GDT: R2G6 - Avs @ Blues - Going to War - 6PM

[littletonhockeycoach]

Second time this playoff season that MacK and most of the top line were on bench when the last second winning goal was scored!

Interesting set of players who were on the ice at the time...... Helm, Landy, EJ, LOC and Bo (?).

I was too stunned and amazed to really consider how much this violated normal conditions to think about it much.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

My thoughts:

1. Huge win. Avs played a really good game on the road, doubling up the Blues in shots and eventually got their reward for being the far better team. It would have been a travesty to lose this game or series against this Blues team considering how much better the Avs are. Clearly the only way the Avs were ever going to hang on to win a round 2 elimination game was if they scored with just a few seconds left.... you just know that if Helm had scored with 1-2 minutes left the Blues would have tied it up again haha

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2. Depth scoring. Compher finally decided to show up, nice timing. The 3rd line had a weak game overall I thought, with 35.71 CF%, but overall in the series they were good and so it's nice to see them get some offense going.

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3. The 4th line were excellent all game, and series. They repeatedly had some very good shifts with extended OZ time at good times in the game. Really nice to see Helm get rewarded with a clutch goal as he's been great, especially the last two games.

4. Kuemper.... The first half of the game was absolutely brutal. Overplayed his position to the left on the Faulk goal, then overplayed the Kyrou 2-on-1.... and then looked like Miska with that ridiculous flopping around on the chance that Manson saved on the line. He also almost let that soft Toropchenko floater get by him but got bailed out by the post. He redeemed himself with some big saves in the 3rd period though, but that game was not a very encouraging game from him.

5. Rantanen.... needs to wake up and stop making weak plays on the puck.

6. Jack Johnson.... flashbacks to Nemeth and Graves, woof. He got benched right after that terrible mistake, and rightfully so.

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7. Penalty kill came up huge in this game. Not sure if it's a result of the Blues not having Krug or Perunovich, or the Avs adjusting, but it does feel like the Avs PK'ers got to loose pucks and won battles a lot more the last couple of games.

8. Erik Johnson with 6 hits in the game. He had a really nice series overall.

9. Bowen Byram played great after Girard went down. He leads all Avs Dmen in Corsi in the playoffs, and has 6 assists in 10 games.


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10. Avs have gotten PPG+ scoring from their best 5 players, along with solid production from their secondary scorers. Ideally Burakovsky and Aube-Kubel can get going a bit more though, and hopefully Compher can continue scoring into the next round.


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I'm not really into analytics. But I'm going to cherry pick a couple of points with you.

I'd say that NAK had a great game. Feet moving all the time, lots of energy, works hard to get the puck to the net when it's on his stick, a general pain in the ass player. Doesn't receive enough credit. Biggest problem is that he gets bodied off the puck while forechecking because he doesn't get his shoulders in front of the opponents enough times.

Bura is a hockey IQ moron. Basically 1 dimensional. A snipers snipe when he's on and a big goof when he's not. Gets knocked off his feet regularly when working along the boards and corners because he doesn't go in with his knees bent and with a lower center of gravity. His decision making with the puck is horrendous but he has speed and some level of puck control that makes most opponents respect his rushes.

Rantanen right now brings down everyone else he's on the same line as when on the ice. There's likely some serious medical, injury or conditioning issues there. Some players play through their issues and rise to the occasion. I.e..; Yzerman during the last couple of Red Wing SC wins..... So far Rants is the kind of guy opponents can leave a bit open because he's more likely to screw up than burn them.

Compher is fitting very nicely into the niche position of being ignored as a non-threat and burning opponents as a result. He's been strong defensively in both series and as someone else pointed out, a positive contributor since not having to be burdened by carrying Jost.

I am concerned that Nuke has lost a bit of his intensity playing on line 2 with Rants and Kadri. I don't think the chemistry is real strong there. But IMO it's Rants level of play that is pulling Nuke down. It's like playing shorthanded with Rants out there.

 

[Goulet17]

They were much better. Perron and Faulk made all the difference.

Buchnevich was a key addition to the ROR line along with Perron. Mack forced Berube to move ROR away from the matchup last year.

Although, as someone pointed out, statistically Colorado may have dominated this series as much as the sweep last year.

A few key plays here and there make all the difference in the outcomes of these games and series.

 

[The Kingslayer]

So, give a long leash to start out. Make excuses later, and benefit of the doubt because some are legitimate excuses. Use more excuses again the next time. Then, as the team has continued to get better and better, both in how it is constructed, and in on-ice product, give up all hope and blow it up after being patient and progressively building up towards something? Wait until they were close and the best iteration of the team yet, after excusing them when they were not as good of a team, and being patient, and not wanting to blow it up. So basically, do the opposite of what a ton of NHL teams have done when it comes to winning a cup with their core, for whom it took a lot of years and patience before they broke through. Instead, get maybe like 75% of the way there, being patient and forgiving along the way, and then break it all up to build a most likely worse team in it's place and hope for better results. I dunno. I don't think this team is that awful that it needs massive changes. Or, maybe they don't need massive changes since Helm scored with 5 seconds left. But if Schenn scored with 5 seconds left, then they do need massive changes or something. Not sure how that part works, where 1 shift can drastically determine if a franchise is good or not and whether it should make radical changes or not. Maybe that is the key to success, though.

