GDT: leaves @ COLORADO AVALANCHE - 2/24/24 - 5PM MT

[The Kingslayer]

I'm all for healthy scratching Mikko a game or three..

As much as I been hating him the last 2 seasons I still wouldnt do that. Maybe hes trying to reserve energy for the playoffs. Thats a thing. Maybe hes hiding an injury. Maybe hes very tired from all the minutes Jared made him play for much of the season. Maybe he wanted to beat the spread. I dont know but it doesnt look like his head is in the right place right now. Its actually quite impressive to be a left handed shot and be that close to the boards and chuck it out the left side like that.

 

[chet1926]

Just for shits and giggles I looked at the scores around the league today and no surprise every team that won today gave up 3 or less goals except one team.

I guarantee those teams didn't play significantly better in front of their goalie than we do most nights, their goalies just make saves. I would imagine that every single goalie that won today made at least 4 or 5 really good saves on defensive breakdowns that helped their team win. It's just part of the game. And it's a part we simply aren't getting most nights from George.

 

[Nihiliste]

I’m so grateful we saw this team win the cup when we did. With the holes we have on this team and the boat anchors of Ryjo/Georgiev it’s obviously not going to happen again with peak Mack.

 

[Bender]

LOL so mainstream media are now blowing their collective loads all over the leafs because they've won 7 in a row and completely fail to acknowledge how frikkin' lucky they were to be in that game let alone win it.

The Colton penalty was needless and stupid. He let them back in the game for absolutely no reason and the Rantanen penalty was even worse when he had a ton of space and just needed to move his ass and skate 5 feet to get the blueline.

ALSO - it's extremely funny to see those who actually WATCH THE GAMES and those that don't - look at the boxscore and then come here to complain and jump-on whoever ELSE DIDN'T WATCH the game but made up assumptions based on the boxscore and then start to pile-on.

I don't know what to tell you if you think Georgiev was in any way responsible for that loss but he was not.

1st Tor goal - PP goal - Toews decided to try and block the pass in front instead of taking his man - bad defensive coverage.
2nd Tor goal - Byram fails to get the puck deep and then consequently gives-up a 3-on-1. He makes the first save but Byram's momentum runs into him causing a loose puck and rebound. Can hardly be blamed for that.
3rd Tor goal - Mikko tries to check a guy but falls down (of course, he's always on his ass) which opens up a lane for Marner to stickhandle the puck at the top of the blueline. At that point, the rest of the 4 Avs seem to be standing around but well out of position. Makar is near the frikkin' blueline chasing Marner which somehow leaves O'Connor NOT covering the guy in front Matthew Knies the no-call-on-interference Guy - was about 5-6 feet away from even coming close to covering that guy which leaves a shot coming from the point with a player right in George's face. You can say that was a soft goal and he should of had it but for me personally -> if you're going to play horrible defensive hockey like that and you're only hope is that goalie bails you out, then you're doing it wrong.
4th Tor goal - Easily the worst goal of the game. Mikko's idiotic, lazy-ass penalty notwithstading - Josh Manson sees his defensive partner Sammy G go after the puck carrier in the corner and decides to leave an open man in front of the net completely uncovered. In the end, it's still a PP goal but the defensive coverage on that one was abysmal.

Georgiev has had some bad games this year but that one wasn't one of them but sure, go one with your story that he's the one to blame and keep showing that you don't watch the games but come here to complain anyways.

 

[S E P H]

I saw the highlights and I am not sure where all these positive comments are coming from for Girard (aka Bednar). He was lost on Leafs GWG (IIRC) and he was absolutely shambolic against the Panthers and Lightning.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

LOL so mainstream media are now blowing their collective loads all over the leafs because they've won 7 in a row and completely fail to acknowledge how frikkin' lucky they were to be in that game let alone win it.

The Colton penalty was needless and stupid. He let them back in the game for absolutely no reason and the Rantanen penalty was even worse when he had a ton of space and just needed to move his ass and skate 5 feet to get the blueline.

ALSO - it's extremely funny to see those who actually WATCH THE GAMES and those that don't - look at the boxscore and then come here to complain and jump-on whoever ELSE DIDN'T WATCH the game but made up assumptions based on the boxscore and then start to pile-on.

I don't know what to tell you if you think Georgiev was in any way responsible for that loss but he was not.

