GDT: Oilers vs Avalanche|02/01/2015|No Honour For Connor Edition[MOD WARNING IN THE OP ]

[Colorado Avalanche]

Good game by Avs. Edmonton didn't look as good as earlier years. They are nothing offensively these days.

 

[Pokecheque]

Yes and no. At various points in tonight's game, I saw a defenseman pinch in while the puck was in the offensive zone, but two forwards retreated in order to prevent an odd-man rush. I noticed this on a few occasions with Hejda pinching and O'Reilly & Tanguay both backing away from the play.

I think it has to do with who is pinching. For example, when Barrie pinches, I don't see the Avs forwards retreating because they know he's going to make a play with the puck once he gets it, and more often than not he does, and he also has enough speed to get back. Meanwhile when Hejda pinches, they know he's either just going to rifle it around the boards to the other corner or just blindly throw it at the net. Which isn't a bad thing, unless you don't have traffic in front of the net which he rarely does on those pinches. They know nothing is going to happen with him, or Holden or Guenin, so they back away fearing an odd-man rush. They also know that the latter three defenseman absolutely can't skate back to cover their mistake if an odd-man rush occurs, so they need to cover for them.

Hmmmm...good post. I think you're absolutely right. There are some d-men on the squad who shouldn't be pinching at all. Of course there are some d-men on the squad who shouldn't be PLAYING at all, but that's neither here nor there.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

So I've been gone for about a week, watched most of the Hawks game and some of the Blues, that's it. What have I missed?

 

[Skip2myBordyloo]

So I've been gone for about a week, watched most of the Hawks game and some of the Blues, that's it. What have I missed?

Well we beat the Flyers and Oilers, but didn't look very good in the process.

 

[tigervixxxen]

So I've been gone for about a week, watched most of the Hawks game and some of the Blues, that's it. What have I missed?

They actually won the next two. Rendulic is here instead of Everberg and scored his first NHL goal. Nobody can score goals other than Guenin and Briere. That's probably the highlights.

 

[henchman21]

That was a pretty poorly played game by both sides. Glad the Avs pulled out a win, but my oh my they don't look good.

Not sure if it was talked about here or not, but Klefbom looked good.

 

[Freudian]

I think people here are overly negative because of the third period. Avs should have been up by 2-3 goals after 40 minutes.

It's bad that the two bad penalties and the PP goal for Oilers seemed to take Avs out of it for 5-10 minutes, but Avs were clearly the better team and deserved to win. It wasn't a great showing, but only allowing a few scoring chances over 60 minutes is a positive.

 

[AslanRH]

I'll repeat what I said earlier, but it still bothers me to no end.

This team plays to the level of it's competition like no team I can remember.

While this has always been great when playing the Hawks or Blues, it is brutal when playing the Oilers or Sabres.

The team needs to exert consistent effort and find the killer instinct. Once they have the ability and experience to flip the switch when needed (see LA Kings) they need to start stomping on teams who play as poorly as the Oilers did last night.

 

[avsfan89]

Duchene's best ever linemate IMO was Fleischmann

 

[bohlmeister]

Duchene's best ever linemate IMO was Fleischmann

Iggy would be better than Flash. Just need to play him there.

 

[bohlmeister]

ROR Dutch Iggy
Sexy Mac Tangs
Rend Malkin Briere

Make it happen Roy.

 

[Avsboy]

ROR Dutch Iggy
Sexy Mac Tangs
Rend Malkin Briere

Make it happen Roy.

You want to play Bordeleau with MacKinnon and Tanguay??

 

[Taak19]

Those brutal calls at the beginning of the 3rd period really zapped what energy the Avs had in the 2nd period.

But who am I kidding, it would have been the same whether or not the refs sucked.

 

[Frenchy]

Duchene's best ever linemate IMO was Fleischmann

agree ,

Mueller pre-concussion had solid chemistry too

 

[The Shermanator]

We be turning this ship around slowly.

