GDT: Game 45: Avalanche @ Panthers | 5:30PM MT | January 15th, 2015

[bromando]

It's like an amateur juggler that started to screw up a bit, and as new objects kept getting thrown in for him to juggle, it kept getting harder and harder to keep everything in motion. A veteran juggler might know how to settle down and regroup, but the amateur just panics a bit too much and can't focus on what he needs to do to make it work. At some point he just needs to drop everything and start over, and that might be what the Avs need to do with a mental reset in the offseason. Hopefully for the last time and they learn enough from the process that they become vets capable of righting the ship when things start to go wrong, rather than struggling to hold on for an entire season like they've done so far

Haha great comparison. Exactly how it feels looking at the team. Last year they had much more composure but this year they're just using varly/pickard and a lot of luck to get through games.

It seems like there haven't been more than two periods of good hockey played in a row all season... but somehow we're in the hunt

 

[Pokecheque]

Haha great comparison. Exactly how it feels looking at the team. Last year they had much more composure but this year they're just using varly/pickard and a lot of luck to get through games.

It seems like there haven't been more than two periods of good hockey played in a row all season... but somehow we're in the hunt

Goaltending...it does a season good.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

If that were true he'd swap both Guenin and Stuart. Both are playing their off-side. Except even Roy's not stupid enough to try a Guenin/Holden pairing at even strength.

Stuart prefers the right side. I know he played it in Detroit for sure, but he's said he prefers that side.

 

[Chileiceman]

What a play by Alex Tanguay to set up Iginla for that ENG. Wowee, that's what you call wanting it more than the other team. The biggest positive out of that games was how thr Avs played with the lead. They didn't just sit back and hope Varly would bail them out. They were causing turnovers in the O-zone and in the neutral zone which was nice to see. It's funny they couldn't do that in the first and second periods. They were so passive, no forecheck whatsoever.

I don't know if I get the Holden hate for this game. I didn't really notice anything glaring that he did. People are complaining about missed shots, but at least he shoots. I mean he scored a PP goal and people still complain. O'Reilly passed up some glorious shooting chances. ROR in general seemed pretty tentative in the offensive zone, though he made a nice play on the Landeskog goal.

Guenin on the other hand...There was a play where him and Barrie were slowly moving up ice playing catch. After passing to Guenin, Barrie makes as though he's ready to take up ice, making himself a target in motion. I think it was Tanguay who had curled back to make himself an option as well. So what does Guenin do? He passes between the two, completely missing both of them and ices the puck. I don't understand how someone can be in the NHL missing such basic hockey abilities. There was another time where he had put himself into decent shooting position on a delayed penalty. He gets the pass but completely flubs it.

The 4th line is so much better with Briere and Talbot instead of Cliche. But I swear they got to take like half of the Avs offensive zone draws, including after Florida icings. It's so aggravating. Now with Rendulic's injury, I suppose Cliche will draw back in. Hopefully Briere moves up and Talbot stays on the 4th line.

Mitchell seems to be reverting back to puck hog mode lately. However, he is very good down low in the D-zone. Maybe the Avs best defensive centre.

One thing I loved about the Barrie goal was the havoc Borna and Everberg were creating in front of the net. That's what caused Barrie to have all that time and space.

 

[dahrougem2]

I pray that Rendulic is not hurt for a while. I don't know what it is about he and Everberg, but I have very high hopes for these two and believe that they can definitely be fixtures for our team for a long time in a 3rd line checking-scoring role. Both players seem to really understand the game, and they have proven they can keep up to the pace in the NHL. Everberg especially I thought looked fantastic on the ice last night

 

[bohlmeister]

Everberg is a very smart player. There is no doubt he can be a full time NHLer. Perfect 3rd liner going forward.

 

[Foppa Frossa]

Ugh, we could easily lose the next 5 games

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Everberg is a very smart player. There is no doubt he can be a full time NHLer. Perfect 3rd liner going forward.

Yep, he's already showing to be one of the smarter players on the team. He doesn't panic when the puck hits his stick, offensive or defensive zone, and he makes so many smart little plays with the puck. Unlike a lot of our forwards, he looks to hit someone with a pass, rather than banking it off the boards and out. He doesn't appear to have the offensive talent to have any future as a top 6 guy, but that's fine.

The AHL time helped, I'm sure. He looked more physical last night than he was after his shoulder injury.

 

[dahrougem2]

Yep, he's already showing to be one of the smarter players on the team. He doesn't panic when the puck hits his stick, offensive or defensive zone, and he makes so many smart little plays with the puck. Unlike a lot of our forwards, he looks to hit someone with a pass, rather than banking it off the boards and out. He doesn't appear to have the offensive talent to have any future as a top 6 guy, but that's fine.