1st Tor goal - PP goal - Toews decided to try and block the pass in front instead of taking his man - bad defensive coverage.
2nd Tor goal - Byram fails to get the puck deep and then consequently gives-up a 3-on-1. He makes the first save but Byram's momentum runs into him causing a loose puck and rebound. Can hardly be blamed for that.
3rd Tor goal - Mikko tries to check a guy but falls down (of course, he's always on his ass) which opens up a lane for Marner to stickhandle the puck at the top of the blueline. At that point, the rest of the 4 Avs seem to be standing around but well out of position. Makar is near the frikkin' blueline chasing Marner which somehow leaves O'Connor NOT covering the guy in front Matthew Knies the no-call-on-interference Guy - was about 5-6 feet away from even coming close to covering that guy which leaves a shot coming from the point with a player right in George's face. You can say that was a soft goal and he should of had it but for me personally -> if you're going to play horrible defensive hockey like that and you're only hope is that goalie bails you out, then you're doing it wrong.
4th Tor goal - Easily the worst goal of the game. Mikko's idiotic, lazy-ass penalty notwithstading - Josh Manson sees his defensive partner Sammy G go after the puck carrier in the corner and decides to leave an open man in front of the net completely uncovered. In the end, it's still a PP goal but the defensive coverage on that one was abysmal.

Georgiev has had some bad games this year but that one wasn't one of them but sure, go one with your story that he's the one to blame and keep showing that you don't watch the games but come here to complain anyways.

I'm not sure if this was also directed at me but the only thing I blame George for is the Marner goal. It was just a wrist dhot from the blue line with no screen Knies was there all alone but he was not screening him. He was just trying to tip the puck. That should have been an easy save. IMO two very bad penalties (Colton and especially Mikko) were mostly to blame for this lost but that very soft goal from George didn't help either as it tied the game. However as I said before the Avs responded extremely well with a great 3rd period.

 

[S E P H]

I’m so grateful we saw this team win the cup when we did. With the holes we have on this team and the boat anchors of Ryjo/Georgiev it’s obviously not going to happen again with peak Mack.

I fully believe that Georgiev can get back to last season's form, the problem is that it might take an entire offseason of mental relaxation to do it. He's already dead concerning mentality this year and it sucks that psychology is such a huge part of the position.

I'm not sure if this was also directed at me but the only thing I blame George for is the Marner goal. It was just a wrist dhot from the blue line with no screen Knies was there all alone but he was not screening him. He was just trying to tip the puck. That should have been an easy save. IMO two very bad penalties (Colton and especially Mikko) were mostly to blame for this lost but that very soft goal from George didn't help either as it tied the game. However as I said before the Avs responded extremely well with a great 3rd period.

One of the goals for sure was weak and when you're in a close game against a strong time, that can be a difference maker between a win or loss. It's not like Lundqvist was on the other end, it was Samsonov.

 

[henchman21]

I mean the Avs haven't won 7 in a row since their Cup season... luck or not, that is a good streak.

The reason Toronto is likely why the Avs won't win this year. They are a dumb hockey team that doesn't have the depth or goaltending to overcome some simple mistakes.

 

[Bender]

I'm not sure if this was also directed at me but the only thing I blame George for is the Marner goal. It was just a wrist dhot from the blue line with no screen Knies was there all alone but he was not screening him. He was just trying to tip the puck. That should have been an easy save. IMO two very bad penalties (Colton and especially Mikko) were mostly to blame for this lost but that very soft goal from George didn't help either as it tied the game. However as I said before the Avs responded extremely well with a great 3rd period.

It was not directed at you or anyone in particular.

Even on the marner goal, Mikko does a frikkin' swan-dive (but at least he takes a guy out) - the rest of the guys are standing around -> then makar starts chasing the puck-carrier near the blue line and Miles Wood does his best Nate Guenin pointing impression because he doesn't seem to know who his guy is.

Maybe there's something to be said for 'hey, why the f*** do we have THREE WINGERS on the ice?' but either way you slice it, that's just poor team play. If everyone was where they needed to be and George lets in a soft goal, ok fine then I'll call him on it for sure. Georgiev isn't the reason we've had a shitty record lately... he hasn't helped but it's not like the team is awesome and he's terrible. The entire team hasn't been on point and paying attention to detail.

There's a lot of weird stuff going on with the team this year and a lot of it is on coaching. I mean, what the hell is the deal with the weird man-on-man defensive system that they seem to adopt every now and then that seems to lead to confusion AND then that leaves the lane towards the net wide-open especially if there's even the slightest pick play that isn't called by the officials???

What about having Drouin in the bumper position on the PP? I like Drouin and I think he's done really well this season but if you're going to use him as the bumper on the PP - shouldn't he be at least the slightest bit of a threat to shoot ??? I've seen him be in PRIMO position to just let it rip but I know he's not a shooter and is going to overpass and so does the rest of the league.