Maybe they should move MacKinnon and Toews for starters, perhaps they will get a return that is superior to those 2, and for better term/contracts. I dunno. Maybe we can get Matthews and Marner for a good trade that favours us, since the Leafs should blow their team up as well. They shouldn't have before now, but they should now, at this moment, now is the time to dismantle these teams and try to make better ones out of the destruction. They were worth rallying behind on the way up, and then once they reach a certain amount of progress, you know it's time to start from scratch, and probably worse off to begin with.



Nice... So basically a parallel to "All Lives Matter" when being stated as a retaliation/protest to someone protesting with "Black Lives Matter". Classy.

Yes

 

[Spleenless Wonder21]

 

[Spleenless Wonder21]

Cogs celebrating with himself was pure ecstasy lol.

Cogs went full

 

[Foppa2118]

I wonder what Claude Giroux is doing right now?

Not river rafting.

 

[5280]

Who was the dude hugging Sakic in the GM box after the game?

 

[5280]

I wonder what Claude Giroux is doing right now?

 

[Foppa2118]

Whoa I was literally about to use this gif in the trade thread. The exact gif too.

 

[Gruyeriev]

I'm not really into analytics. But I'm going to cherry pick a couple of points with you.

I'd say that NAK had a great game. Feet moving all the time, lots of energy, works hard to get the puck to the net when it's on his stick, a general pain in the ass player. Doesn't receive enough credit. Biggest problem is that he gets bodied off the puck while forechecking because he doesn't get his shoulders in front of the opponents enough times.

Bura is a hockey IQ moron. Basically 1 dimensional. A snipers snipe when he's on and a big goof when he's not. Gets knocked off his feet regularly when working along the boards and corners because he doesn't go in with his knees bent and with a lower center of gravity. His decision making with the puck is horrendous but he has speed and some level of puck control that makes most opponents respect his rushes.

Rantanen right now brings down everyone else he's on the same line as when on the ice. There's likely some serious medical, injury or conditioning issues there. Some players play through their issues and rise to the occasion. I.e..; Yzerman during the last couple of Red Wing SC wins..... So far Rants is the kind of guy opponents can leave a bit open because he's more likely to screw up than burn them.

Compher is fitting very nicely into the niche position of being ignored as a non-threat and burning opponents as a result. He's been strong defensively in both series and as someone else pointed out, a positive contributor since not having to be burdened by carrying Jost.

I am concerned that Nuke has lost a bit of his intensity playing on line 2 with Rants and Kadri. I don't think the chemistry is real strong there. But IMO it's Rants level of play that is pulling Nuke down. It's like playing shorthanded with Rants out there.

Hockey Professor @avgard would like a word with you

 

[Foppa2118]

Delete

 

[MacKaRant]

Who was the dude hugging Sakic in the GM box after the game?

Jussi Parkkila, Avs goaltending coach

 

[sethro109]

Delete

I was Reading throught the Blues GDT to see what they thought about last game and I saw you trolling TheDizee. Seeing that hypocrite get upset and try to report you brought a smile to my face.

 

[henchman21]

@henchman24 I think he passed the test!

He’s been fantastic offensively… his defensive reads are still meh to bad.

 

[Spleenless Wonder21]

Second time this playoff season that MacK and most of the top line were on bench when the last second winning goal was scored!

Interesting set of players who were on the ice at the time...... Helm, Landy, EJ, LOC and Bo (?).

I was too stunned and amazed to really consider how much this violated normal conditions to think about it much.

I had a tally of who’s who running through my head as the play was heading to the Avs offensive zone. I think that’s half the reason I was initially more shocked than thrilled when they scored.

 

[Avsboy]

Who was the dude hugging Sakic in the GM box after the game?

Goalie coach

 

[Foppa2118]

I was Reading throught the Blues GDT to see what they thought about last game and I saw you trolling TheDizee. Seeing that hypocrite get upset and try to report you brought a smile to my face.

I just laughed at some of his posts the way he laughed at a bunch of mine and everyone else for no reason. Including the Girard injury posts. Weird that he acted like I was just doing it to troll and not as a direct response to him doing it.

But I made sure to congratulate Blues fans before that in another thread on a good series.

I even felt bad after and PM'd him to apologize and congratulate him on a good season for his team, but he never responded, even though he posted here today.

 

[Polite HKYDiscussion]

Cogs celebrating with himself was pure ecstasy lol.

Yeah I noticed that too, in between the two piles of players all alone.

Poor Cogs: he didn’t get to hug anyone. That’s, like, the best part of playing hockey.

 

[dahrougem2]

I just laughed at some of his posts the way he laughed at a bunch of mine and everyone else for no reason. Including the Girard injury posts. Weird that he acted like I was just doing it to troll and not as a direct response to him doing it.

But I made sure to congratulate Blues fans before that in another thread on a good series.

I even felt bad after and PM'd him to apologize and congratulate him on a good season for his team, but he never responded, even though he posted here today.

Nah f*** that guy, he can eat a double decker shit sandwich. The guy thinks he's some prophetic gift to hockey and took pride in Girard being hurt. I'd PM him a bunch of D-Generation X crotch chops.

 

[Shane Diesel]

The Blues have nine different 20 goal scorers.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Hockey Professor @avgard would like a word with you

LOL...... I'm not even sure what language he writes in........ seems like a couple of them... chuckle....

 

[Spleenless Wonder21]

For as calm & collected as Sakic’s demeanor always is the bags under his eyes indicate he hasn’t slept since Forsberg’s spleen ruptured…& raised all daughters.

 

[EdAVSfan]

So are we still unhappy/complaining about the depth scoring?

 

[SaltySkywalker]

View attachment 553196

Mack being ahead of normal time and space confirmed

Mack was just doing the angel wings. You can thank me for this victory.