Post-Game Talk: Game 9: Avalanche @ Lightning | Avs win 2-1 |

[The Kingslayer]

oy vey. Just watched the game and wow was that frustrating but I guess I should be happy with the 2 points.

1. Varly looked like 13-14 Varly.Looked tremendous, battled hard and made two huge breakaway saves. Need more of that.

2. Mackinnon has figured this NHL thing out. Another solid game from the kid. His line was dangerous all night even with the two old goats flanking him.

3. I thought Zads had a difficult game but hard to do much when you have Guenin next to you. Zads did manage to drop someone in the first which is fine by me.

4. What the hell is wrong with Landeskog? He really is looking like a 3rd line plug out there. What the hell happened to your hands guy? He struggles with passes and clearing the puck out. Get it together you ****.

5. Matt Duchene...is betting. He looked good for a few shifts and then dissapears for the next 4. What the hell happened to the dangerous speedy Matt that defenders shat themselves when he was in full flight? Matt really looks like hes not enjoying hockey right now at all. No smile, no jump just a lifeless dude out there. Gets robbed again on a similiar play. If he scores that he prolly has a huge night but since he doesnt score there he goes and cries about it all game. So mentally weak this guy. What the hell was that delay of game bs? You have all the time in the world all you had to do was take 2-3 more strides to get out your zone and you lazily flip it out with 6 mins left in the 3rd and your team 1 goal up? WTF is this ****? Fire your shrink and go talk to Mike Smith's shrink instead.

6. Soderberg is a jitterly dude. He makes some weird passes sometimes that nobody seems to be able to read lol. I thought he was pretty bad tonight.

7. Our PP continues to be a joke. What the hell happened to game 1-2 PP? Why the cute ****? Just get traffic in front and shoot how hard is that honestly? A breakaway against on a 5 on 3? You ****in kidding me? I dont blame Varly for being so pissed off tonight.

8. Where the hell is Game 1 Comeau? Hes looking like an even softer version of Paul carey out there. He needs to do something but for the last 5 games or so I havent notice him do a damn thing except get stripped by whoever the **** the other night.

9. EJ is playing hurt it has to be. I havent seen EJ play this bad in some time. I would rather him sit for a few games and come back 100% but I dunno. Groin injuries are tricky(speaking from experience)

10. Sloppy win but a win is a win. Fairly entertaining game. Hedman is a damn stud. Oh and that last play was so offside. Had TB scored there for sure it wouldnt have counted.

 

[Foppa2118]

Wow, now that's how you play a 3rd period with the lead. They played that as efficiently as other teams play them in the 3rd. An incredibly sloppy first half of the game, but at least they played inspired hockey and got the lead.

Speaking of inspired hockey, I don't think I've seen a game from an Avalanche player since #21, where someone displayed an absolute hunger to create scoring chances, combined with elite talent on full display on literally every shift, to the level that I saw from #29 tonight. Only a couple of points, but make no mistake that was the type of game most players never have in their career. Great to see one of the the top two centers capable of carrying this team on their back when they need it.

Love how McNab laughed at him saying he was "just trying to contribute" to his line, since him and his hustle were THE reason both goals were scored. Haynes coined it the "Who's your Daddy line" and that's got to stick if they stick together.

Seriously though, after seeing Duchene fail to get the puck in the upper half of the net AGAIN on a wide open chance, Roy needs to literally set up a shooter tutor for him, and tell him to fire pucks at it for a full practice or two. Seven years of the guy having killer instinct for about 20% of each season. and struggling the rest of the year. The guy just needs to find a way to stay calm with the puck in scoring chances, and find the open net.

Varly looked shaky again early, but after that breakaway save he really gained some confidence, and you could just tell that save would do that for him. Strong 2nd half of the game, and he even got fired up at something, swatting that puck up in the air after the whistle in the 3rd. A bit of Roy style showmanship.

Now lets just hope this team, and their #1 goaltender can take this game and build on it with the confidence they got from it. This is where Roy's sell job helps them, because who cares whether they played well or not for 60 minutes tonight, they need start a wave they can ride confidence wise in being a "good team." Fake it until you make, and buy into it, is probably a good approach at this point.

Their heads have just been getting in the way recently, during games as they've over thought plays. Some confidence will help push through that.

 

[cgf]

My best guess to get Duchene going would be to give him PK time.

First, it would give him more ice time, allowing him to stay in the game easier or get into the game. Second, it forces him to simplify his game and focus on discrete tasks (active stick, covering lanes, pressure, stops and starts). Third, he looked pretty good at it his rookie year.

He has been seeing PK time. And Matt's actually playing pretty well in all of those things. It's offensively that's he's struggling to pull things off and get pucks to bounce his way. If he keeps playing how he has been he'll start racking up points...especially if Landy can get his **** together.

