GDT: GAME IV - 10/11/18 5pm Colorado @ Buffalo: The Rasmussance

[Foppberg]

Hello all,
I’m a long time lurker and I occasionally pop in from time to time. Just want to say thanks for having such a great community and awesome posts.

I think we need a bit of a reality check. That was not an excellent win last night. We are not a top team. We’re good and getting better, don’t get me wrong, but we have along way to go before we are a top team.

Last night was an example of the statistics lying to you.

- Our PP was 2/4... but in reality, our PP looked pretty bad. We struggled really badly with zone entries, and were constantly chasing the puck back down the ice. The Jost goal was pretty good, but the Wilson goal was a lucky bounce, it landed right on his stick...

- Our P.K. was 7/7 but In reality it was pretty bad. Buf truly lacks any finishing instinct but they had our P.K. twisted in knots most of the time. With excellent passing and easy zone entries their pps were almost constant pressure. If not for BUF sucking and Varly being really good, it could have been a different game. Also 7 PPs??? That’s too much.

Honestly BUF had the better special teams, they just lack finishers.

Mackinnons first goal came right after BUF scored, after they had worked so hard and for so long in our zone and they finally got one. They had actually won the puck battle in their own end, against Rantanen, and were exiting the zone when the puck got tangled up in the refs skates. He unknowingly kicked it right back to Rantanen who was already set up for a 2 on 1 with Mack. Pass. Shot. Goal.

That goal broke BUF’s back. They worked so hard to get one, and then the ref just kicks a freebie over to Mack and Rants.

After that goal Buf was dead in the water.

So it’s nice to see some secondary scoring and we did score some nice goals, Girard IS a young hockey god and we will be a very good team in the near future, but this game was an example of some good puck luck and beating a bad team.

Not a great win, and we are not YET a great team. Lots of things to work out.

Thanks, said my piece. Love ya. Go avs, peace out

Disagree on PP, I thought it was pretty solid. Not every time but more often than not it was quite dangerous. It wasn't a perfect game by any stretch, but anytime you can win a game 6-1 you played pretty damn well.

But I do agree with a post you made earlier about a 3-2 win vs Nashville is more impressive than a 6-1 win against Buffalo.

 

[FreshFitted67]

Disagree on PP, I thought it was pretty solid. Not every time but more often than not it was quite dangerous. It wasn't a perfect game by any stretch, but anytime you can win a game 6-1 you played pretty damn well.

But I do agree with a post you made earlier about a 3-2 win vs Nashville is more impressive than a 6-1 win against Buffalo.

Fair enough. I guess I’m being a bit of a stickler and a perfectionist. I would have liked to have seen some tighter zone entries and more sustained pressure against a weak team like Buffalo. I guess if I was a coach I would be telling our guys this is a good win to build on but we have some things to work on...

 

[Foppberg]

Fair enough. I guess I’m being a bit of a stickler and a perfectionist. I would have liked to have seen some tighter zone entries and more sustained pressure against a weak team like Buffalo. I guess if I was a coach I would be telling our guys this is a good win to build on but we have some things to work on...

Well I mean it is only game 4. You have Washington winning 7-0, then losing 6-0 a week later. Lowly Canucks beating contender TB 4-1, etc. At this point in the season teams are still getting into the swing of things, especially against bottom teams. So the fact that our 1 loss was one where we fought back to tie it and make a game out of it says good things.

 

[FreshFitted67]

Well I mean it is only game 4. You have Washington winning 7-0, then losing 6-0 a week later. Lowly Canucks beating contender TB 4-1, etc. At this point in the season teams are still getting into the swing of things, especially against bottom teams. So the fact that our 1 loss was one where we fought back to tie it and make a game out of it says good things.

Definitely agree on that!

 

[5280]

Missed the first two periods, so I can’t really comment. But woooot f***in woooot!!!

 

[Foppa2118]

I think people need to start giving Mikko some props for being a damn good player and not a by product of the Mackinnon stimulus package.

If anyone had seen how smart, skilled, and how hard Mikko works at both ends of the ice, this never should have been a thing to begin with.

I'm a huge Landy fan, and he plays a big part in the success of that line too, but there's a reason he put up 62 points, and Mikko put up 84 points last year playing on the same 5 on 5 and PP lines all season.

Mikko is a hell of a player. He'll probably surpass the lofty Lehtonen comparisons from his draft year.

 

[Steerpike]

Hello all,
I’m a long time lurker and I occasionally pop in from time to time. Just want to say thanks for having such a great community and awesome posts.

I think we need a bit of a reality check. That was not an excellent win last night. We are not a top team. We’re good and getting better, don’t get me wrong, but we have along way to go before we are a top team.

