GDT: R2G3: Panic Buttons vs. Dallas Stars - 8/26/20, 8:30pm MDT

[Freudian]

At first when I saw Makar patting Francouz after the fourth goal, I thought he was comforting him. Now I realize he was just trying to smear some awesomeness on Francouz.

 

[Foppa2118]

Just noticed this play where Landy might have saved us from losing another defenseman.

Lindell charging up ice and loses the puck which goes to Graves who's laying face down trying to get up. Lindell might have tried to play this puck and could have accidentally kneed Graves in the head, but Landy sees it and intentionally angles him away.

You can see Graves put his hand up to shield his face. Life probably flashed before his eyes.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Hard to gauge Frankie honestly.


Yeah he's given up 4 goals in each of his 2 starts now.... But especially in his first start only 1 goal was his fault(Mind you it was really bad), tonight.... None of them were nearly as bad as that one he allowed to Lindell in Game 2, but I think he probably wants the Gurianov one back especially. Not much he could do on the Benn tip goal, Seguin goal in the first was a result of a few things, one of which was Frankie overplaying the original shot but I think Mack losing that race against Seguin to the slot was the real killer.


Overall... I would say he definitely needs to be better if we want to win this series, but I also dont think he has been downright awful so far either. Of the 8 goals he's given up I think he's directly responsible for probably 3 or 4 of them and ideally you want that number to be like 1-2 at this point.


He has also made some key saves as well. A couple more big saves and stopping some of those hard to stop shots and he'll be alright.



Fortunately, it looks like just like in the Arizona series, we're starting to figure out how to beat Khudobin like we did Kuemper.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Francouz lacks experience. Looks scared. Not comfortable.

 

[klozge]

Reading through the main board thread it looks like there’s a fair few Canucks fans rooting for Colorado to lose this series.

If I was Nucks fan I neither wanted to see Hughes vs Makar in a playoff series. It must already be pretty difficult for them to still pretend Hughes is as good as or even better than Makar.

 

[Nihiliste]

Benn takes the hard, over the edge style of the DPE playoffs and combines it with the worst of the modern NHL - embellishing in embarrassing ways and lack of respect for his opponents. Not a good look for the guy tbh. Eventually in a career that kind of play always catches up to you

Anyways I don’t think you put Timmins into this series as his first NHL exposure unless you want to see his concussion problems return

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Francouz lacks experience. Looks scared. Not comfortable.

I kind of agree. Seems like when the pressure cooker turns up, as soon as he let's one in he really loses that confidence and struggles to get it back.


Need him better the later games get, not worse.

 

[Avs71]

Zadorov last night looked like someone told him he was the biggest person in the game again. He was boxing out every Star player, moving his feet for some hits, and actually getting involved after the whistle. Hopefully his shoulder, or whatever it is, is going to be frozen enough he can continue to do that.

The Stars looked very uncomfortable in the 2nd. Like a bully that had just been punched in the face. Bednar must have made a point to stop letting Dallas get in Francouz face, because even guys like Girard we’re starting shit after the whistle.

Also, have we give Bednar enough love for taking a time out after falling behind late in the 3rd, and the team scoring two goals almost immediately?

 

[nightonthesun]

I know I feel uncomfortable with Francouz in net, but I'm not sure if I'm projecting that onto the players. He won a good number of games for them. The whole team was a little rattled until, hopefully, getting this one, so I don't know if it's worth scrutinizing either of his starts too heavily. Game 4 will largely shape how we judge him for the series.

 

[Alex Jones]

Benn takes the hard, over the edge style of the DPE playoffs and combines it with the worst of the modern NHL - embellishing in embarrassing ways and lack of respect for his opponents. Not a good look for the guy tbh. Eventually in a career that kind of play always catches up to you

Anyways I don’t think you put Timmins into this series as his first NHL exposure unless you want to see his concussion problems return

Timmins is going to have to be able to play these types of games at the NHL level, I have no issue throwing him in.

 

[henchman21]

I guess it’s the Avs way to blame the goaltender (or refs), but I can’t believe how much slack Frankie is getting.

He has absolutely been far from perfect. And he’s definitely been disappointing compared to his regular season play, but I don’t think he has been terrible.

When you spend months suggesting he’s better than Grubs, it is hard to shut that off.

 

[Tike Myson]

For his size Frankie should be making up with puck tracking and situational awareness but he looked just bad all across the board this game, made some key saves not gonna take those away from him but if he lets in 1 gotta save that goal to every 10 of those...

 

[Nihiliste]

Timmins is going to have to be able to play these types of games at the NHL level, I have no issue throwing him in.

I just don’t think they’re the best first games for a rookie

 

[shadow1]

I thought the Avs were toast after the fourth Dallas goal, but I was completely wrong and momentum may have shifted in the series.

As far as unsung heroes go, I thought Burakovsky and Nichushkin both had huge games, and also Girard and Cole who I felt like played the entire third period.

Francouz was uneven. He was a rock for most of the game, and had no chance on the fourth goal (Benn deflection). But I thought he was slow getting over on the second goal (Gurianov), and that's the one which opened the flood gates. Hopefully winning this game will shake off some of the jitters.

I wished in the past and still wish the Avs wouldn't have gotten rid of Blake Comeau. A lot of people on this board hated him but he was also solid for the Avs, and IMO has been one of the Stars best forwards in this series.

 

[Tike Myson]

Benn Just looks like such a classless asshole on and off the ice

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Everyone was good aside from Girard, Francouz, Cole and Graves.

Compher sucked balls early but he was phenomenal in the 3rd. Probably as good as I’ve ever seen him on the PK too.

