GDT: Game 48: Avs vs Blues | 1 PM MT | January 18, 2020 | Afternoon Affliction

[RR10]

Blues fan here. I think if todays lineups met in the playoffs Avs win 4-1. With Tarasenko, Parayko and Blais in and Donskoi in for you it's 50/50.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

I think the Graves honeymoon period is over and the only other complaint is Landy still playing pretty bad.

Rant is looking a bit better last couple of games tho.

Disagree on both. Graves makes a couple mistakes and he gets spitroasted, but Rantanen can just flub the puck literally all game and people praise him. Rantanen sucked ass compared to what he's done in the past and contributed much less than he should have. He literally fell ass backwards into that assist on Mack's goal.

 

[5280]

Landy and Rantanen continue to struggle mightily

I’m just hoping Landy is saving it for the playoffs but I’m not getting my hopes up. Not sure where Viking mode went. Not sure what is wrong with Mikko, either.

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

Ok he's like a shorter Hal Gill with anger management issues and puck skills.

He's like a mix of Nate Guenin and Ladislav Smid. But with puck skills and skating rather than pointing.

 

[avspatti]

It was inevitable.

Why? He just turned 27. NOT old.

 

[RR10]

With playoff reffing avs will smoke the blues.

We'll see when Tarasenko, Parayko and Blais are back from injures.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

He's like a mix of Nate Guenin and Ladislav Smid. But with puck skills and skating rather than pointing.

Lmfao. To be honest I kinda think skating form-wise Pietrangelo looks a bit like Guenin. Probably because I almost never watch Pietrangelo.

 

[BrickNHL]

We'll see when Tarasenko, Parayko and Blais are back from injures.

Ok

 

[the_fan]

Blues fan here. I think if todays lineups met in the playoffs Avs win 4-1. With Tarasenko, Parayko and Blais in and Donskoi in for you it's 50/50.

I think an Avs Blues playoff series would come down to home ice advantage in game 7, and you guys have it right now

 

[forsbergavs32]

Bednar not sounding terribly happy with the win

 

[AvsRobin]

Still Jost’s goal apparently even though it went off Bura’s skate

Funny altitude ignores that despite several replays and interviewing Jost in between period and after the game acting like they didn't see it. Trying to do him a favour.

 

[the_fan]

Bednar not sounding terribly happy with the win

He did sound happy that Grubauer made some saves though

 

[Avsboy]

Bednar not sounding terribly happy with the win

He's correct. This was a 13'-14' win

 

[a mangy Meowth]

QFT, Avs new #1 rival

that's just because there's no other options lol. Dallas is overrated and undersupported, and minnesota has accepted their destiny of being the laughingstock of the league (appropriately, alongside the red wings).

 

[Bone Breaker]

Ok he's like a shorter Hal Gill with anger management issues and puck skills.

Hal Gill, with Duncan Siemens skills and imo one of the most punchable faces of all time, still managed to play more than 1100 games in the NHL. let that sink in.

 

[avspatti]

Did Rantanen just fall with no one around him?

But . . . it's slippery out there.

 

[The Merchant]

Maybe. But this wasn't the game that proves it. This was pretty ugly...just 19 shots on goal. After Binnington was pulled in the second the Avs directed (I believe) just 6 shots at Allen. The Blues locked things down, they are amazing at taking away the Avs' space.

Also, keep in mind this is a Blues team missing both Parayko and Taresenko. They're nowhere near full strength. That's their best shutdown D, who usually causes nightmares for MacK, and a consistent 30-40 goal scorer.

We blew them out while Parayko was healthy

 

[The Kingslayer]

Another big win. Third period wasn't very good for the Avs but they got it done. That was such an ugly game with very little going on though. You just had a feeling the failed 5-on-3 would come back to hurt them but thankfully it didn't.