 

[tigervixxxen]

MacK is just getting better and better, he's such a special player.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Mackinnon was an animal. He will be the Ovechkin to Mcdavid (Crosby) for many years. I was screaming at the TV once though when we were on the powerplay. He was flying down the wing at like 85% speed and had the defenseman completely beat wide. Not even going all out and he didn't bring it hard to the net. He honestly could have taken it to the net at the speed he was going but if he stepped it up a notch he could have blown the defender away almost before the blue line. I realize on the pp you want to set up and make things happen but when you have somebody beat as badly as he did you need to take that opportunity.

 

[Bender]

The Triplets finally wake up...it won't be pretty.

But honestly, Tampa has seemed to have struggled to really get going this year. The Avs don't seem to have any chemistry. I think it'll be a pretty awful game to watch with a lot of unnecessary turnovers from both sides.

Good call by you but it was entertaining though.

Postives:
- Varly went full Varly.
- MacK and the Geriatrics did really well together
- Soderberg's line had a good game and earned us that second goal with their work in the ozone on the previous shift.
- Another positive game from Holden, his confidence with the puck is completely different from the terrified icing-machine he has been for us and that was a great play with his stick at the end there.
- Greg got some PP time!
- And we got the win! You could see how tense they got in the third so thank god Varly stepped up and carried it home. The awful early schedule at the start of the year + Barrie's suspension has them really tight and lacking in swagger. They need a few wins in games where things do bounce their way and then a big break out game to really get mentally fit, but eeking this out was crucial.

Negatives:
- PP; for some reason we still haven't seen the Barrie, MacKinnon, Iginla, Landeskog and EJ PP unit that was so deadly before Barrie's suspension. And Iggy playing on the point continues to be a disaster.
- Landeskog; I love you man but jesus christ. Skille was a great and Duchene keeps looking good without having any puck luck or offensive confidence, but holy hell was Landy not himself today. What I wouldn't give for that line to have a big game.
- EJ's still not himself and doesn't look like he's healthy enough for the kind of minutes we all want him to play.
- The team playing scared-to-lose in the third. I get why they're doubting themselves, but playing like that will cost us when Varly isn't on form. Hopefully Varly can steal us another win or two if this game doesn't give them some confidence to build on the next time they step on the ice.

I think that Duchene didn't have his best game but he did do some things well so he's still better than he was the first 5 games to start the year.

Landy is getting a free pass here for the most part. He had an absolutely BRUTAL game. Looks like he's feeling the pressure being a young captain of a young team that's expected to be better than what they've shown so far. I thought he was by far our worst forward.

I will mention though that last year, he had a tough start (only 7 points in 16 games or so - a guy who took him in my hockey pool asked me "what the hell is wrong with this guy?) and then Lando absolutely took the hell off and had a PPG paced for the next month or so. He needs to get back to playing the way he can.

Even though Holden saved a goal at the very end, I thought he was horrid once again tonight. Horrible passes, bad reads, keeps getting caught flat-footed. Guenin wasn't great either but at least his ice time was more limited. Holden playing the 3rd most minutes amongst d-men is going to continue to cost us, even if it didn't tonight.

 

[hawk30]

He has been seeing PK time. And Matt's actually playing pretty well in all of those things. It's offensively that's he's struggling to pull things off and get pucks to bounce his way. If he keeps playing how he has been he'll start racking up points...especially if Landy can get his **** together.

He's 15th on the team in PK time per game and 9th among just the forwards.

My point was that more frequent contributions, even if on the PK, could help Duchene's confidence thereby offensive production.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

I know we won, but how many 2vs1 and breakaways Tampa had in this game? Felt like a lot(I thought it was concerning). Way too many breakouts for them. I would love to have team like Tampa, so fast and they can make those good first passes from defense. Tampa is team I would love to watch, because of their great offensive talent. I think Avalanche could copy thing or two from them.

We need defensemen who can make those first passes to Duchene/MacKinnon on full speed. It would make our team way more dangerous instantly. Why we almost never see MacK/Duchene getting breakaway pass from defense?! Now it feels like their great speed (both probably top-10 in NHL) go to waste.

 

[AvalancheFan19]

I'm not going to judge Zadorov or anyone who is playing with Guenin. There simply is no way anyone can be expected to carry that slug and a 20 year old kid?

Zadorov shouldn't have to do that. He should be put in a situation where he's not feeling like he has to cover for his partner.

I still think they should go back to Zadorov/Barrie and let them figure it out.

Agreed. Barrie looked great defensively last night. Zadorov was thrilled to play with him as well.

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

I think there is a difference in how you handle an aging 38 year old and a young star player whos future could pretty much make or break this organizations chances of success.

Seems like you guys are more concerned with Duchene's success than the teams.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

6. Soderberg is a jitterly dude. He makes some weird passes sometimes that nobody seems to be able to read lol. I thought he was pretty bad tonight.

I thought after that early PK that Soderberg was fine. I personally like his patience with the puck, particularly in the defensive zone. He doesn't just throw the puck away like half the team does. Maybe that's why some of his teammates aren't ready for his passes.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

We hit 1,000 posts after a loss, but can't even hit 500 after a win. Funny how this board works...