Girard really disappointment me and has for the entire series. I love him. He’s so talented. So well positioned defensively and a good stick but his size is really showing. Unfortunately this is the third year in a row where he’s showing his body is really struggling to play against men in playoff hockey. Having EJ handle that physical load really shelters that flaw of Girard and he’s being exposed right now. There were times when he tried to defend Jamie Benn last night and it looked like a dad playing hockey with his 7 year old daughter.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Also ya’ll know I’m not humble enough to stay quiet about the Nuke/Naz/Burkie line. Thank you Bednar for finally playing them together.

7:48 together 5v5
6 shots
2 goals. One of which was the game winner all created off a monster cycle.

Now they did give up 6 shots and scoring chances but they also only started 3 shifts in the offensive zone. They were used in a heavy defensive role and I loved what I saw just like I have every time they’ve played together.

 

[ASmileyFace]

Everyone was good aside from Girard, Francouz, Cole and Graves.

Compher sucked balls early but he was phenomenal in the 3rd. Probably as good as I’ve ever seen him on the PK too.

Girard really disappointment me and has for the entire series. I love him. He’s so talented. So well positioned defensively and a good stick but his size is really showing. Unfortunately this is the third year in a row where he’s showing his body is really struggling to play against men in playoff hockey. Having EJ handle that physical load really shelters that flaw of Girard and he’s being exposed right now. There were times when he tried to defend Jamie Benn last night and it looked like a dad playing hockey with his 7 year old daughter.

G is such a good player but this style of hockey does not do him any favors. He gets tossed around like a plaything by these big guys. Losing both Z and EJ really hurt his game hard. He now has to take a hit every single time he retrieves the puck. It’s clearly breaking down his body and confidence. It doesn’t help that now he is having to play 23-25 minutes a night of that style either. He looked ragged by the final 10 minutes of the game, playing scared and hurt.

I wish we had more time in between games right now instead of a B2B coming up. By the end of game 6 (if we get there) these guys are going to be in rough shape.

 

[The Shermanator]

Yeah we really have to get into that b2b 2-2 because there's no way we're winning both.

With our injuries and the Stars beating us up and the pure amount of minutes our top guys are forced to play it does not bode well.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Every other team is going through it right now as well though. This is a truly grind heavy playoffs because of the condensed schedule. Normally it's at least one day between every game and often times 2 days when travel starts happening in the later rounds. But every team was also healthy to start this post season with a 5 month break so now is where an organizations depth will start to shine through. For the Avs as much as watching Connauton play is a pain, not many teams have a #7/8 D combo with 300 games of NHL experience each and playoff games under the belt. Same thing at forward, to be able to have a player as solid as Jost starting things off as the 13th forward is a real nice luxury.


I know I'm one of the people here who hates when Quinn Hughes is brought up so frequently... But I think he and Girard are a pretty fair comparable here in that both guys are really showing some struggles with the playoff forechecking and grind of the games going on right now. Its unfortunate for both guys that there's not really a tonne that they can do either. They re the size they are and they'll continue battling no question, and do some good things with the stick work and skating ability they both have, but some areas of the game will continue to be a struggle and only get harder for them as the intensity continues to ramp up.

 

[Alex Jones]

I complained a lot about the effort in the first two games, this was big boy hockey. Gotta get more efforts like this.

 

[Islay1989]

I think the B2B actually favors us. Stars are filled with guys who are past their best-by date and we should have fresher legs, so I don't think that should be a negative factor for us despite the injuries.

 

[chet1926]

Every other team is going through it right now as well though. This is a truly grind heavy playoffs because of the condensed schedule. Normally it's at least one day between every game and often times 2 days when travel starts happening in the later rounds. But every team was also healthy to start this post season with a 5 month break so now is where an organizations depth will start to shine through. For the Avs as much as watching Connauton play is a pain, not many teams have a #7/8 D combo with 300 games of NHL experience each and playoff games under the belt. Same thing at forward, to be able to have a player as solid as Jost starting things off as the 13th forward is a real nice luxury.


I know I'm one of the people here who hates when Quinn Hughes is brought up so frequently... But I think he and Girard are a pretty fair comparable here in that both guys are really showing some struggles with the playoff forechecking and grind of the games going on right now. Its unfortunate for both guys that there's not really a tonne that they can do either. They re the size they are and they'll continue battling no question, and do some good things with the stick work and skating ability they both have, but some areas of the game will continue to be a struggle and only get harder for them as the intensity continues to ramp up.

I saw Quinn play a little throughout the year and now have watched most of his playoff games, and I keep coming away with the same conclusion. Great offensive player, little to no defense. Hates any kind of contact, relies mainly on his positioning and stick work which isn't bad but it's getting him exposed in the playoffs especially when he has to match up with any kind of hard forecheck. O'Reilly made him look bad on multiple occasions last series. Flys the zone way too quickly, he is always thinking offense first. This puts his forwards in the awkward position of having to help the other dman get the puck out.

He is basically the new generation, offensive dman. It's offense, more offense and more offense mixed in with occasional defensive play.

I'm not here to compare him to Makar, but it's pretty easy to see that Makar has a much more rounded game. Very glad we have him.

 

[The Shermanator]

Either way, I'm cautiously optimistic. I think the winner of game 4 probably wins the series. And I think we might somehow have a statement game in Game 4.

 

[chet1926]

I complained a lot about the effort in the first two games, this was big boy hockey. Gotta get more efforts like this.

Me too. The effort was 10 times better. Just keep playing at level of intensity and we'll be fine. Might not get us the series win, but at least make them earn it.