Glad to see both Jost and Burakovsky score. MacKinnon or someone else really needs to remind Burakovsky to just keep shooting. If he overthinks or tries to make a play, it usually doesn't go well. He had that chance earlier in the game too coming down the left side and he took it behind the net and tried to wraparound or get it in front. It would've been a tough angle but he needs to just put those on net because you never know with the great shot he has.

Makar is unreal. The poise at the blueline to hold the puck in on his goal is pretty special. He had me nervous for a second but he made it look so easy.

The funny thing with Bura is when hes scoring hes alsmo making the right plays. Its clearly between the ears with that kid. He has a very good shot when given the chance to get it off. Hes a gifted passer and he skates well. If he can ever put it all together consistently he would be a top line player

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

We'll see when Tarasenko, Parayko and Blais are back from injures.

Pfffft. None of those guys are Colin Wilson.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Why? He just turned 27. NOT old.

Play style. Granted hes not really a power forward in the true sense anymore but he still plays a hard game.That 27 might aswell be 36.

 

[avspatti]

Moser is such a whiner

I REALLY hate listening to him. Any chance of getting rid of him next season?

 

[AvsRobin]

Nichushkin played 15:10 of 5v5 time today. Most by any forward on the team. By a mile.
Kadri 13:51
Bura 13:22
MacK 12:25
Landy 12:04
Rantanen 11:51

Caught me by suprise. And also, looking at the shift charts. It's astonishing how little Jost plays.

 

[S E P H]

Landeskog is the best player in the league at being able to elevate the puck. Would be a consistent premier 40-50 goal scorer if he was able to.

Oops, meant that he's not able to elevate the puck.

- I get all people mentioning not to whine against the refs, but lets be honest and say they were complete ****. So many missed calls against us including that terrible icing one which clearly shows that it goes off of Nuke after the red line. French Canadian refs historically are the worst and most inconsistent.

- Avs only had 18 shots, but didn't really feel like they got outplayed except during the turtle sequence of the third period. I mean the Blue sonly had 24 shots themselves and four of them were savable point shots without traffic.

- That ROR pass was a thing of beauty, made Makar look like a rookie defender there.

- Rough games for EJ, Graves, and Nieto. Matt in particular might be on pace to set a career high in points, however, lately I think he's been not only dreadful, but completely invisible and not in a good way. Lack of everything from him today, one of those games which you understand why the Sharks put him on waivers. EJ simply doesn't have any tricks left in his hockey repertoire to overcome certain situations. His go to moves are slide around the net and his pitching wedge two-hand slash. I don't think he's played poorly at all since coming back, but today was a bad game from him. As for Graves, I don't think he looked truly awful actually - I thought he was extremely hot and cold at times tonight.

- Grubauer was first star, kept the Avs in the game when they were down and running with their heads cut off in the early 2nd period.

- Landeskog and Rantanen both looked terrible, but the special teams are more in a dire shape. Some of it is coaching, while some of it is personnel. I blame the players for their constant overpassing on the PP, but I blame the coaches for not actually effin' fixing the issue. PK needs a lot of hockey intelligence and we're pretty much just throwing out the blokes who aren't on the PP and our bottom 6 is still a work in progress as far as I am concerned.

- UnderBelly is our best PKer and deserved his entire annual salary today for that final minute, he is what you would call the definition of a beast.

- Besides his bonehead penalty, Kadri was quite strong today along with Compher and Nuke. Tough luck for Vitamin Z on his first penalty, don't believe it is fair to punish a lad who was committed to the hit and how it is his fault when ROR put himself in a vulnerable position by seeing it at the last second.

 

[Mooserton]

+Pros:
+Binnington's performance
+Makar's shot

-Cons:
-19 shots on goal
[MOD]

 

[a mangy Meowth]

I REALLY hate listening to him. Any chance of getting rid of him next season?

Probably not. It's such an old boys club in this franchise. He'll have to retire for us to be rid of him I imagine. Or something with comcast/dish happens