Pre-Game Talk: Week of the Double Double (ARIx2, VGKx2)

[Cousin Eddie]

If Byram nears his potential before Toews walks the Avs could potentially be icing four top pairing defensemen

Other fans will still deny it though. “Colorado has three elite defenseman blah blah”. Yeah, they do. Doesn’t mean it will be like it forever but 3 of the NHL’s top 10 defenseman this year play for the Colorado Avalanche. Feels good.

 

[SirLoinOfCloth]

 

[LTC Pain]

Avs have scored 37 goals in there last seven games. That's an average of 5.3 goals per game. Grub's GAA sits at 1.69, SV% is .931. I've never felt more confident in my team making a deep playoff run.

 

[Avs_19]

2. Colorado Avalanche
Last week: 2
Record: 21-8-3, 45 points
Dom rank: 1
Sean rank: 2

Sean: A really cheap, easy way to start these out is by taking something you wrote and referencing it myself. Colorado rattled off seven straight games of 65 percent expected goals or higher. Good lord. I’d have had them at No. 2 last week if whatever they did to the Wild happened earlier in the day. What a treat they are to watch.

Dom: The Avalanche made the Wild – a very good team! – look like the Sabres in two straight games and then followed that up with an utter beatdown of Vegas. In those three games, the Avalanche outscored the next two best teams in the division by a ridiculous margin of 16-2, earning a 71 percent expected goals rate at five-on-five. I haven’t seen a team control the puck this much for this long of a stretch in a long, long time. To do what they did against Minnesota and Vegas, two teams who usually control play to an elite degree, is absurd.

And for the record, Nathan MacKinnon deserves A Lot more Hart Trophy love than he’s getting this season. His average Game Score of 1.97 is second to only Connor McDavid’s 2.01, and he doesn’t play in the fraud North Division.

NHL power rankings: The collapse of the Flyers and the legend of Mark Donk

Dom's one of us with that last comment.

 

[Balthazar]

NHL power rankings: The collapse of the Flyers and the legend of Mark Donk

Dom's one of us with that last comment.

Colorado is the league’s best possession team and gave Vegas a tough lesson

Man we sat at the complete opposite of that spectrum not that long ago.

 

[Avsboy]

Can someone explain us uneducated folk what a Game Score is?

 

[Balthazar]

Can someone explain us uneducated folk what a Game Score is?

Measuring Single Game Productivity: An Introduction To Game Score

 

[Avsboy]

Measuring Single Game Productivity: An Introduction To Game Score

This article told me

Player Game Score = (0.75 * G) + (0.7 * A1) + (0.55 * A2) + (0.075 * SOG) + (0.05 * BLK) + (0.15 * PD) – (0.15 * PT) + (0.01 * FOW) – (0.01 * FOL) + (0.05 * CF) – (0.05 * CA) + (0.15 * GF) – (0.15* GA)

But it produces reasonable lists of top players

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

I’m guessing it’s heavily based on analytics since 6 Avalanche players are in the top 13.

Hedman all the way down at 26 is a little odd.

 

[S E P H]

Colorado is the league’s best possession team and gave Vegas a tough lesson

Man we sat at the complete opposite of that spectrum not that long ago.

Toews really helps in that regard, he just does almost everything well and at a high enough level. He isn't at Patrice Bergeron in terms of talent, but plays like the defensive version of him. Plus, Girard has gotten so much better since his rookie season with the puck.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Toews really helps in that regard, he just does almost everything well and at a high enough level. He isn't at Patrice Bergeron in terms of talent, but plays like the defensive version of him. Plus, Girard has gotten so much better since his rookie season with the puck.

29 and 8 probably help a bit too.

 

[Balthazar]

Girard in the video here (in French) confirms that he got Covid earlier this season and had to stay home for 12 days...he says that he got sick and it was tough coming back.

G is a rough interview in both languages BTW...he doesn't like to talk to the media much

Girard s'attire des éloges chez l'Avalanche

 

[Avs71]

Beating Vegas today would be the biggest statement yet. Slapping them around one game, and then being able to win the next game is what will give me confidence for the playoffs.

Other fans will still deny it though. “Colorado has three elite defenseman blah blah”. Yeah, they do. Doesn’t mean it will be like it forever but 3 of the NHL’s top 10 defenseman this year play for the Colorado Avalanche. Feels good.

I get it, without a Stanley Cup victory it is easy to question how good the team really is. The Avs will have to earn the league wide respect the same way Tampa did.

 

[Ararana]

Today might be the toughest game of the year. Vegas is going to be pissed the Avs knocked them on their ass.

The Avs are fully capable of shutting them down again, but they’ll need to play their best hockey today.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I think what Stone said about dumping the puck behind Colorado’s defenseman is exactly what we’ll see today. Excited to see how our defenseman handle it.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

I think what Stone said about dumping the puck behind Colorado’s defenseman is exactly what we’ll see today. Excited to see how our defenseman handle it.

I hope the Avs defence heard that comment. A little extra fire isn’t a bad thing while they’re playing in the lifeless no fan atmosphere.

Love to see this rivalry brewing too.

 

[forsbergavs32]

I would like to see a response to that comment today. Like Stone dumps the puck behind and chases it then gets absolutely creamed.

 

[dahrougem2]

I think what Stone said about dumping the puck behind Colorado’s defenseman is exactly what we’ll see today. Excited to see how our defenseman handle it.

This sounds like a recipe for a lot of odd-man rushes for the Avs today if they can get back and get out efficiently.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

This sounds like a recipe for a lot of odd-man rushes for the Avs today if they can get back and get out efficiently.

Vegas seems to give up a lot anyway. That’s one thing I find odd about a team so strong. Seems like every time the Avs break out against them they already have them outnumbered. Very easy to transition against and that’s not good for them especially when the Avs are far and away the best transition team in hockey.

 

[Hornstar]

Hoping for the same fire as last game! C’mon boys 1st place is in our grasp

 

[Grigowski]

For Today:
Mortal Kombat-Style:
Finish them....Fatality.

 

[Islay1989]

Vegas seems to give up a lot anyway. That’s one thing I find odd about a team so strong. Seems like every time the Avs break out against them they already have them outnumbered. Very easy to transition against and that’s not good for them especially when the Avs are far and away the best transition team in hockey.

They are agressive, but can be late to the retriever, they count on him panicking and making a mistake, that's how they like to pounce on teams, but when you break the red line with full control of the puck either by a quick first pass or by skazing away before they can get to you their neutral zone play becomes their soft underbelly.