The AHL time helped, I'm sure. He looked more physical last night than he was after his shoulder injury.

I actually think that he does have offensive potential, but is better suited for the 3rd line. Ideally, he's a guy I'd use in a checking role on the 3rd line, but I'd also be sticking him on one of the power play units in front of the net. He definitely has shown this season that he's not afraid to drive hard there, so why not stick our biggest forward on the team, save Bordeleau, in front?

We saw last night what even Cody McLeod could generate if he goes to the net on the power play, something our forwards lack. Everberg there I think could really help

 

[Freudian]

I don't know if I get the Holden hate for this game. I didn't really notice anything glaring that he did. People are complaining about missed shots, but at least he shoots. I mean he scored a PP goal and people still complain. O'Reilly passed up some glorious shooting chances. ROR in general seemed pretty tentative in the offensive zone, though he made a nice play on the Landeskog goal.

First time we see him on the ice last night, this happens:



He simply doesn't have any defensive awareness. He can't think the game fast and he can't move fast.

I don't blame him for the insanity of having him on top of the PP umbrella. That's 100% on Roy.

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

It's pretty amazing to me that we're here in mid January, and the Avs still are playing bad hockey, and have never really seemed to get on track, yet they've somehow clawed their way to within three points of the playoffs.

If they make it, it's gonna turn into one of those crazy buck the trend kind of seasons. Historically almost nobody makes the playoffs when they're out of it by Thanksgiving, but I think there were a couple last year, and hopefully they'll do it this year too. If they do I think we'll hear a lot of talk about the new playoff format having something to do with it.

When more than half league makes the playoffs, you don't have to play that good.

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

First time we see him on the ice last night, this happens:



He simply doesn't have any defensive awareness. He can't think the game fast and he can't move fast.

I don't blame him for the insanity of having him on top of the PP umbrella. That's 100% on Roy.

He did have a few good plays where he stops a rush or a good scoring chance too though. He even saved a goal at one point. I jumped off the couch yelling great save Varly on some back door play, but upon seeing the replay it was Holden who tipped the puck away.

And honestly, I don't mind the aggressiveness on this play shown. We had numbers and could afford for one of the guys to be aggressive and take a chance at attacking the puck. That was a whole bunch of fail all around on that play. Stuart (i assume) goes for the poke check but whiffs and then is completely beat. And when Holden jumps up Iggy is still actually in front of the other dude, but somehow gets beat through the neutral zone and to the net. I like seeing our guys take a chance when we have the numbers to cover when that chance fails. Stuart and Iggy should have been able to stop that play still, but Iggy was too slow and Stuart was too aggressive when there was nobody to cover for him if he got beat. In hindsight Holden should have sat back and played it safe.

 

[dahrougem2]

When more than half league makes the playoffs, you don't have to play that good.

I think this is one of the most odd statements I've ever seen anyone make. The Avs haven't been world beaters this season, but the NHL has arguably the most parity out of the 4 major professional leagues in North America. The only game that was considered an "easy game" for any team was Edmonton, but now that they have a new coach, even that's not a guarantee anymore. Every game is a 60 minute battle, you have to be doing something right to be winning hockey games.

They may not be the prettiest wins, and Varlamov has played excellent lately, but the Avs have to be doing something right to be winning hockey games. It's extremely difficult to make the playoffs

 

[henchman21]

They may not be the prettiest wins, and Varlamov has played excellent lately, but the Avs have to be doing something right to be winning hockey games. It's extremely difficult to make the playoffs

This.

The most encouraging thing about the Avs is that they are in this race while not playing that well. They top 6 is still trying to find their way. If Duchene and MacK ever get going, this team will go on a run, but as they are showing, even without that, they are going to be in the race.

 

[InjuredChoker]

He did have a few good plays where he stops a rush or a good scoring chance too though. He even saved a goal at one point. I jumped off the couch yelling great save Varly on some back door play, but upon seeing the replay it was Holden who tipped the puck away.

And honestly, I don't mind the aggressiveness on this play shown. We had numbers and could afford for one of the guys to be aggressive and take a chance at attacking the puck. That was a whole bunch of fail all around on that play. Stuart (i assume) goes for the poke check but whiffs and then is completely beat. And when Holden jumps up Iggy is still actually in front of the other dude, but somehow gets beat through the neutral zone and to the net. I like seeing our guys take a chance when we have the numbers to cover when that chance fails. Stuart and Iggy should have been able to stop that play still, but Iggy was too slow and Stuart was too aggressive when there was nobody to cover for him if he got beat. In hindsight Holden should have sat back and played it safe.

was that the on the panthers 5on3 chance? holden originally messed that up by staying high and allowing basically 3on1 until he came back and deflected the pass.