Last night was an example of the statistics lying to you.

- Our PP was 2/4... but in reality, our PP looked pretty bad. We struggled really badly with zone entries, and were constantly chasing the puck back down the ice. The Jost goal was pretty good, but the Wilson goal was a lucky bounce, it landed right on his stick...

- Our P.K. was 7/7 but In reality it was pretty bad. Buf truly lacks any finishing instinct but they had our P.K. twisted in knots most of the time. With excellent passing and easy zone entries their pps were almost constant pressure. If not for BUF sucking and Varly being really good, it could have been a different game. Also 7 PPs??? That’s too much.

Honestly BUF had the better special teams, they just lack finishers.

Mackinnons first goal came right after BUF scored, after they had worked so hard and for so long in our zone and they finally got one. They had actually won the puck battle in their own end, against Rantanen, and were exiting the zone when the puck got tangled up in the refs skates. He unknowingly kicked it right back to Rantanen who was already set up for a 2 on 1 with Mack. Pass. Shot. Goal.

That goal broke BUF’s back. They worked so hard to get one, and then the ref just kicks a freebie over to Mack and Rants.

After that goal Buf was dead in the water.

So it’s nice to see some secondary scoring and we did score some nice goals, Girard IS a young hockey god and we will be a very good team in the near future, but this game was an example of some good puck luck and beating a bad team.

Not a great win, and we are not YET a great team. Lots of things to work out.

Thanks, said my piece. Love ya. Go avs, peace out

Are you kidding? The Avs had a terrific first period and some terrific power plays. Both PP goals were a little bit dirty, but I like that out of this team. I'm not worried about us being able to score pretty goals, I'm worried about us being "too good" for dirty goals. The PP really started with an excellent delayed penalty 6 on 5. This ends with MacKinnon throwing a shot on net from the blueline (1:30). Normally that's a low percentage play, but pause at 1:37. We have 3 players having beaten the Sabers to the front of the net. All hungry for the puck should it pop out. If Hutton doesn't make a no rebound save that's a terrific scoring chance. The Jost goal then followed with a similar play. The Rantanen gets the puck to Barrie (1:59) with an open shooting lane. He one times the puck to an area dominated by Avs netfront presence. Landeskog and Jost finish the job.

We also had absolute puck control during that PP.

At 2:14 on the second PP Girard continues to play quarterback terrifically (and legit QB, not just what is more akin to pointguard, which he's also good at) and gets Wilson a mini breakaway. It's not often that teams give up breakaways on the PK in the first period.

At 2:30 we get a good bounce when Girard's shot is blocked and bounces to Wilson in the slot. Wilson takes advantage of the situation by instantly shooting the puck. It's a good play by Wilson, Buffalo needed to challenge his position in the slot and they didn't. Soda is also parked with his giant frame/butt in Hutton's face. It's a solid PP design. The second PP unit had looked terrific but slightly unlucky previously.

On the Soda goal we have Borque create confusion by skating to the left and then down low. His coverage wanted to cover him up high or on the right and thus leaves him for someone else to cover. This creates a coverage switch, panic, and Risto gets tangled up, and the Sabers are puck watching. He gets the puck to Soderberg in the slot, and Soderberg has the presence of mind to find an even better shooting lane before burying it.

Anything that happens after a 3:0 lead is slightly poisoned by the fact that our imperative switches from "winning" the game to "not losing it."

We played well. Part of being a good (or even average) team is beating bad teams. Enjoy it.

 

[FreshFitted67]

Are you kidding? The Avs had a terrific first period and some terrific power plays. Both PP goals were a little bit dirty, but I like that out of this team. I'm not worried about us being able to score pretty goals, I'm worried about us being "too good" for dirty goals. The PP really started with an excellent delayed penalty 6 on 5. This ends with MacKinnon throwing a shot on net from the blueline (1:30). Normally that's a low percentage play, but pause at 1:37. We have 3 players having beaten the Sabres to the front of the net. All hungry for the puck should it pop out. If Hutton doesn't make a no rebound save that's a terrific scoring chance. The Jost goal then followed with a similar play. The Rantanen gets the puck to Barrie (1:59) with an open shooting lane. He one times the puck to an area dominated by Avs netfront presence. Landeskog and Jost finish the job.

We also had absolute puck control during that PP.

At 2:14 on the second PP Girard continues to play quarterback terrifically (and legit QB, not just what is more akin to pointguard, which he's also good at) and gets Wilson a mini breakaway. It's not often that teams give up breakaways on the PK in the first period.

