GDT: Game 61: Avalanche @ Oilers | February 20th, 8PM MT/5AM Finnish | Save Ferris

[The Kingslayer]

I was going ape **** ober that hand pass. Like how did nobody see tjat.pissed off at skille tonight two complete bonehead plays in the third. Glad we won but we totally coasted in the third also cant hit empty net lol oh yah any update on Mackinnon he was limping badly going under the tunnel

 

[The Kingslayer]

I thought MacKinnon played his best game in months tonight but he still makes the wrong decision(s) almost every single time with the puck in the offensive zone off the rush

He was October skille good tonight. He shot a ton which is fine but he sure makes life hard on himself sometimea. Also,watching Tanguay in person is more frustrating. The guy is done like completely and utterly done as a NHL hockey player.

 

[Nzap]

I was going ape **** ober that hand pass. Like how did nobody see tjat.pissed off at skille tonight two complete bonehead plays in the third. Glad we won but we totally coasted in the third also cant hit empty net lol oh yah any update on Mackinnon he was limping badly going under the tunnel

MacK is fine according to Chambers.

[Tweet]701286255170949120[/Tweet]

 

[cgf]

I missed the replay. Did MacK take that shot balls first, or was it the inside of his thigh?

 

[dahrougem2]

I missed the replay. Did MacK take that shot balls first, or was it the inside of his thigh?

Might have been knee/thigh area seeing as he couldn't really put pressure on one of his legs but from the looks of it, it might just be a stinger

 

[Foppa2118]

They've got to straighten out this penalty call goalie interference situation. Refs tell Patrick he can't challenge, Friedman says the league told him they could challenge, McLellan a few nights later does challenge, and then says after the game he shouldn't have been able to. Get your **** together guys, which one is it?

Props to Cody for playing a handful of shifts with a broken hand so the boys didn't get too gassed in the first of a back to back. That thing looked like someone took a ball peen hammer to it. Must have been painful as hell.

Barrie finally playing the way he's capable of. When he's moving his feet and going forward, that's when he's on his game. Don't recall many if any times where he spun back into his zone with the puck. That's the key IMO. He needs to make "just go forward" his mantra for the rest of his career.

Picks with an underrated game too. Had his rebound control on point, and the Avs were scrambly at times. Tanguay not getting that puck out in the last couple minutes, almost leading to a comeback was pretty infuriating. Got to get that puck out no matter what.

Nate with a great block at the end too, taking it off the inside of the knee. Probably felt like it took his whole leg off for the next 10 minutes.

Good overall game by the guys tonight, and it should have been. For all the Avs defensive shortcomings, the Oilers are an even bigger mess defensively every night.

 

[Ozil]

Good overall performance. Thought the team was good and could have scored a couple more in the 3rd to put the game away. Glad to hear Mac will be alright. Barrie played really well tonight

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Really, really strong game from the Avs tonight.


Woud have liked for us to have been more aggressive and not sit back as much the 2nd half of the 3rd, but at the same time with another game on the road tomorrow night you have to believe Roy was telling the team to conserve energy where they could so it's kind of understandable.


That was a solid 60 minute effort though for sure, its about time we play well and beat a team that we should be beating.


Arizona loss, so a 4 point swing between us and them tonight, and NSH lost in OT, so a 2 point swing against them.


Doing exactly what we needed to before the week started right now.

 

[Nzap]

Edmonton media trying to ask McLellan about specific missed calls in the game, like missed cross-checking penalties
I mean really? At least McLellan shut that question down like he should've. Respect for that.

But interesting to hear that no-one has a frigging clue about the goalie interference coaches challenges. Not very good when you have two refs in back-to-back games giving the coaches different options on the same plays.
NHL should immediately come out with a statement regarding this, cause it's absolutely ridiculous.

Otherwise, we played a good 45 minutes from the 5th to the 50th minute mark.
Hopefully that energy saved in the last 10 helps us tomorrow, cause otherwise it was completely unnecessary to just stop playing 10 minutes from the end in a two-goal game.

 

[Foppa2118]

Always the courteous one.

 

[cgf]

I don't know why that's making me laugh so much. But if anyone gifs Matt's shuffle under the camera there, I'll have a new avi.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I don't know why that's making me laugh so much. But if anyone gifs Matt's shuffle under the camera there, I'll have a new avi.

Did you see his tweet about it?

 

[Avsboy]

Always the courteous one.

