Post-Game Talk: Game #5: Avs in the Capital ... Against a different coach (finally) ...

[Foppa2118]

Not sure if this was mentioned somewhere, but they just said on NHL Live that the Avs are the first team in NHL history to go 5 and 0 to start the season and only allow one goal or fewer in each game.

 

[Huis Clos*]

Good effort from the offense, but we have to tighten up our defense, or it will get ugly sooner or later. Too much running around in our own zone.

Yeah, this isn't sustainable until the defensive zone coverage improves. The Avs are giving other teams way too many chances. Dangerous chances. So far Varly has been equal to the task, but they can't rely on him like this forever.

 

[Freudian]

Good effort from the offense, but we have to tighten up our defense, or it will get ugly sooner or later. Too much running around in our own zone.

That's how you know a winning streak is about to end, when you start noticing things that you figure will come back and bite the team eventually. There were more of them in this game in any of the four previous ones.

When a losing streak is about to end is when the team plays good enough to win but keeps losing.

Hopefully they can beat Dallas because **** those guys.

 

[Nihiliste]

Had a great time at the game last night, was glad to be able to see two Avs wins the past week or so.

However, I really don't think we played well. We were terrible in terms of possession, gave up a number of quality opportunities in the slot, and relied way too much on Varly in general. Are breakouts are looking more and more problematic with each game. It's been awesome seeing the team get out to this fast start though we definitely need a lot of work defensively and in transition otherwise we're going to fall off hard at some point.

However, I'm glad to see our three line offense is still proving deadly and has been able to capitalize on their opportunities thus far.

I thought Duchene, O'reilly, Hejda, EJ (outside of the penalty), Stastny, Landeskog looked good. Wilson was incredibly rusty, I hope he can pick it up. I want to see Barrie in for Guenin next game, Guenin is just slow out there and not a terribly smart player. He's been keeping it simple thus far out there but his limitations are really showing through. Tanguay had a strong game, but in contrast Downie looked really bad today. Messing up easy passes and playing poorly on the defensive end of things.

All that grumbling aside, it was great to see a win and I had a blast. I hope they prove me wrong and keep the streak going!

 

[Sheet]

All great things come to an end, and this streak will end whether we play great hockey from here on out or not. Sometimes you just lose. It's what happens after we lose that I care about.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

Lehtonen should still be out for our game (unfortunately for my fantasy team). So I'm sure we'll have a good chance against them.

 

[InjuredChoker]

didn't watch jets game but stars haven't looked great so far. doesn't help if ellis is trying to stop the puck.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

I never realized what a difference the Corsi numbers were with our defenders through a few games so far, but the difference between Barrie and Benoit is huge. When Barrie is out there (Guenin too, but to a very little effect) we're actually positive in terms of SF/SA. Benoit we're massively outshot. Sarich's PDO is astronomical too, he's due for some really rough games soon to even that thing out.

MacKinnon's line is getting trapped in their own zone too much. Roy starts them offensively a ton, but they can't seem to finish their shift there 50% of the time. On the other end though, our 1st, 2nd and 4th lines all do a good job finishing their shifts in the offensive zones.

We might want to consider shoring that line up defensively by moving someone into PAP's spot that can do more defensive heavy lifting. We could also use Barrie back on the ice over Wilson. Aside from that, we've been doing pretty good but most players are overachieving statistically (aka, getting lucky). It's normal for some players to end the year with a +40-50 PDO, but not for the entire team to be +80 on average.

 

[Freudian]

If you have allowed 4 goals in 5 games, everyone is going to have very high PDO.

It's too early to start analyzing shots for/against, especially since Avs have played with a lead most of the time and teams generally allow more shots when they are leading than when they don't. Teams chasing throws all kinds of pucks to the net.

Roy has some interesting choices to make. Does he replace Guenin with Barrie (he should) and if so, does he keep Hejda-EJ or pair Hejda with Barrie?

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I don't see how you can separate EJ and Hejda right now. They're playing real well together and the other teams best players have done nothing against the Avs yet. Besides, Wilson isn't a bad partner for Barrie.

 

[RockLobster]

Don't know where to put this, but I really liked what Brian O'Reilly (yes, Ryan's dad) tweeted, was about 4 hours ago

Brian O'Reilly ‏@coachbri1 4h
The unselfish play of Paul Stastny and Cody McLeod is how dynasties are built those are Championship behaviors.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

If you have allowed 4 goals in 5 games, everyone is going to have very high PDO.

It's too early to start analyzing shots for/against, especially since Avs have played with a lead most of the time and teams generally allow more shots when they are leading than when they don't. Teams chasing throws all kinds of pucks to the net.

Roy has some interesting choices to make. Does he replace Guenin with Barrie (he should) and if so, does he keep Hejda-EJ or pair Hejda with Barrie?

Of course, with PDO is still based on team performances and on average teams will fall into that 1000 category as the season wears on (or increase towards it). But it's interesting to compare the higher end of the spectrum to the lower end within a team regardless of the games played. The differences between Sarich and Barrie are quite telling, because instead of Sarich being the one people are down on it is Barrie, when a little more luck could make it swing the other way for Barrie's favor.

And while that is certainly true for the shots portion, it doesn't change the fact that through 4 games (Washington isn't up yet on Behindthenet) Barrie has made a positive differential. Granted, Roy isn't sending him out there against the top competition like he is Benoit. But Benoit is getting buried at 3x the rate of the nearest defender and he looks like he's heading towards a brick wall in that area. I'm thinking of all the defenders Sarich and Benoit the closest to collapsing (new team high perhaps?) and it will be interesting to watch it happen and see how Roy responds.

