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

[RockLobster]

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.

 

[mapletreemarty]

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.

Probably, however if this team continues to skate how we know they can skate, Vegas will be taking some obvious calls that the refs will not be able to ignore. Sure they'll miss some calls, but as long as we put the work in we will still get more PPs then Vegas.

The Rantanen partial trip was a good non-call, that was mostly solid D and Rants could have done a better job to shield the defender... it all doesn't matter now. Even on the Toews trip call with 3 mins left, that was solid D... Toews gets a piece of the puck and holds his position... Pietrangelo trips over him. The defensive player has a right to his space and lane, he's not just going to roll out the red carpet and let you pass.

That full capacity crowd in the "Fortress" will be something to witness though... it's been 16 months, and even though it's not in our house it will be a fun atmosphere especially when they start chanting "ref you suck".

 

[henchman21]

Ugly win, but you need ugly wins to win a Cup.

 

[SirLoinOfCloth]

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.

I don't know if I can attribute those missed calls to deboers whining and crying. In my mind the reason those didn't get called is because the Knights were so ill-disciplined early on that the refs almost had to swallow whistles to prevent them getting 8+ penalties in one game

I think the OT call was harsh, but also probably "ok we've given you the benefit of the doubt for the last couple of periods but you can't keep pulling shit in OT"

I honestly doubt debitch has any influence over these refs. We had 4 powerplays in the first period. If anything the calls against Vegas increased

But Vegas have to stop whining because they are doing this to themselves. Sure, the refs won't call everything but when you're doing enough shit a bunch of them will get called. And they were doing enough shit all night to warrant every PP we got.

 

[Cake Malar]

The thing about that slashing penalty... If you're Vegas you're putting the ref in a tough spot NOT to call that. It's clear as day in the middle of the ice and it was clearly going to lead to a scoring chance. That's a penalty 9/10 in the regular season so I have no problem with it. I actually want the refs to call penalties in OT so it doesn't become a clutch and grab fest.

Anyway, DeBoer should be talking about how his team couldn't execute on a power play with 3 minutes left in the game, not a call in OT.

 

[chet1926]

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.

I wouldn't necessarily call the OT penalty soft, Smith knew what he was doing. He didn't "slash" per say, but he very clearly played the stick and swept/knocked it away from him.

Probably thought he'd get away with that, seeing as how they got away with a cross check to the mouth leaving Landy all bloody, and create an easy chance for Vegas.

Purposely knocking another players stick away is a penalty. It's called almost 100% of the time during the regular season.

Smith and DeBoer can bitch all they want about it but maybe don't take a dumb chance that early in OT. Don't give the refs a reason to blow the whistle. Or maybe capitalize on your gift PP with 3 mins in regulation and you wouldn't have to worry about this.

 

[Islay1989]

 

[Cake Malar]

I also think the refs may have been calling this game tighter because of all of the shenanigans in the last game. If that's the case then Vegas has nobody to blame but themselves.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

The only reason we're debating that penalty is because refs don't NORMALLY call stuff in OT which is the problem. It's definetely a penalty on its own, like are people complaining if it gets called in the 2nd period? I'd argue the slashing penalty on Toews was at the end of the 3rd was less of a penalty than this one. Toews' slashing penalty hit the guy's stick and those don't get called more often unless the stick breaks which it didn't as compared to knocking a stick out of a guy's hand.

Also Vegas does a tonne of shit on faceoffs and try to get away with it, glad they got caught.

I'm not troubled at all by the penalty, I'm troubled by our team's inability to adjust when any team decides to cycle and get dmen involved as cinchronicity said whether it be DAL/STL/VGK. Like how hard is it to tell wingers to stop collapsing down so low on cycles and to get to the dmen a bit? They know how to do it on the PK but go braindead at ES.

 

[5280]

The refs missed two blatant calls in the third, anyway.

 

[Azrael89]

The refs missed two blatant calls in the third, anyway.

The Avs should have had a double minor power play that likely would have ended the game in the third.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Maybe seeing how the 4th line fwds are getting so few minutes anyways, the solution is to bring Byram in as a 7th D and sit Ranta. I have to imagine this allows PEB to get more minutes as well if Bukarovsky or Jost or someone can double-shift with him once in a while and let's us see how Byram handles being thrown into the fire before bringing Timmins out of the lineup.

I'd prefer to keep Newhook in as he's the guy to move up if another winger gets injured. He looks fine outside of getting out-muscled. The problem is we don't even know if Byram is healthy, if LOC is healthy, etc. The team's a mystery.

 

[Gatorbait19]

I love Jost.

That’s future Conn Smythe winner, Tyson Jost.

 

[Avs425]

Will be interesting to see what the refs do for game three, will they bend at the knee for DeBitch or will they say f you and call lots on Vegas.

 

[Gatorbait19]

Too bad. So sad. Pity.