Just working on those squats. He's a machine.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Did you see his tweet about it?

haha matts a beaut

 

[cgf]

Did you see his tweet about it?

lol. Oh Matt, if only his taste in music weren't the absolute worst he'd be too likeable.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Also, whoever said Martinsen should be sent down for Everberg(when hes healthy) is so right. Martinsen is as slow and bad with the puck in real life as he is on tv. Why he was out in the final minutes boggles my mind. There was a puck that went right through him from the other side of the boards. That kinda stuff cannot happen.

 

[S E P H]

I'm more surprised and kind of really pissed off that HNIC intermission team only talked about the stupid coach's challenge and zero talk about the fluke invisible non-goal, but somehow counted hand pass. I was switching back and forth to each feed, but not even freakin' Altitude mentioned it.

Complete brutality last four minutes of hockey. It upset me how bad the Avs were, and it wasn't just a handful players, everyone was shooting for the ****in' empty net while icing the ****in' thing. No one made the smart play, just idiots running around with the their heads cut off looking to paddle their stats up. That was like basketball bad where the team constantly fouls and makes the last 50 seconds of the game somehow turn into 8 minutes.

And man were MacKinnon and Johnson bad. It's like both left their brains at the hotel room and were playing on fumes. EJ Johnson was in no man's land all game long and MacKinnon constantly made the wrong decision with the puck. Only positive thing he's doing now is he's battling on the boards, but that can take you so far. Even Rycroft was mentioning that he needs to have a dominant performance in one of the upcoming games.

I also didn't care too much for Soderberg's game, was a step behind almost everything tonight, and Bigras/Bodnarchuk were horrible. Maybe I am being too negative, but Avs were clearly the better team and should have won this easier than what happened. Hell, the 5v3 is a mess, the teams are picking up on Iginla and turning him into an island. It's more like 4v3 and because Iginla is so out of it, the play normally revolves around the side where Barrie is on. So not only are you making the 5v3 turn into a 4v3, you're playing that 4v3 on just one side of the ****in' ice. It's so predictable and easy to defend against. Positive is Avs were easily the better team, won the corsi, Barrie/Holden shutdown McDavid (actually got zero points, only got a secondary assist on a hand pass goal that should have never counted) and got the two points, but another botched effort on the PP and Godawfulness of the last 3 minutes of action were quite disappointing to watch.

Don't want to forget, but Landeskog was a beast. He doesn't need to go into Viking Mode to be effective, just needs to play like that and he'll get all the praise, even from Avsboy.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

MacKinnon was absolutely not bad. That's absurd. That line dominated.

 

[cgf]

Maybe I am being too negative

Yes, yes you are.

MacKinnon was absolutely not bad. That's absurd. That line dominated.

And EJ had a fine game today on the whole, as well

 

[S E P H]

MacKinnon was absolutely not bad. That's absurd. That line dominated.

Read again, I said he was quite good at winning board battles, but was horrible everywhere else. That line dominated is because their forecheck was superb, MacKinnon didn't do anything else positive besides that.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I read it right the first time. It's still absurd.

 

[S E P H]

I read it right the first time. It's still absurd.

And you're still wrong in thinking it's an absurd comment...

 

[cgf]

And you're still wrong in thinking it's an absurd comment...

No he's not.

 

[Avs_19]

That was fun. My first live Avs game of the season. Got the much needed two points.

Barrie was amazing out there.

I thought the Avs were the better team in the first two periods but that was a rough third, especially in the last 10 mins or so. I was really worried they were going to blow it. Looked like there were a lot of selfish plays by the Avs going for the empty net.

 

[dahrougem2]

I thought EJ played pretty well tonight?

MacKinnon didn't make the wrong decisions per se, but in the offensive zone on the rush he wasn't (and hasn't been) making the best decisions with the puck. Once again tonight I counted about 3-4 times when he simply could have put his shoulder down and drove to the net but settled for a shot from near the top of the circle. I love MacKinnon, and he has a decent shot but it's not good enough to beat goalies flat out from there. Even the best goal scorers in the league only score a handful of those per season (Ovechkin/Kessel/Perry) because goalies are too good and will make the save if there's no traffic and it's from a distance.

He needs to become less predictable when on the offensive. Defensemen are giving him so much room with the puck but he's not making the most of this room. He's settling too much, and it's, to me, a sign of an extreme low in confidence.

Lastly, another outstanding game from Grigorenko tonight. I don't think I've ever rooted so hard for a player to succeed, but I so badly want him to cement himself as a legitimate top-6 forward option for this team not only this season but moving forward permanently. His hockey IQ is off the charts high and his stick is always active. I love it.