Also, I found Guenin to be a lot more effective than Wilson last night, I would hope that Roy gives Wilson another week to get himself in game condition.

 

[Wayne Crosby]

I'm glad we traded Yakupov for Varly.

Wilson looked terrible out there but I'm willing to give him a break because it was his first game back.

could someone explain this to me? yes i know it's a joke but it's going way over my head

varly was traded for a 1st round pick but yakupov was edmonton's pick, washington got filip forsberg with the traded pick

 

[RockLobster]

could someone explain this to me? yes i know it's a joke but it's going way over my head

varly was traded for a 1st round pick but yakupov was edmonton's pick, washington got filip forsberg with the traded pick

When the trade was made we had just drafted 2nd overall the year before and hadn't really addressed the glaring issues with the team (aside from trading for Varlamov). So on HF a number of posters, whether they were Caps fans, Avs fans or fans of other teams, just automatically assumed that the Avs had traded the #1 Overall pick in that draft to the Capitals because of how bad we were the year before.

I personally didn't have a problem with it, I've believed in Varly since day one and to this point in the season he's showing that he has the stuff.

 

[klozge]

That's how you know a winning streak is about to end, when you start noticing things that you figure will come back and bite the team eventually. There were more of them in this game in any of the four previous ones.

When a losing streak is about to end is when the team plays good enough to win but keeps losing.

Hopefully they can beat Dallas because **** those guys.

Somebody listens to Marek vs Wyshynski

 

[tigervixxxen]

I haven't seen the updated stats since last night but I think after the fourth game the team was shooting something like 7%. So that made me feel better that it wasn't unsustainable from an offensive standpoint. Though I'm sure it's higher after last night.

 

[Avs44]

That's how you know a winning streak is about to end, when you start noticing things that you figure will come back and bite the team eventually. There were more of them in this game in any of the four previous ones.

When a losing streak is about to end is when the team plays good enough to win but keeps losing.

Hopefully they can beat Dallas because **** those guys.

That's pretty much how I feel after watching last night. Eventually we are going to lose(I think it happens in the next two games) and I feel it will all come crashing down. This team still has a ton of flaws. It will be interesting to see how Roy has the team bounce back after a loss. That IMO will be his first real test.

 

[InjuredChoker]

I never realized what a difference the Corsi numbers were with our defenders through a few games so far, but the difference between Barrie and Benoit is huge. When Barrie is out there (Guenin too, but to a very little effect) we're actually positive in terms of SF/SA. Benoit we're massively outshot. Sarich's PDO is astronomical too, he's due for some really rough games soon to even that thing out.

MacKinnon's line is getting trapped in their own zone too much. Roy starts them offensively a ton, but they can't seem to finish their shift there 50% of the time. On the other end though, our 1st, 2nd and 4th lines all do a good job finishing their shifts in the offensive zones.

We might want to consider shoring that line up defensively by moving someone into PAP's spot that can do more defensive heavy lifting.

winning at the dot would help there

Of course, with PDO is still based on team performances and on average teams will fall into that 1000 category as the season wears on (or increase towards it). But it's interesting to compare the higher end of the spectrum to the lower end within a team regardless of the games played. The differences between Sarich and Barrie are quite telling, because instead of Sarich being the one people are down on it is Barrie, when a little more luck could make it swing the other way for Barrie's favor.

And while that is certainly true for the shots portion, it doesn't change the fact that through 4 games (Washington isn't up yet on Behindthenet) Barrie has made a positive differential. Granted, Roy isn't sending him out there against the top competition like he is Benoit. But Benoit is getting buried at 3x the rate of the nearest defender and he looks like he's heading towards a brick wall in that area. I'm thinking of all the defenders Sarich and Benoit the closest to collapsing (new team high perhaps?) and it will be interesting to watch it happen and see how Roy responds.

Also, I found Guenin to be a lot more effective than Wilson last night, I would hope that Roy gives Wilson another week to get himself in game condition.

barrie is starting much more in off. zone than beniot, though. barrie and nate are getting the most favorable matchups so far.

I haven't seen the updated stats since last night but I think after the fourth game the team was shooting something like 7%. So that made me feel better that it wasn't unsustainable from an offensive standpoint. Though I'm sure it's higher after last night.

it's 9.3% on es. 10th in the league.

it's the save% that is unsustainable. 98.5%. the blues have 100% lol.

 

[Avs]

I really hope we beat Dallas.

Can't have other Central teams taking points from us.

 

[avsfan9]

That's pretty much how I feel after watching last night. Eventually we are going to lose(I think it happens in the next two games) and I feel it will all come crashing down. This team still has a ton of flaws. It will be interesting to see how Roy has the team bounce back after a loss. That IMO will be his first real test.

this team is playing like the avs of old, this is why im not worried about teams out shooting us game in and game out. when the teams of roy, sacic, Forsberg etc... played that is one thing I noticed about them, they were most nights being outshot a lot but they always came out on top on the score sheet because of their great goaltending and potent offense. I think this team is headed in the direction of the avs of old and are playing a similar style of those teams

 

[a mangy Meowth]

That's how you know a winning streak is about to end, when you start noticing things that you figure will come back and bite the team eventually. There were more of them in this game in any of the four previous ones.

When a losing streak is about to end is when the team plays good enough to win but keeps losing.

Seems a little arbitrary considering the massive amount of variables in every single moment of every single game.

Not sure if I agree with this line of thinking.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Seems a little arbitrary considering the massive amount of variables in every single moment of every single game.

Not sure if I agree with this line of thinking.

Does that mean we're all-in against Dallas again, fish?