GDT: Islanders @ Avalanche | December 17th 7MT |

[Freudian]

Even when the first line isn't playing well (too many botched solo plays by MacKinnon and Duchene) like last night they do spend a lot of time wearing down the oppositions best defenders. It's not easy to play against them and they are strong along the boards.

It does give Mitchell and Söderberg a better chance to perform well, I would imagine.

 

[Bubba Thudd]

We won a game with the 9s line being ineffective, EJ having arguably his worst game of the season, and we missed a bunch of odd-man chances going forward.

I'll take it without any complaints.

I second this.

The statement has been made and seconded.
Shall we now take a vote?

 

[Trinstin]

I actually fell asleep listening to this game last night lol. The team is getting me hopeful for the playoffs again.

 

[ArWKo]

The Comeau-Soderberg-Martinsen line was a possession BEAST last night. 70% 5v5 Scored-Adjusted CF% and they were playing against the Tavares line a ton.

 

[AW8]

The 9 line didnt score, but the were very effective imo. They had a good scoring chance almost every time they were out there. They were everywhere. They just couldnt finish. On the pp they were out for 1:55 because the puck never left the zone. The only issue was they couldnt finish. Im not sure that is the whole definition of ineffective. I get that they didnt achieve the desired result, but idk...

 

[henchman21]

The statement has been made and seconded.
Shall we now take a vote?

I'm going to filibuster the crap of this.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I enjoyed watching Tavares losing 3 defensive zone faceoffs in one shift against 3 different players (one being a winger in Iggy.)

Reminded me of either last year or the year before when Dutchy beat Tavares clean on a draw in the offensive zone and the defenseman scored right off the draw.

 

[ArWKo]

I disagree with the 9 line being ineffective. They couldn't finish which was a bummer especially with some golden opportunities, but they had some dominant shifts out there, were always pressing and keeping the Isles on their heels.

The had that one entire PP where the Islanders couldn't get it out of their own zone.

So couldn't finish, but definitely not ineffective - but that could just be semantics.

 

[Pokecheque]

A thing of beauty watching Clutterbuck go in for one of his signature late hits and bouncing right off Holden. Highlight of the night for me. Oh yeah...winning is nice too.

Neutral zone play was good. Avs got a LOT of odd-man rushes early on because of it. Defensive zone play was still pretty bad though. Not sure why this team is so unbelievably bad covering the slot, but I suppose it'll get addressed sooner or later.

The less said about Guenin, the better.

But as others have said, the team won against a good team (AT HOME EVEN) with the top line not clicking like it usually does and a less-than-stellar game from EJ (I also wasn't exactly thrilled with Barrie either, sloppy passing/puckhandling from him last night) so that's good.

While I still harbor some grave concerns, it's nice to see this team playing better hockey and playing with more confidence.

 

[flyfysher]

Was a huge win tonight.

If we could ever find a way to consistently play like this we'd be a playoff team no doubt in my mind.

My friend and I were saying the same thing in watching the Avs play the Hawks the other night. If this Avs team consistently plays like it has recently, then it'll make the playoffs.

 

[Metallo]

Riding the top 4 as much as they have been is going to wear down those guys eventually. Redmond didn't even play 8 minutes. Guenin, not even 10. At what point do you give a guy from SA a chance? Cleary, Roy lacks faith in any of these guys.

Looks like we were all mistaken in saying that we have too many bottom pairing D, what we have is too many reserve D and need 2 bottom pairing guys.

 

[bohlmeister]

What is the deal with Stuart?

 

[CobraAcesS]

A thing of beauty watching Clutterbuck go in for one of his signature late hits and bouncing right off Holden. Highlight of the night for me. Oh yeah...winning is nice too.

Neutral zone play was good. Avs got a LOT of odd-man rushes early on because of it. Defensive zone play was still pretty bad though. Not sure why this team is so unbelievably bad covering the slot, but I suppose it'll get addressed sooner or later.

The less said about Guenin, the better.

But as others have said, the team won against a good team (AT HOME EVEN) with the top line not clicking like it usually does and a less-than-stellar game from EJ (I also wasn't exactly thrilled with Barrie either, sloppy passing/puckhandling from him last night) so that's good.

While I still harbor some grave concerns, it's nice to see this team playing better hockey and playing with more confidence.

