GDT: R2G2 - Knights @ Avs - Night Night, Knights - 8PM

[Richard88]

I wouldn't mind. Ranta has had his taste of the playoffs now, and it looks like we mainly use the 4th line for developmental purposes these days. (Which I'm fond of, but it might be time to get serious.)

Bednar said he was able to play Ranta against Vegas at home because he could shelter him and manage matchups. In Vegas that will be much harder to do.

 

[Pokecheque]

Ranta if I'm being honest didn't impress me a ton. Given the circumstances it's totally understandable that he appears hesitant, totally new level and role for him. He wasn't horrible by any means, but I think they'll get more outta Soda. I still really like the fact that they tried him in that spot.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Ranta if I'm being honest didn't impress me a ton. Given the circumstances it's totally understandable that he appears hesitant, totally new level and role for him. He wasn't horrible by any means, but I think they'll get more outta Soda. I still really like the fact that they tried him in that spot.

Ranta looks like a lost puppy in the d zone lol. He hasn't done anything egregious like giving a puck away in his end like Bura did last night but its clear hes in over his head at this point. I like that they gave him a look and hopefully it puts to rest this notion that the Avs hate prospects...it wont but who knows.

 

[McJedi]

Bednar said he was able to play Ranta against Vegas at home because he could shelter him and manage matchups. In Vegas that will be much harder to do.

Bednar was managing match ups last night? Wow. Well, he didn’t do a very good job of that. Was JTCs line that struggled the most. Donskoi in particular had an off game. Dude was hemorrhaging puck possession and losing 50/50 battles. Looked like Jost of 2018.

PEB was the worst 5 vs 5 4th liner. He was blowing tires left and right. Could not stay on his feet. Wasn’t so good on the first PK either. That pass came thru his lane.

 

[henchman21]

Ranta looks like a lost puppy in the d zone lol. He hasn't done anything egregious like giving a puck away in his end like Bura did last night but its clear hes in over his head at this point. I like that they gave him a look and hopefully it puts to rest this notion that the Avs hate prospects...it wont but who knows.

That will always be him to an extent. He's a pure north south guy who has absurd physical traits. If the Avs can find a way to insulate him with linemates to cover up his deficiencies, he's gotta shot long-term.

The whole 4th line has been a nothing burger. Not that it is necessary, but having that line be a bit more of a positive would be helpful. Not sure if Soda, LOC, Sherwood, etc would really change anything, but I'd probably try it.... after going 11/7 to shelter Graves if he has a night like last night again...

 

[Turbonium]

Ranta looks like a lost puppy in the d zone lol. He hasn't done anything egregious like giving a puck away in his end like Bura did last night but its clear hes in over his head at this point. I like that they gave him a look and hopefully it puts to rest this notion that the Avs hate prospects...it wont but who knows.

Yeah, it's hard to remember he's now had about 15 minutes of total ice time in the NHL against possibly the second best team in the league. Great experience for him, I don't think he showed the moment is too big for him, he just needs more time (next season) to find a groove. Getting LOC back would be huge, hoping for good news on him soon.

 

[Foppa2118]

Okay so that OT penalty...

Does anyone have a slow-mo replay of it? My initial thought was that it was soft, but every time I look at it in realtime it's hard not to see it as a call that could go either way. Like Mikko said, it would be dumb for him to intentionally drop his stick in the defensive zone in OT and give Vegas a scoring opportunity.

I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, because I'm happy to be going to Vegas up 2-0, but I also can't help but feel like DeBoer's f***ing whining/crying in the postgame is going to result in some swallowed whistles in G3. We already saw some of that this last game with the Lando cross check to the face and the Burakovsky trip not long after. I'm not calling the Mikko breakaway a trip, I think that was a defensive battle and Rantanen just ended up losing an edge.

The issue is the refs and the NHL started to set a standard for that call where 95% of the time when someone slashes a stick out of another player's hands, it's called a penalty.

We knew that was the standard in the regular season, but I'm not sure we knew if they would continue that standard in the playoffs. It looks like they might.

Personally, I hate that penalty. Especially when a player like Mikko is only holding his stick with one hand. I don't think he dropped it intentionally because like he said that would be stupid in the D zone, but it's still easy to lose his stick there.

That said, I think Bednar made a good point that they would have been in a lot of trouble in that situation if there wasn't a penalty based on where Mikko was on ice and that Vegas had the puck and would have been able to generate a dangerous scoring chance in OT.

It was also a pretty hard slash when you watch it in real time, so even though I don't like that penalty, Smith didn't have to do it that hard. It was a self inflected penalty like hooking the hands. Don't do it and it won't get called.

