GDT: R2G3 | Dallas Stars @ Colorado Avalanche | 10pm ET 8pm MT | Series tied 1-1

[dahrougem2]

Oh they have, have they?

Well they have 3 of the 8 goals in this series. I'm not going into a series expecting the 3rd and 4th lines to be scoring ~40% of our goals. That means they either played out of their minds or the top guys failed to produce much.

 

[Alienblood]

Toews looked neither surprised nor upset about what was unfolding there either.

Strange

 

[UncleRisto]

Wood GWG OT goal game 1. Pretty much all depth scoring game 2 Kiva and Duhaime. Tonight was top line scoring, but we simply didn't compete enough to win, and that's on everyone. Can't count on depth scoring to win you every game. 96 and 8 have to be significantly better. 29 was better tonight but the other 2 sucked.

You know what, you're right. I take that back. I was disappointed with secondary offense tonight, though.

Mikko has been what he is, mostly. I know people don't like the way he is for his money, but I maintain that he's the way he's always been, for the most part. Makar was shaky tonight.

 

[RECKLESS]

Need Drouin back and on the top line.

As much as I love Lehky he is not a top line guy. Would be much more effective grinding with Nuke n Mitts.

Losing Drouin in the last f***ing game of the season was like stepping to a mine for our roster.

 

[Moosehead1]

Irony here is that Georgie is doing his job now when it matters and Rantaen looks more like Gumby than top ten winger.

 

[UncleRisto]

Well they have 3 of the 8 goals in this series. I'm not going into a series expecting the 3rd and 4th lines to be scoring ~40% of our goals. That means they either played out of their minds or the top guys failed to produce much.

Yeah, no, I take that back but Mittelstadt and Lehkonen weren't doing it for me tonight.

 

[GeoRox89]

This series is not over.

View attachment 869206

It’s not. It could be 3-0 Dallas right now, 2-1 Avs or 3-0 Avs if a few bounces go a different way. Unless they show up massively better though, even if they get through this one don’t see them getting past Rangers/Florida so I would feel the same way other than you don’t look at a coaching change at that point regardless. We’ll see though. Would love to be wrong and overly reactionary

Hope they come out for game 4 like the Nuggets did for game 3 when they looked dead in the water after the first two games

 

[Pokecheque]

Yeah, no, I take that back but Mittelstadt and Lehkonen weren't doing it for me tonight.

Lehkonen was bad in game two as well.

Didn’t see this whole game but I knew bad things were going to happen the moment they went 0-3 on the power play. Effort was there, execution was not.

Mikko had the best game score on the team but he looked like he was fighting the puck A LOT. Too many instances he fumbled it for a turnover or just plain let it get past him.

And while I don’t love Mittelstadt in this series, Parise has been beyond atrocious. I sure hope he’s the guy who sits if/when Drouin comes back.

 

[Balthazar]

even if they get through this one don’t see them getting past Rangers/Florida

I'm not too afraid of them TBH. Teams that skate with the Avs are likely to get burned. Rags, Panthers and Oilers would skate with us.

The toughest matchups were Vegas and Dallas.

Lehkonen was bad in game two as well.

I don't know if it's related or not but he hurt his arm at the beginning of game 2 and was clearly in pain.

Before that he was one of our best forward and he very, very rarely had bad games.

 

[Balthazar]

And while I don’t love Mittelstadt in this series, Parise has been beyond atrocious.

He's quietly killing a lot of plays on the 2nd line.

 

[dahrougem2]

It also can't be excluded just how much this team misses Logan O'Connor.

He's a guy who puts the puck deep, skates past defensemen and goes to work.

 

[S E P H]

This game today was very reminiscent of Game 7 against Seattle. Avs looked really good at times, looked bad at times, but most of all did pretty much nothing except a workout skate for 60 minutes.

I give Stars credit because they are playing quite structured and have a ton of support options that are close to each other. The first empty net goal is a perfect example of that, two blokes around the boards, win the battle, and Seguin is an open option right in the middle of the rink to ice the game. Avs are getting trapped because we like to stretch things out and stretching the play out, leads to more open room to create space with streaking forwards coming up with speed.

Additionally, Avs at times are beating themselves since DeBoer knows we love having the puck, so he's keeping the Stars well compacted and structured in the neutral zone and counterattacking since the team who has more of the puck, has more potential to make mistakes with it. This goes back to one of the main points that Eddie O and some of you lot made here, Avs love having the puck so much that they are so reluctant to dump it in. There's a huge desire for Avs to carry it in the offensive zone that DeBoer's defensive trench is making it really, really tough for Avs to get any zonal time. One of the reasons why it looked like a 60-minute workout today is because Avs had too many one-and-done. No sustained zonal pressure and in the time we did have in the offensive zone, all the plays they made were easy reads by Stars defensive sticks.