Eddie O made it a point to say he’s gonna be in Vegas for the next game about 4 times. Somebody please teach this man how to use Bovada or else it’s gonna be a long offseason for him...

 

[5280]

Hats off to Grubs, he made some huge saves last night and was dialed in all night.

 

[Azrael89]

Anybody else notice how much air Eddy O and Boucher wasted talking about Vegas being rested. It got a little bizarre after two periods covering that topic.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Anybody else notice how much air Eddy O and Boucher wasted talking about Vegas being rested. It got a little bizarre after two periods covering that topic.

They definitely have their own agenda or something. Weird.

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

Refs are human. And humans don't like getting called out when someone biased like DeBoer thinks they did a bad job.

The days are long gone from when coaches wouldn't comment on calls. Back then if a coach complained it was a big deal and probably unconsciously influenced calls the rest of the way. But when you have this guy whining about the Reaves penalties last game and the Graves 0.1th of a second late clean hit the refs know that DeBoer is just being a dunce.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

I still believe this is the toughest matchup the Avs can face in the playoffs. Vegas is a phenomenal team built in every way for playoff hockey. They’re a massive and fast team that checks the tightest of any team in the league.

Thank god the Avs have the star power to finish plays off in tight games, because there will probably be a couple more games like this in the series.

Grubauer played one of the best games of his career last night and proved worthy of his Vezina nomination.

The defence needs to play a lot better moving forward. I didn’t really like anyone’s defensive game, sans Makar and Toews. Though I can’t fault Girard considering he set up two goals and he had to play a lot with Graves who well... wow.

Too many turnovers. A lot of them from Graves and Landeskog. I’m not worried about Landeskog though, it was just one game and he’s been excellent in the playoffs. Graves has me a bit more concerned because he’s capable of poor play for long stretches.

One bright spot... despite giving up way more chances the Avs actually won the high-danger chance battle 9-8 at 5v5.

 

[Jazzguitar]

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.

I just wanted to add to that the MacKinnon trip in the first I believe? I forget who exactly but they came in and tripped him from behind with their leg and he fell pretty awkwardly. Honestly hoping he's okay from that, he looked slower from then on but so did the rest of our team.

 

[Ararana]

I still believe this is the toughest matchup the Avs can face in the playoffs. Vegas is a phenomenal team built in every way for playoff hockey. They’re a massive and fast team that checks the tightest of any team in the league.

Thank god the Avs have the star power to finish plays off in tight games, because there will probably be a couple more games like this in the series.

Grubauer played one of the best games of his career last night and proved worthy of his Vezina nomination.

The defence needs to play a lot better moving forward. I didn’t really like anyone’s defensive game, sans Makar and Toews. Though I can’t fault Girard considering he set up two goals and he had to play a lot with Graves who well... wow.

Too many turnovers. A lot of them from Graves and Landeskog. I’m not worried about Landeskog though, it was just one game and he’s been excellent in the playoffs. Graves has me a bit more concerned because he’s capable of poor play for long stretches.

One bright spot... despite giving up way more chances the Avs actually won the high-danger chance battle 9-8 at 5v5.

Tampa Bay for me. They're the most complete team in the league right there with Avs. Vegas is deep and they have a solid defense and great goaltending, but they don't have a single game breaking forward and their centers suck.

I'm praying someone takes out Tampa before the finals.

 

[henchman21]

I don't see Vegas as the toughest test simply because they suck down the middle more than anything. Avs are shorthanded at center and can still dominate since Vegas is rolling out a 2 and a couple 3s at center. Facing teams with actual center depth will be more of an issue... which is basically every other team left in the playoffs. On top of that, Vegas' achilles heel keeps popping up... no gamebreakers. Nobody to score that needed goal to win a tight game.

IMO Montreal and Winnipeg are worse teams than Vegas, but could present more issues than Vegas does just simply on roster makeup. The Avs should be able to dispatch any of the 3 in 6 or less games though. Tampa, NYI, Carolina, and Boston will all be more difficult than this and the next round for the Avs. Thankfully that happens in the Cup final.

 

[chet1926]

Will be interesting to see what the refs do for game three, will they bend at the knee for DeBitch or will they say f you and call lots on Vegas.

I would guess that crying about officiating will not get you calls in the next one.

The refs don't like being embarrassed or shown up by coaches/players.

I don't expect the reffing to change from the previous two contests. They are going to make some, let some go, miss some. Avs just got play smart and not fall for any of Vegas's shenanigans and they'll be fine.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Tampa Bay for me. They're the most complete team in the league right there with Avs. Vegas is deep and they have a solid defense and great goaltending, but they don't have a single game breaking forward and their centers suck.

I'm praying someone takes out Tampa before the finals.

Tampa is better than Vegas talent wise for sure, but they aren’t as good with their team defence and they don’t forecheck like Vegas.