The third period is how we want them playing at all times, well about 25 minutes of it. That power play we got stopped the momentum the NYIs were generating for a couple of minutes. Then we continued to play a smart tactical possession game.

The first was OK to good, half the second was bad half was ok, the third was excellent for me.

The third period looked like the majority of the game against Chicago IMO.

Short quick passes transitioning up the ice, plenty of support and they moved as a unit up the ice. They need more sustained pressure, but I love when they do their best to hold onto the puck and skate through the neutral zone tactically instead of firing off stretch passes. Icing it half the time.

 

[The Kingslayer]

What is the deal with Stuart?

Oh yah him. What is the deal with him?

 

[henchman21]

Back injury that is thought to be serious. Beyond that nobody is saying anything about Stuart.

 

[shadow1]

The Avs could really use Zadorov on the third pairing. Redmond has been decent in spurts but Gormley and Guenin bring very little to the table.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Oh yah him. What is the deal with him?

I think Stuart is on long term IR for being old and slow. Last thing anyone heard was back issues I think.

Personally I think the guy is done, and this is how they're going to bury his salary.

Edit : Chronic back issues is a hard thing to prove or disprove for doctors, if Stuart is on board with retiring on IR. Then it's an easy one for the Avs doctors to back up in order to keep him on IR.

Could be wrong, but I think hes done and retired on LTIR

 

[Pokecheque]

Riding the top 4 as much as they have been is going to wear down those guys eventually. Redmond didn't even play 8 minutes. Guenin, not even 10. At what point do you give a guy from SA a chance? Cleary, Roy lacks faith in any of these guys.

Guenin played just over 6 minutes 5-on-5.
Redmond 7:30 total.

Roy has 0 confidence with the 3rd pairing.

Beauchemin with another 28:31.

This is a bit concerning going forward. One of the reasons The Wylde seem to falter down the stretch is that they always overuse Suter and burn him out. I think over 20 minutes for EJ is a bit much, but not too bad. Over 25 minutes for Beauchemin is definitely too much, and I think using Barrie for as much as Roy is using him is going to limit his effectiveness. This used to be a problem with the forwards when the team had an absolutely atrocious 4th line that couldn't be trusted in any situation. Now the problem is even more glaring with a third pairing the coach doesn't trust at all. What's worse, because Roy is overusing his top four, he's using a guy like Guenin in PK situations, and I don't care what anyone says, he's a liability there.

I agree with those who say if Roy won't trust Guenin and Redmond, then call someone up and at least give them something outside of 10 minutes, then work up from there. Burning out the team's best defenders is going to lead to an 18-wheeler-going-off-the-cliff situation before long.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I think everyone will be shocked when some Monday morning it's reported Stuart is skating

Stuart is not on LTIR. More because we don't need the cap relief but it's a pretty big leap to just think he will never come back. We don't have any updates, who knows.

 

[Bubba Thudd]

I won't be shocked.

 

[dahrougem2]

I enjoyed watching Tavares losing 3 defensive zone faceoffs in one shift against 3 different players (one being a winger in Iggy.)

Reminded me of either last year or the year before when Dutchy beat Tavares clean on a draw in the offensive zone and the defenseman scored right off the draw.

Iggy is something like a career 54% or 55% faceoff guy I believe. He's always been really good in the dot.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Iggy is something like a career 54% or 55% faceoff guy I believe. He's always been really good in the dot.

Yah I remember him winning alot of draws in Calgary.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Iggy is something like a career 54% or 55% faceoff guy I believe. He's always been really good in the dot.

That's cool, I honestly had no idea.

 

[Avs_19]

Good win last night. Fluky goals but it's nice to see those bounces going our way right now. Team played well overall and the Soderberg line was really good.

I was looking at the stats the other day and couldn't believe Beauchemin had 17 points. Well, he adds two more and it's now 19 in 33 games, which would be tied for the Ducks scoring lead right now.

Hamonic looked good as well.......

 

[RockyMtnRedhawk]

The Avs could really use Zadorov on the third pairing. Redmond has been decent in spurts but Gormley and Guenin bring very little to the table.

Do people really feel that way about Gormley? He obviously isn't spectacular, but he's fine for a 3rd pairing D-man. Way ahead of Guenin and Redmond in my mind. Most of the time the past month he's been paired with Guenin which would be tough for anyone. I'd like to see Gormley eventually paired with Zadorov or Bigras later this season (or Stuart again if he's healthy).