It isn't all doom and gloom though, Avs had some great opportunities today but did not capitalise on them and they aren't doing enough to get any powerplays. Yes, there have been some missed calls, but I can't whine about refs when the Avs haven't deserved any extra ones due to no scoring chances. Avs are also giving Oettinger too easy of a time as well. Avs need to go back to the basics, especially on the PP. Dump the puck in, grind, and just get shots with heavy traffic. Stop with this Tavares magical play stuff to try and get a GTG. Most GTG's and GWG's are ugly ones.

I'm not too afraid of them TBH. Teams that skate with the Avs are likely to get burned. Rags, Panthers and Oilers would skate with us.

The toughest matchups were Vegas and Dallas.

You are underestimating Florida. They have Dallas' strength, but with more top-end talent and can also skate. It's the worst combination IMHO.

 

[MacKaRant]

I dunno for me a lot of this is on Bednar.

You have a known shithead repeat offender that gets away with delivering a cheap headshot to one of your best players and you do nothing but take it.

For me, I would have sent out someone to get #4 on the other side....not benn. To show him that if he wants to get cheap with some of our best players, we're not going after him...we'll take out their best D.

I've been thinking since suffering through watching that performance how different the game would have looked if we came out physical in the first period whether after Benn or again their D. You know, just to bring the fight to them and drag everyone into the game. Team barely got into any dirty areas of the ice tonight, and if the temperature had been ratcheted up after a big hit or seeing Benn get knocked on his ass, then I think our collective compete level would have been higher.

Anyway, just a little thought experiment.

 

[Forceberg]

Hes laughing inside when he says this. He knows this is too easy for them. Vegas was way harder opponent. Avs are no threat to Pete and he knows it

DeBoer is the real problem. He knows how to beat the AVS. Vegas and Dallas are good enough to make his tactics work.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

This annoys me. Technically he didn't expect to win.

It basically comes down to both teams wanting to play a different style and one team's better at dealing with it than the other. Stars survive the stretches where the Avs impose their will. If the Avs pot 1-2 goals in the 1st it's an entirely different game.

Dallas is just dealing with adversity better across the board and taking advantage of opportunities. Avs simply need to capitalize when they do get the chance. We can't make Dallas play our game for 3 periods and you can't constantly be trailing.

I mean it's bit unlucky to never score first, which is huge in hockey.

 

[henchman21]

George picked the wrong teammate to chirp.

 

[Freudian]

A lot of Avs problems are execution based.

Dallas are doing a good job slowing down Avs through the neutral zone and at their own blue line. They swarm our skill players and have excellent defensive sticks. At the same time Avs dump without much chase. They don't attack the blue line with speed. They place every dump in at the exact right place for Oettinger to get the puck with ease. When they gain the blue line they try to force bad passes and it's an easy clear for Dallas.

It seems Avs are a bit unprepared to play this Dallas team defending a lead, when it should be 100% expected.

 

[Tralfamadore]

Avs need to score first. It's really that simple.

 

[Ceremony]

I'm not reading any of the thread. Trade Rantanen before anyone else realises he's done. If I need to watch much more of him I'm going to have an aneurysm.

 

[chet1926]

Avs need to score first. It's really that simple.

Exactly we've literally played from behind the entire series , which allows Dallas to just play their BS sit back defensive game. They've got to get ahead and force Dallas to open it up a little bit.

 

[jabubenice]

Need Drouin back and on the top line.

As much as I love Lehky he is not a top line guy. Would be much more effective grinding with Nuke n Mitts.

Losing Drouin in the last f***ing game of the season was like stepping to a mine for our roster.

was very surprised when he broke up the 2nd line (which has been pretty good) to fix the 1st line. what ended up happening was having both lines being ineffective

 

[Forceberg]

Exactly we've literally played from behind the entire series , which allows Dallas to just play their BS sit back defensive game. They've got to get ahead and force Dallas to open it up a little bit.

You have to adapt your tactics and perform better.
Bednar didn't manage that against DeBoer with Vegas either.

 

[Ensane]

You have to adapt your tactics and perform better.
Bednar didn't manage that against DeBoer with Vegas either.

We might need to accept the fact that Bednar might not be able to beat DeBoer in a 7 game series when talent is close. Having major flashbacks to 2021 after last night.

 

[GeoRox89]

Even if we escape this series, PDB is just a bad matchup for this team. On the plus side if we don’t, Florida or the Rangers are absolutely capable of taking out Dallas

 

[TheGrimReaper]

a thought:
if you had a few mil in yer bank account and the weather is is lovely
A: would rather party , golf and spend time with friends and family
B: grind the crap out of your body trying to compete for a grail that you had just won

I'd hope B would be relevant

just not seeing it thus far