 

[dahrougem2]

was that the on the panthers 5on3 chance? holden originally messed that up by staying high and allowing basically 3on1 until he came back and deflected the pass.

I remember him doing that too Good thing he atoned for his mistake

 

[The Kingslayer]

Ugh, we could easily lose the next 5 games

If we play the way we played the last 2 games we will

 

[dahrougem2]

Would have been real nice if Minnesota, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Calgary, AND San Jose didn't win last night.

 

[tigervixxxen]

This.

The most encouraging thing about the Avs is that they are in this race while not playing that well. They top 6 is still trying to find their way. If Duchene and MacK ever get going, this team will go on a run, but as they are showing, even without that, they are going to be in the race.

Its amazing to me that they've gone from like 10 points out of the race to 3/4 whatever you want to call it. Its a combo of getting points and teams ahead that had hot starts finally faltering.

For as much as every GDT saying how much an abomination this team is they have gone on a 9-4-1 stretch which is .675 hockey. Obviously they need to sustain that pace and at worst don't go below .500 for any stretch. There are a lot of teams in the mix, that's probably the most difficult part is the be the one or two team that emerges from the pile. A lot of tough games coming up, we'll know a lot if they can pull any of them out.

 

[Hesher]

2 amazing things happened last night. The Avs scored a pp goal at a key time and then they actually held on to the lead.

Too bad Rendulic got hurt. I guess that means Cliche is back in.

 

[henchman21]

2 amazing things happened last night. The Avs scored a pp goal at a key time and then they actually held on to the lead.

Too bad Rendulic got hurt. I guess that means Cliche is back in.

Yep... I know it won't happen, but I wouldn't mind Heard getting a look... if only for the entertainment value.

 

[dahrougem2]

Does anyone know the extent of Rendulic's injury?

 

[cgf]

I love the impact that having Varly around has on this team. At the start of the year we were a lot less aggressive and combative, but with Varly consistently back now they are regain that confidence with which they played last year when they knew that when the time came, varly would shut the door and give them a chance to snag the win, regardless of how they played before that point and whether they got burned while being aggressive after that point. EJ's been our best player this season by a wide margin, but Varly's psychological influence over this team is just incomparable, despite Pickard playing better than anyone should ever even dream of from a kid in his situation.

I'm pretty happy with this win, was not great, showed off a lot of what's wrong with this team, but they came through on the PP when they had to, and they turned it up in the final 5 minutes to secure the win, and that was impressive. Shame Rendulic got hurt as soon as he and EVB were both in the top 9, hopefully he's back quickly because this top 9 has the talent to get the job done with McGinn out. When we have to rely on Briere/Talbot to play consistent third line minutes we become too easy to shut down.

Speaking of Talbs I thought he had a very nice game on that 4th line. Briere could use another stretch eating nachos to recharge his batteries and cody still did his dumb cody things despite being better yesterday, but that line was fine in its role and talbs in particular stood out to me. Unscratchable-Street-Talbot would be fine by me if everyone (other than McGinn and Winchester) is healthy.

I think I'd still like Rendo, if he's not out for a while, to play with Landy and ROR while MacK gets too keep building on his stronger play of late with Everberg and Malkin on the third line,letting him really take off against some easier opposition until he can get hot. Meanwhile Landy-ROR could keep building on their return to form on a very tough-to-play-against line that played a great hard/simple style game without also having to deal with playing-around/cleaning-up-for MacK. But if the Duchene line can play the way they ended the game regularly and MacK can keep really driving the action like he was, there's no reason to change the lines.

That was a good win in a game where we weren't great against a solid young team, next game we need to play better to secure a good win against arguably the best young team in the sport. I'm pumped to see the boys step up against the Lightening, and it's so nice for the team to have crawled back into playoff contention so we no longer have as many doom-n-gloomers banging the "Joe&Patty are in over the heads" drum.

PS: Poor Redmond, we'd be so much better with him instead of Guenin or Holden.

 

[henchman21]

I'm pumped to see the boys step up against the Lightening, and it's so nice for the team to have crawled back into playoff contention so we no longer have as many doom-n-gloomers banging the "Joe&Patty are in over the heads" drum.

Sadly, that hasn't stopped and won't for a while.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Yep... I know it won't happen, but I wouldn't mind Heard getting a look... if only for the entertainment value.

I wouldn't mind Heard too. He's decent on faceoffs, he would be fine for a 4th liner plus some moments he'd give a little more. He'd fire up the team a bit too.