Either way DeBitch is a bitch for constantly complaining about the officiating, when his team has been getting away with a ton, and the bottom line is they've lost two games. Instead of getting his team focused on how to win game 3, he's helping them focus on excuses for why they lost game 2. Fine by me.

 

[Richard88]

This game reminded me a lot of the Dallas series. There were times - like in Game 7, where our PP got an opportunity late in the game to win it, but just couldn't get it done. Dallas then got an opportunity on the PP for themselves and scored a dagger of a goal. In this game it was Vegas who got a late PP and failed to score, with the Avs cashing in on their own one soon thereafter.

 

[Foppa2118]

Not talked about much in this win is Girard, who's had a bit of an up and down playoffs so far, came up big in this one.

Had two really nice passes for the first two goals, especially the one up the middle to spring Saad for the breakaway.

 

[Avsboy]

Not talked about much in this win is Girard, who's had a bit of an up and down playoffs so far, came up big in this one.

Had two really nice passes for the first two goals, especially the one up the middle to spring Saad for the breakaway.

He also was hit or miss defensively. Had some bad plays at the blue line bite him in the ass.

 

[Foppa2118]

He also was hit or miss defensively. Had some bad plays at the blue line bite him in the ass.

Yeah he's still having a tough time in some moments defensively because his limitations are being exposed a bit, but he's fighting through it. That's all you can ask for.

 

[AvsFan29]

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

Scheif will be out longer than 1 game.

Yup. 4 games. 3 more than I expected.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

IMO Landy played one of , if not the worst, game of his career. He couldn't hit the net, couldn't make a pass, couldn't receive a pass, wasn't skating...heck he couldn't even hold on to his stick properly on that OT penalty (I guess that is a good thing).

 

[Garavar]

Everyone jumps the boards except Girard, who uses the door like the well mannered boy he is.

He isn't tall enough to jump the boards

 

[katfude]

At this point anyone crying about an obvious slash being called for slashing is just adding on to the delicious pile of salt, mined from the tears of the defeated.

 

[Bender]

That will always be him to an extent. He's a pure north south guy who has absurd physical traits. If the Avs can find a way to insulate him with linemates to cover up his deficiencies, he's gotta shot long-term.

The whole 4th line has been a nothing burger. Not that it is necessary, but having that line be a bit more of a positive would be helpful. Not sure if Soda, LOC, Sherwood, etc would really change anything, but I'd probably try it.... after going 11/7 to shelter Graves if he has a night like last night again...

I like the idea that Newhook is still being able to contribute even if only on the 4th line right now. That's the type of player that might play a bigger role down the stretch against different teams, assuming we advance.

IMO Landy played one of , if not the worst, game of his career. He couldn't hit the net, couldn't make a pass, couldn't receive a pass, wasn't skating...heck he couldn't even hold on to his stick properly on that OT penalty (I guess that is a good thing).

Yeah, not sure what the deal was but Landeskog & Bellemare in particular were just brutal last night. MacKinnon seemed to be holding his stick too tight- he was noticeably off as well. I don't know what he was doing at times but seemed to be taking on a defensive role just to make sure we didn't get burned - dude, that's not your game. Just go full-on offense and play like you can and it's going to be fine.

For Landy, it seems like the puck kept bouncing around on him and then he'd handle it like a grenade when he did have control. We've seen him have games like this every now and then and he tends to bounce back quickly.

For Bellemare, when he has the type of game he had last night - he looks completely done as a player. We've seen him bounce back as well but sometimes it takes longer. He doesn't need to be great - just needs to be solid defensively and in the circle.

 

[AvsFan29]

I like the idea that Newhook is still being able to contribute even if only on the 4th line right now.

I liked Newhooks forecheck. I know he’s getting a lot of bad reviews on our board right now, but he does some great work on the forecheck, and has the skills to make plays if the chance arises. He had a rough 2/3rd period, but so did the entire team minus Grubauer.

 

[Tommy Shelby]

I'm gonna bet Soda and Sherwood draw in tonight instead of RantaHook

 

[Tweaky]

NBC worse than CNN.

So almost as bad as FOX?

IMO Landy played one of , if not the worst, game of his career. He couldn't hit the net, couldn't make a pass, couldn't receive a pass, wasn't skating...heck he couldn't even hold on to his stick properly on that OT penalty (I guess that is a good thing).

It was Rantanen's stick that was slashed out of his hands for a penalty.

 

[Avs71]

Also thought the Avs adjustment on the PP last game was enjoyable to watch.

Knights obviously came out with the intention of putting all their focus into into not letting MacKinnon have the puck. That strategy would work if you don’t have Cale Makar and Rantanen as 2/3s of the triangle. The two of them going back and forth until the Knights were too far from MacKinnon was amazing. MacKinnon touches it once and it was literally game over.