- Varlamov was awesome tonight. Where the hell was this guy, and why does Varly have to be so inconsistent. If this Varlamov had shown up between December - February 1st, the Avs would be competing for the division title right now.
- The defense was bad. When I say "bad", I mean Girard, Zadorov, and Barrie, getting much worse in that order. For the most part I was ok with G but he had a few stupid plays. He skated himself into trouble completely unnecessarily once, and then forced a couple of passes. Z followed up a good game vs. Winnipeg with a bad game tonight. Just not a very bright player. Took himself out of the play a few times hunting hits, didn't move his feet. Barrie was bad at....well, nearly everything. On the flip side Nemeth had a beastly game, and it wasn't his offensive acumen -- he was really good along the boards. Graves for the most part kept it safe. EJ was solid. This team badly needs a high end left handed top four defender who isn't an idiot. G is young and has his struggles (and will always be inhibited by his size); Z is exactly what they need some games and the #1 problem other games; Cole when healthy is seemingly good for a stupid penalty and stupid turnover (minimum 1) per game as well. They need an upgrade on that side, badly.
- MacK was flying. Keep Rantanen on his line, MacK can't play with Kerfoot and Ghetto. Who could. Kerfoot has some offensive talent (see his pass to Soderberg), but is genuinely a mental midget in the defensive zone. He needs to be replaced, and under no condition should he be re-signed. The bad outweighs the good.
- The penalties in the 3rd were stupid...but I don't blame them. They all watched Kane absolutely maul Jost down to the ice. If you set the tone that that is ok -- basically the playoff hockey rulebook at its finest, where battles like that are allowed to carry on everywhere -- then you have to let everything else go. That includes the retaliatory slash, the horsecollar, and especially the weak little crosscheck to Toews in front of the net from EJ. Defensmen in front of the crease honestly do that dozens of times per game. You can't open up the playoff rulebook for Kane and then call everything down to the letter after that. Ridiculous.
- Landeskog and Compher were beasts. More heart and soul, meat and potatoes beasts who can actually track their defensive assignments (with some exceptions for Compher), turn pucks over, and do their damn jobs, please. No more butter-soft Sven Andrighetto's and Alexander Kerfoot's, please. Jost also needs to figure his **** out on the puck, he was far too weak on it once again tonight.
- Oh, and Soda is an incredible player who can make it work with pretty much anyone. Incredible player. Works his butt off, nearly always makes the right play even though he isn't the most talented. They will need a replacement for when he ages / leaves. He's a key cog.