GDT: Avalanche @ Stars | November 17/2016 | 6:30PM MT

[Freudian]

The penalty kill was miserable in the first period.

Goal 1


EJ losing a puck battle and then Colborne just wanders around the defensive zone, looking at the puck. Zero awareness.

Goal 2


EJ losing another puck battle that even shouldn't have been one. Then everyone bites harder on that shot fake than Elvis bit on a peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Crazy to think that most of us thought Greer was about 4-5 years away when we drafted him from BU.

A year and change later and he's seemingly one of the better players on this team.

Makes me optimistic that there might be a few more guys closer than we thought. Honestly, what happened to Greer? He went from some people being kinda down on him at BU to all a sudden hes starring in the AHL and not looking out of place at all in the NHL. Did he change his diet? Strength training? Skating?

 

[dahrougem2]

That 1st PK goal is disgusting. Why in the hell is Joe Colborne killing penalties? Not only is he lazy, he has no idea where to place his stick to get it into passing lanes. On the half wall, who gives a **** if you allow the pass back to the point man, your job is to ensure the puck goes nowhere near the slot.

 

[cgf]

Once they're healthy i'd love to see:

Landy - Dutchy - Mikko
Greer - MacK - Marty
Greg - Soda - Colby
Como/Rork - Malkin - Iggy/Como

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Macks offensive game may not have taken the next step forward like we all had hoped and expected by now. But his defensive game has improved by leaps and bounds since his rookie year. He's becoming a solid two way player at the very least for us.

 

[The Kingslayer]

The penalty kill was miserable in the first period.

Goal 1


EJ losing a puck battle and then Colborne just wanders around the defensive zone, looking at the puck. Zero awareness.

Goal 2


EJ losing another puck battle that even shouldn't have been one. Then everyone bites harder on that shot fake than Elvis bit on a peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich.

I blame the second one on Johnson and Soderberg. Como did the right thing going down to try and block the shot but what the hell was Soderberg doing down there with Como? I said it before for a guy whose apparently known for his two way play and good defensively Soderberg aint really all that good defensively and he couldnt win a face off if his life depended on it. He doesnt look he even tries to win the face offs if im being honest. Technique sucks.

 

[UncleRisto]

Once they're healthy i'd love to see:

Landy - Dutchy - Mikko
Greer - MacK - Marty
Greg - Soda - Colby
Como/Rork - Malkin - Iggy/Como

I'd rather not bench Rourque when he's playing better than half the team.

 

[dahrougem2]

I blame the second one on Johnson and Soderberg. Como did the right thing going down to try and block the shot but what the hell was Soderberg doing down there with Como? I said it before for a guy whose apparently known for his two way play and good defensively Soderberg aint really all that good defensively and he couldnt win a face off if his life depended on it. He doesnt look he even tries to win the face offs if im being honest. Technique sucks.

Yeah I don't mind Comeau on the PK but players like Soderberg and Colborne really shouldn't be killing. Then again, who else do we have that is going to kill? MacKinnon and Martinsen can't stay on forever.

I'd rather use Mitchell on that PK with Comeau.

 

[The Kingslayer]

That 1st PK goal is disgusting. Why in the hell is Joe Colborne killing penalties? Not only is he lazy, he has no idea where to place his stick to get it into passing lanes. On the half wall, who gives a **** if you allow the pass back to the point man, your job is to ensure the puck goes nowhere near the slot.

The only thing he does well is being tall. Colbourne is truly lazier and prolly dumber than Tyler Arnason. Atleast with Arnason we got some goals out of him. Colbourne should just get back on daddy's airplane and go back to wherever. What a ****** signing this ******* was.

 

[dahrougem2]

I can't absolve Rene Bourque of any blame there, though. That's the Rene Bourque we've come to know over the years. Lazy play.

Yes, Colborne's stick needs to be protecting the middle of the ice, but the Avs' PK structure, at least from early viewings this season, is that the strong-side forward attacks the play while the weak-side forward stays in the middle of the ice and forms a mini triangle with the two defensemen.

If Bourque stops and goes back hard into the slot instead of doing a big, lazy button hook upon challenging Jordie Benn, he's likely in perfect position to stop the cross-ice pass. So the blame is on both forwards for that goal.

 

[Freudian]

PK isn't that hard to learn but you have to know how to start and stop. If you just glide, you are never going to be good at it. It takes a lot of effort and a little bit of smarts to be a good penalty killer.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

If he could play every game the way he played last night, he'd be one of the best 3rd liners in the league.

He simply cannot. It's nice to see it once in a while, but it's not going to continue.

We don't need him to be one of the best 3rd liners in the league, but if he can be one of the best 4th liners in the league and a solid PKer that can jump in and down the lineup as needed, then we've struck gold.

Andreas has been great, he needs to do it for a season or two, but I'm not afraid to praise him thus far for what has been great play on a team where guys like Sods, Iggy and Colborne are dogging it out there on most nights.

Colborne has been a particular disappointment, I gave him the benefit of the doubt given how much everyone praised him. But he seems to still have the same issues he had in Boston and Toronto.