 

[John Mandalorian]

LOL so mainstream media are now blowing their collective loads all over the leafs because they've won 7 in a row and completely fail to acknowledge how frikkin' lucky they were to be in that game let alone win it.

The Colton penalty was needless and stupid. He let them back in the game for absolutely no reason and the Rantanen penalty was even worse when he had a ton of space and just needed to move his ass and skate 5 feet to get the blueline.

ALSO - it's extremely funny to see those who actually WATCH THE GAMES and those that don't - look at the boxscore and then come here to complain and jump-on whoever ELSE DIDN'T WATCH the game but made up assumptions based on the boxscore and then start to pile-on.

I don't know what to tell you if you think Georgiev was in any way responsible for that loss but he was not.

1st Tor goal - PP goal - Toews decided to try and block the pass in front instead of taking his man - bad defensive coverage.
2nd Tor goal - Byram fails to get the puck deep and then consequently gives-up a 3-on-1. He makes the first save but Byram's momentum runs into him causing a loose puck and rebound. Can hardly be blamed for that.
3rd Tor goal - Mikko tries to check a guy but falls down (of course, he's always on his ass) which opens up a lane for Marner to stickhandle the puck at the top of the blueline. At that point, the rest of the 4 Avs seem to be standing around but well out of position. Makar is near the frikkin' blueline chasing Marner which somehow leaves O'Connor NOT covering the guy in front Matthew Knies the no-call-on-interference Guy - was about 5-6 feet away from even coming close to covering that guy which leaves a shot coming from the point with a player right in George's face. You can say that was a soft goal and he should of had it but for me personally -> if you're going to play horrible defensive hockey like that and you're only hope is that goalie bails you out, then you're doing it wrong.
4th Tor goal - Easily the worst goal of the game. Mikko's idiotic, lazy-ass penalty notwithstading - Josh Manson sees his defensive partner Sammy G go after the puck carrier in the corner and decides to leave an open man in front of the net completely uncovered. In the end, it's still a PP goal but the defensive coverage on that one was abysmal.

Georgiev has had some bad games this year but that one wasn't one of them but sure, go one with your story that he's the one to blame and keep showing that you don't watch the games but come here to complain anyways.

Toronto media then?

 

[Bender]

Toronto media then?

Yeah they say they cover all the teams but do they? Do they really?

 

[AllAboutAvs]

It was not directed at you or anyone in particular.

Even on the marner goal, Mikko does a frikkin' swan-dive (but at least he takes a guy out) - the rest of the guys are standing around -> then makar starts chasing the puck-carrier near the blue line and Miles Wood does his best Nate Guenin pointing impression because he doesn't seem to know who his guy is.

Maybe there's something to be said for 'hey, why the f*** do we have THREE WINGERS on the ice?' but either way you slice it, that's just poor team play. If everyone was where they needed to be and George lets in a soft goal, ok fine then I'll call him on it for sure. Georgiev isn't the reason we've had a shitty record lately... he hasn't helped but it's not like the team is awesome and he's terrible. The entire team hasn't been on point and paying attention to detail.

There's a lot of weird stuff going on with the team this year and a lot of it is on coaching. I mean, what the hell is the deal with the weird man-on-man defensive system that they seem to adopt every now and then that seems to lead to confusion AND then that leaves the lane towards the net wide-open especially if there's even the slightest pick play that isn't called by the officials???

What about having Drouin in the bumper position on the PP? I like Drouin and I think he's done really well this season but if you're going to use him as the bumper on the PP - shouldn't he be at least the slightest bit of a threat to shoot ??? I've seen him be in PRIMO position to just let it rip but I know he's not a shooter and is going to overpass and so does the rest of the league.

I agree that a lot was wrong on that Marner goal but it is a given that a few times per game your skaters will screw up. What you want from your goalie in those instances is to make the save they should make. That is one that was really easy to save and he didn't. That's why I blame him on this one.

 

[Pokecheque]

Did not like Bednar's defensive rotations last game and frankly I haven't liked them recently at all. Any time Byram gets paired with one of the top pairing guys, really bad things happen. I don't know why they don't complement each other well, but that second Bertuzzi goal was just a shitshow by Byram and Makar. BOTH of them flopped, Byram even running into Georgiev, which likely played a part in the goal being scored in the first place. Any time either 4 and 8 are on the ice or 4 and 7, neither guy looks at all comfortable with the other one. And contrary to popular belief, I'm not throwing Byram under the bus here--I just don't like how he pairs with those two, especially given how ineffective Makar has been due to injury.

I assume Bednar wants Byram to get extra time and doesn't want to also increase JJ's minutes, but it's creating some real issues defensively and he really should stop it. Pair him with one of G or Manson if you must.