 

[EdAVSfan]

Seems like you guys are more concerned with Duchene's success than the teams.

I think its more because those two are positively correlated.

Unfortunately, the success of one will also assuredly come with success for the other. We need to have Duchene going to have any sort of chance.

 

[ArWKo]

We hit 1,000 posts after a loss, but can't even hit 500 after a win. Funny how this board works...

Well haven't you heard, every time we win everyone is out celebrating, it's only when we lose that people are free to come here and fill a thread with complaints.

 

[EdAVSfan]

We hit 1,000 posts after a loss, but can't even hit 500 after a win. Funny how this board works...

No kidding.

We should have a some kind of HFBoards table that shows who posts, at what point in time, in the GDTs.

Kinda like our own GDT corsi review for posters. But instead of shots attempted, it'd be based on whether the posts are positive, negative, or neutral.

 

[forsbergavs32]

We hit 1,000 posts after a loss, but can't even hit 500 after a win. Funny how this board works...

No news is good news I guess

 

[InjuredChoker]

No kidding.

We should have a some kind of HFBoards table that shows who posts, at what point in time, in the GDTs.

Kinda like our own GDT corsi review for posters. But instead of shots attempted, it'd be based on whether the posts are positive, negative, or neutral.

heh, that's an idea for offseason project!

 

[Freudian]

We hit 1,000 posts after a loss, but can't even hit 500 after a win. Funny how this board works...

It wasn't a very good game and people tend to tune out when Avs suck.

 

[InjuredChoker]

No kidding.

We should have a some kind of HFBoards table that shows who posts, at what point in time, in the GDTs.

Kinda like our own GDT corsi review for posters. But instead of shots attempted, it'd be based on whether the posts are positive, negative, or neutral.

It wasn't a very good game and people tend to tune out when Avs suck.

not a good start, freudian.

negative posts: 1
positive:
neutral:

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

It wasn't a very good game and people tend to tune out when Avs suck.

It was definitely a sloppy game but I thought the Avs held their own at even strength against a very good team until they decided to sit on the lead.

 

[Freudian]

It was definitely a sloppy game but I thought the Avs held their own at even strength against a very good team until they decided to sit on the lead.

Both Avs and Tampa contributed to the low entertainment value for sure. It was very sloppy. You could tell it was two teams struggling.

Varly being puck sponge and MacKinnon being dominant saved it from being a snooze fest.

I'm not complaining when the end result is two points.

 

[Freudian]

There is a lot of work to be done on the PP. Getting those goals early in the season might have delayed the necessary changes.

1. Get Mitchell off it. He's got a good shot but he's never getting in a spot to use it instead just crowding the forward on the half boards.

2. Landeskog on the half board has never worked on the PP. All he ends up doing is passing back to the point. He's a good passer so it's usually on the tape so we might get a shot out of it but it's not enough. Put Landeskog in front of the goalie. Tanguay/Duchene/MacKinnon can do the job at the half boards.

3. Iginla on the point is not good. He's a defensive liability and he doesn't get to use his shot back there. It's only when he creeps up into the faceoff circle you can tell he's a danger. But when he's up there, Avs are screwed if there is a turnover.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

I'd like to see the PP formation as such:

PP1
Landeskog

MacKinnon Soderberg/Grigorenko

Barrie Zadorov

PP2
Duchene

Iginla Tanguay

EJ Gormley

With PP1, have Lando disrupting in front of the net and getting him the puck behind. MacK stays open for the one-timer but would also be the halfboard presence on the right side. Soderberg seems pretty competent along that left side, but I'd also like to see Grigorenko in that spot. I feel like PP1 would be more oriented to quick offense, get the puck in, start firing as many shots as possible.

PP2 would be our cycling unit. Have Duchene be the main presence with his dump off points being Tanguay and Iggy if he gets into trouble. He does some of his best work behind that net as his spin moves usually help to shake off defenders there. Tanguay would be the set up guy, he's got both EJ and Iggy on the left side open for shots. Gormley has a pretty good passing game and has a sneaky shot that tends to find a way through.

That's my idea anyways...Roy will probably go with McLeod in front, Duchene and Iggy on the point, Holden left side for the backdoor and Mitchell being the QB...cause that work super well.

 

[lonelybadger]

Mackinnon is turning into such a great player. Duchene almost had a goal in the first but then after that he seemed to fall off the map.

Varlamov played great, and the powerplay is still worthless but at least there were 2 points.

 

[S E P H]

I was carving a pumpkin during the game so my focus wasn't entirely on the game, but wasn't MacKinnon horrible on the PP? I don't like blaming players on mistakes like some of the posters here, but he was definitely to blame for killing the 5v3 by himself. Glad he was great 5v5, but I thought he really struggled on the power play.

And Tanguay, the dude gets one goal like Duchene and goes crazy with confidence after that, him and Iginla both looked like they were 30 years old again. I thought Duchene didn't have a good game yesterday, but as long as I see effort, the points and bounces will come.