At 2:30 we get a good bounce when Girard's shot is blocked and bounces to Wilson in the slot. Wilson takes advantage of the situation by instantly shooting the puck. It's a good play by Wilson, Buffalo needed to challenge his position in the slot and they didn't. Soda is also parked with his giant frame/butt in Hutton's face. It's a solid PP design. The second PP unit had looked terrific but slightly unlucky previously.

On the Soda goal we have Borque create confusion by skating to the left and then down low. His coverage wanted to cover him up high or on the right and thus leaves him for someone else to cover. This creates a coverage switch, panic, and Risto gets tangled up, and the Sabres are puck watching. He gets the puck to Soderberg in the slot, and Soderberg has the presence of mind to find an even better shooting lane before burying it.

Anything that happens after a 3:0 lead is slightly poisoned by the fact that our imperative switches from "winning" the game to "not losing it."

We played well. Part of being a good (or even average) team is beating bad teams. Enjoy it.

I agree with almost everything you’re saying here. It was a good game. It was a good win. The avs did play well.

I was simply giving a small reality check on the statements that came earlier in the thread which said, based on this game, we were becoming a top team which should compete with Winnipeg and Nashville.

Barrie did do a good job of getting that puck through, and the boys did do a good job of getting puck position. The soda goal was nice. Girard was terrific. I’m not disputing any of this.

However, you need to keep in mind that we did not have total puck control for that whole PP. we had 4 pps and probably half of each one was spent on failed zone entries, bad giveaways, chasing the puck in our own zone and sloppily trying to set up the next zone entry. The Jost goal was scored on one of the few opportunities generated by the first unit.

In comparison, the Buffalo power plays had better zone entries and much better puck control, although I will say they did have a hard time setting up actual chances.

It’s very easy to say this team looked great when you’re looking at a 6minute highlight package of a 6-1 game.

The reality is, this performance was far from perfect.

There were great moments ! Yes! But there were long stretches where the avs looked like the second best team, and that’s not something you see very often from a top team.

I agree it was a good win, and we should definitely enjoy it.

I’m being a bit of a stickler and I would like to see improvements in a couple areas.

But I’m a realist, and I’m not going to say this was a great win, or that the avs are a top team based on that performance.

Like I said, good win, something to build on, and flashes of brilliance from a lot of guys... but we have a lot of things to work on as well.

 

[The Kingslayer]

If anyone had seen how smart, skilled, and how hard Mikko works at both ends of the ice, this never should have been a thing to begin with.

I'm a huge Landy fan, and he plays a big part in the success of that line too, but there's a reason he put up 62 points, and Mikko put up 84 points last year playing on the same 5 on 5 and PP lines all season.

Mikko is a hell of a player. He'll probably surpass the lofty Lehtonen comparisons from his draft year.

If Mikko becomes as great defensively as Jere Lehtinen was I think im cool with that. I would love Mikko to become Marian Hossa.

 

[Foppa2118]

If Mikko becomes as great defensively as Jere Lehtinen was I think im cool with that. I would love Mikko to become Marian Hossa.

I think he's going to easily surpass Lehtonen in terms of offense and get closer to the all around level of Hossa. We'll have to wait another eight years or so to really compare the two though.

 

[Nalens Oga]

Hossa's all-round game was underrated imo, really good two-way player, doubt Mikko ever reaches that level. And Hossa was skilled and FAST, Mikko's good and I dunno who these morons are that think he's a MacKinnon by-product, he's a legit top line winger on most teams, but I don't see him ever getting to Hossa's peak.

 

[dahrougem2]

Kamenev made a great feed to Calvert in the slot on his second shift, which Calvert (predictably) missed. The penalty fest in the final two periods threw everything off with lines and any sort of momentum.

Calvert took so long to shoot I was genuinely wondering if he was ever going to shoot.

 

[5280]

Hossa's all-round game was underrated imo, really good two-way player, doubt Mikko ever reaches that level. And Hossa was skilled and FAST, Mikko's good and I dunno who these morons are that think he's a MacKinnon by-product, he's a legit top line winger on most teams, but I don't see him ever getting to Hossa's peak.

If Mikko ever ends up that good.........(I can’t think of anything). Lol

Honestly, would be very cool

 

[MarkT]

Hello all,
I’m a long time lurker and I occasionally pop in from time to time. Just want to say thanks for having such a great community and awesome posts.

I think we need a bit of a reality check. That was not an excellent win last night. We are not a top team. We’re good and getting better, don’t get me wrong, but we have along way to go before we are a top team.

Last night was an example of the statistics lying to you.