 

[Stonewall]

The Avs are tied with Carolina for third fewest regulation wins in the NHL (10)... but Carolina has 4 fewer shootout wins.

Lol if this team somehow backs into the playoffs.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I'll repeat what I said earlier, but it still bothers me to no end.

This team plays to the level of it's competition like no team I can remember.

While this has always been great when playing the Hawks or Blues, it is brutal when playing the Oilers or Sabres.

The team needs to exert consistent effort and find the killer instinct. Once they have the ability and experience to flip the switch when needed (see LA Kings) they need to start stomping on teams who play as poorly as the Oilers did last night.

They played great against the Sabres, they always do.

We are just trying to win games right now, they aren't even at a point of looking for a killer instinct. They have no confidence to score goals, that's what they are focusing on right now.

 

[avsfan89]

agree ,

Mueller pre-concussion had solid chemistry too

wasn't Mueller a C during his time here?

I can't remember that far back if they were linemates.

Ugh, I do remember Mueller tearing it up with 20 pts in 15 games before Blake hit him.

What could have been.

 

[falconski]

wasn't Mueller a C during his time here?

I can't remember that far back if they were linemates.

Ugh, I do remember Mueller tearing it up with 20 pts in 15 games before Blake hit him.

What could have been.

no, that line was meuller-duchene-hejduk

 

[Freudian]

Duchene only played with Mueller and Fleischmann for a short period of time. It's more likely it was just a hot streak more than chemistry.

Last season with O'Reilly was probably the one case where Duchene clicked with someone for an extended period of time.


From last night, Varlamov multitasking.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I think Duchene had legitimate chemistry with PAP.

 

[Foppa2118]

I thought Duchene and Landy showed more chemistry tonight than they have in their past tries together.

Definitely. I think they've slowly developed some chemistry this year. More and more each game. Before this year, they had absolutely no chemistry, but they made some plays last night with each other that shows they know each others tendencies. Landy with little drop passes that he wouldn't normally make, and Dutchy with passes to Landy in front of him so he can drive the net with it, instead of trying to force the fancy pass.

They should stick with the lines from last night. The Mack line was garbage, but the other two gelled with each other more than I've seen the top 6 most of the year. O'Reilly looks like a real good fit between Tangs and Iggy too. Good balance of simple 3rd man high play so Tangs and Iggy can read off each other and do most of the work, while ROR is in good position to help out if need be.

 

[Bender]

After dumping on Holden for the entire first half, I have to give him credit...he's played 2 strong games in a row. I don't think Redmond should be sitting at his expense but at least he's playing well enough right now.

I also thought Duchene looked better last night than he has in the past 3-4 weeks but still not as good as he can be for sure.

 

[cgf]

While still not playing as well as we need to be; we have picked up 6 wins, 2 OT losses, and 2 regulation losses in our last ten. With Varly and Stuart returning to the lineup to secure us on the back end, up front we've had ROR and Landy start playing more like themselves again. Duchene's still forcing things, but he isn't as helpless, and MacK on that Mitchell line is in a fine place to re-discover his mojo as long as talbs gets bumped down to the 4th line asap.

So all in all I'm relatively satisfied with how they've ended the year. Last year was them showing us what they're capable of when on a roll, this year is about learning to get results when they're not clicking on all cyclinders, and building that kind of momentum when things are going against us.

 

[cgf]

After dumping on Holden for the entire first half, I have to give him credit...he's played 2 strong games in a row. I don't think Redmond should be sitting at his expense but at least he's playing well enough right now.

I also thought Duchene looked better last night than he has in the past 3-4 weeks but still not as good as he can be for sure.

Didn't catch the philly game, but last night he looked like the holden we tolerated by Barrie's side on a very sheltered offensive-pairing. If he keeps it up, I'd bench Guenin to put Redmond back into the lineup.

And agreed on dutchy, if briere weren't looking off that line would've been rather good, unfortunately the old timer looks like he could use some time off to recharge his batteries again as they looked genuinely good once Rendulic got bumped up to their line.