 

[Ararana]

Nathan Mackinnon last night:

Even Strength
CF% 65.85
Zone Start% 68.42

All Situations
CF% 66
Zone Start% 60.71

PP TOI: 1:26
SH TOI: 4:52

Folks, please wrap your head around this. Nathan Mackinnon's "all situations" CF% was higher than his "even strength" corsi for. This was despite playing almost all of his non-even strength time shorthanded while also having less favorable zone percentage starts at non-even strength.

That is one hell of a PK performance right there.

But...but he sucks because he's not scoring goals

 

[dahrougem2]

Nathan Mackinnon last night:

Even Strength
CF% 65.85
Zone Start% 68.42

All Situations
CF% 66
Zone Start% 60.71

PP TOI: 1:26
SH TOI: 4:52

Folks, please wrap your head around this. Nathan Mackinnon's "all situations" CF% was higher than his "even strength" corsi for. This was despite playing almost all of his non-even strength time shorthanded while also having less favorable zone percentage starts at non-even strength.

That is one hell of a PK performance right there.

It was a phenomenal game from MacKinnon, no doubt about it.

It still doesn't absolve him of blame for the mostly-poor play he's had to start the season. The player I saw last night wasn't making stupid decisions with the puck like he was the first 15 games.

 

[SaltySkywalker]

Didn't get to see this one because Altitude decided to not work for me. I have Comcast...anyone else have issues? Said I needed to add it to my subscription despite it being a free channel and having had it for the past how many ever years...ever. So silly.

Anyways, from the replays it looks like Mack went full beast mode. He easily could have scored another goal or two. Glad he got on the score sheet. It's tough seeing another loss though, especially one where it seemed like we dominated. We HAVE GOT to start getting off to better starts. I really don't know what it is with this club. At least we battled back.

 

[The Kingslayer]

It was a phenomenal game from MacKinnon, no doubt about it.

It still doesn't absolve him of blame for the mostly-poor play he's had to start the season. The player I saw last night wasn't making stupid decisions with the puck like he was the first 15 games.

Maybe Mackinnon realized he would have to carry the offense since his brothers Landeskog and his half brother Duchene werent in the line up. We got his best game since maybe game 2 in 2014.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

Maybe Mackinnon realized he would have to carry the offense since his brothers Landeskog and his half brother Duchene werent in the line up. We got his best game since maybe game 2 in 2014.

I still honestly think MacK needs to be the shooter on his line. I've always thought he has looked better when he gets paired with more pass-first players. When he gets put together with other players that like to shoot he looks to make the extra pass way too often. When he was with Greer and Greg/The Norwegian Beefcake he made simple passes and looked to drive the net and shoot more often.

If Greer continues to develop into a puck retrieval monster, a future line of Greer-Mack-Rants could be exceptional.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Makes me optimistic that there might be a few more guys closer than we thought. Honestly, what happened to Greer? He went from some people being kinda down on him at BU to all a sudden hes starring in the AHL and not looking out of place at all in the NHL. Did he change his diet? Strength training? Skating?

A few things. Think it's obvious at this point something was just wrong with the situation at BU. Going to the Q helped to reset that, play more games but I also think Rouyn-Noranda in particular should get some credit too, they are an excellent development system, great coaching. There's going to be a lot more NHL players that come from there in the next few years. And AJ himself, he spent a month in Denver after development camp working out with Avs trainers and then spent a month with the skating instructor Tracy in Toronto, that had to make a difference too, that kind of dedication. And then just opportunity as well, hope to think that we might see this type of thing more when talent meets opportunity more frequently in the future.

 

[Iceberg]

Maybe Mackinnon realized he would have to carry the offense since his brothers Landeskog and his half brother Duchene werent in the line up. We got his best game since maybe game 2 in 2014.

Trade Duchene! ASAP.

 

[the_fan]

This team is always finding ways to beat themselves more than the opposition. They either break down defensively where they start giving away breakaways, 2 on 1's etc... or they take tons of unnecessary penalties like they did in this game. Zadorov took 2 stupid penalties in a row, McLeod's dumb slashing one which cost them the game. They are just killing themselves

 

[JoemAvs]

The Avs are due for a few more games like this. I am actually pretty happy with this one results be damnd. I (thankfully) missed the 1st period but after that we looked dominant without Duchene and Landeskog. Gives me hope for Bednar and our future development.

The amount of time we have been on the other side of the coin is actually ridiculous.

So I am perfectly fine to be on the receiving end of such a game for once.

Lehtonen stole it and we just could not bury all those chances.

Mac looked exactly like he needs to look if he wants to fulfill his potential. Great game ( even though he should have buried another one or two). I hope he can build on this performance and finally reach his potential. We need him to (and I have a certain thread to bump on the trade board in the future so he better do it )


Oh and I hope that this game is the final straw that helps Zadorov with his penalty problems. He is playing great this season but that part of his game needs a ton of work still.

 

[Iceberg]

I can't get excited about the last 40 minutes because after going up 3x0 a team tends to let up.

And knowing this team, i'm certainly not expecting them to build off that supposedly strong finish.

 

[cgf]

I can't get excited [snip]

We know

 

[Alex Jones]

I can't get excited about the last 40 minutes because after going up 3x0 a team tends to let up.

And knowing this team, i'm certainly not expecting them to build off that supposedly strong finish.

Yea stars basically quit playing at 3-0

 

[Iceberg]

Yea stars basically quit playing at 3-0

Exactly.

Lindy Ruff called it embarrasing.