- Our PP was 2/4... but in reality, our PP looked pretty bad. We struggled really badly with zone entries, and were constantly chasing the puck back down the ice. The Jost goal was pretty good, but the Wilson goal was a lucky bounce, it landed right on his stick...

- Our P.K. was 7/7 but In reality it was pretty bad. Buf truly lacks any finishing instinct but they had our P.K. twisted in knots most of the time. With excellent passing and easy zone entries their pps were almost constant pressure. If not for BUF sucking and Varly being really good, it could have been a different game. Also 7 PPs??? That’s too much.

Honestly BUF had the better special teams, they just lack finishers.

Mackinnons first goal came right after BUF scored, after they had worked so hard and for so long in our zone and they finally got one. They had actually won the puck battle in their own end, against Rantanen, and were exiting the zone when the puck got tangled up in the refs skates. He unknowingly kicked it right back to Rantanen who was already set up for a 2 on 1 with Mack. Pass. Shot. Goal.

That goal broke BUF’s back. They worked so hard to get one, and then the ref just kicks a freebie over to Mack and Rants.

After that goal Buf was dead in the water.

So it’s nice to see some secondary scoring and we did score some nice goals, Girard IS a young hockey god and we will be a very good team in the near future, but this game was an example of some good puck luck and beating a bad team.

Not a great win, and we are not YET a great team. Lots of things to work out.

Thanks, said my piece. Love ya. Go avs, peace out

I love when lurkers speak

I agree, by the way. I just want to add that Hutton was awful on several of our goals. This would not have been a 6-1 game against a better goalie.

This was a good game for the Avs because they should beat Buffalo. They're better than Buffalo. But better than Buffalo =/= great team. There's still a lot of work to be done.

 

[The Kingslayer]

I love when lurkers speak

I agree, by the way. I just want to add that Hutton was awful on several of our goals. This would not have been a 6-1 game against a better goalie.

This was a good game for the Avs because they should beat Buffalo. They're better than Buffalo. But better than Buffalo =/= great team. There's still a lot of work to be done.

Which goal was bad that Hutton let in? Soderbergs maybe but even still Soda was left all alone. The Sabres defense sans Dahlin is just terribad.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I agree with almost everything you’re saying here. It was a good game. It was a good win. The avs did play well.

I was simply giving a small reality check on the statements that came earlier in the thread which said, based on this game, we were becoming a top team which should compete with Winnipeg and Nashville.

Barrie did do a good job of getting that puck through, and the boys did do a good job of getting puck position. The soda goal was nice. Girard was terrific. I’m not disputing any of this.

However, you need to keep in mind that we did not have total puck control for that whole PP. we had 4 pps and probably half of each one was spent on failed zone entries, bad giveaways, chasing the puck in our own zone and sloppily trying to set up the next zone entry. The Jost goal was scored on one of the few opportunities generated by the first unit.

In comparison, the Buffalo power plays had better zone entries and much better puck control, although I will say they did have a hard time setting up actual chances.

It’s very easy to say this team looked great when you’re looking at a 6minute highlight package of a 6-1 game.

The reality is, this performance was far from perfect.

There were great moments ! Yes! But there were long stretches where the avs looked like the second best team, and that’s not something you see very often from a top team.

I agree it was a good win, and we should definitely enjoy it.

I’m being a bit of a stickler and I would like to see improvements in a couple areas.

But I’m a realist, and I’m not going to say this was a great win, or that the avs are a top team based on that performance.

Like I said, good win, something to build on, and flashes of brilliance from a lot of guys... but we have a lot of things to work on as well.

Meh, I think you are looking too far into the future. The AVs are not cup contenders this year. They should be showing signs of progression though. So far, I think they have done that. If you are expecting this team to dominate from minute one until minute 60 you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

The key to this year is....just getting a bit better everywhere and pushing for the playoffs. I honestly do believe if they fail to make the post-season, the season is a failure. Others don't think so due to how tough the Central Division is. Me personally, I just want to watch the kids grow, get better, learn from mistakes (and not push their noses in the mistakes...the mistakes will happen) and get into the playoffs for a little more experience.

I do believe the squad is still a little too soft when it comes to standing up for each other...but I've seen a lot more net-front presence early this season than I have in previous ones. That might be due to Wilson playing on the second line but whatever, I like it and will take it.

I think the team is generally moving in the right direction. I believe the kids are developing well and am intrigued by the dmen in the pipeline. My biggest worry is the goalie situation. We've got some good ones but Varly has looked amazing, Grubs...not so much, and I haven't seen enough of Frank to really pass judgement. We can't really afford to f*** this one up. We need to come out of this season with someone who will be a #1 for us.