on that. It's time to play like you want to make the playoffs, not take a breather.

 

[NateTheGreat]

I just want O'Reilly to be traded already, get it over with. Figure out what we have in this team after he's traded, take the rest of this season to find chemistry and adjusts to a more defense first approach, and retool in the off season and make sure to be ready by the start of next season. I don't get why he hasn't been traded, everyone and my dog knows he won't be in an Avs sweater after next season.

 

[Foppa2118]

I just want O'Reilly to be traded already, get it over with. Figure out what we have in this team after he's traded, take the rest of this season to find chemistry and adjusts to a more defense first approach, and retool in the off season and make sure to be ready by the start of next season. I don't get why he hasn't been traded, everyone and my dog knows he won't be in an Avs sweater after next season.

I'm pretty sure it's because they haven't liked the returns they've been offered, and with his salary especially teams probably are waiting until the deadline or maybe even the offseason to make any real effort to bring him in.

 

[hawk30]

What I can't understand for the life of me about Duchene is that while the conventional wisdom says the when you're in a slump, you should simplify, he does the total opposite.

Instead of focusing on making plays, connecting passes, stops and starts, winning stick battles, maintaining possession, or hitting the net to build his confidence, Duchene feels like he needs to be able to take the puck blue line to blue line, do a spin-o-rama, button hook around the net, and pick the top corner.

He plays actual ice hockey like it's NHL14.

 

[Avs_19]

Duchene is definitely the most disappointing right now. This is his sixth season and he looks lost out there. This is also after coming off a great season where he was at a PPG and won Olympic gold. Out of all the things that might go wrong this season, I never expected this kind of regression from Duchene.