GDT: SCPO 2025 ROUND 1 GAME 1 COL vs DAL

[Azrael89]

I need to look up Seguins minutes last night. He was weirdly non existent for a game against the Avs

It says he played 16 minutes. That seems limited

 

[MacKaRtin]

Jesus, I didn't realize that Harley played over 27 minutes in game one. They REALLY need Heiskanen back or that guy is going to burn out by game 4.

Why? Similar to regular season Makar ice time when Avs are chasing the game. Harley is young and an absolute horse (a harlie horse, if you will), I don't think he has an issue with those minutes

 

[TatteredTornNFrayed]

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

One can hope, that this will change as we continue on with the series. Like it did in 2022, when Rantanen was playing more with Kadri and Lehkonen towards the end.

IMO Necas and Mack are too similar in style. Necas is near Mack equivalent when it comes to dangling thru defenses. But we don't need two of those on the same line. Mack IS the SHOW. Not Martin.

Besides Necas (properly) defers to Mack when on the line but that makes his playmaking predictable. He should be driving another line (IMO) . Mack needs a supporting options to go to on his line. Not a clone. That's why Mack and Rants worked.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Man I didn't realize how ridiculous the 4th line was last night. Knew they were great but didn't know they literally held the Stars to nothing at all.


Scary for the league if that group keeps going. Particularly scary because that could be our 4th line for easily another 3-4 years if they keep it up.

 

[Chiarelli]

View attachment 1018404

Thank F this is the image you went with

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Maybe an unpopular opinion but Mack lucked in a 3pts night. Fluke goal, assit on fluke Lehky goal and empty netter on a platter by LOC. He was not "dominant".

He looked about the same as before he took all those games off. His shot (election, accuracy and release) is not what it was when he was flaming hot.

He should have won the scoring championship.

 

[AvsMakar08]

3 Dallas players

The boys didn't play their best game, and two of the goals were flukes, but I felt weirdly comfortable most of the game. The shitbirds had a couple of sequences that were worrisome but I felt for the most part that didn't have much threatening going on. The scoreline flatters us but probably only by those two fluke goals. 3-1 seems a fairer reflection. I believe we were the better team all round. From goaltending, defense and forwards. Now this was one game and they are missing their two best players, but we did what we had to to capitalize and honestly it didn't seem all that hard. Looking forward to Monday.

I agree with you 100 percent.

 

[Ceremony]

No-one could have seen this coming!

 

[dahrougem2]

It's his inability to smoothly recover pucks (along the boards and in his own zone) and quickly transition with a sharp accurate outlet pass to a speeding forward. EJ was "passable" (grade wise) but he has indeed lost a step and is not as quick and tight as he used to be when recovering loose or dumped in pucks.

If I was Dallas, I would exploit that and put on a much harder/quicker forecheck on the Avs D. Even Lindgren recovers and transitions better that EJ these days.....

It's why he needs to come out of the lineup. Dallas is not a physical team, they're not dumping pucks in and sending guys to hammer our defensemen. Most of their forwards are quite passive on the forecheck. You aren't getting run over by the likes of Granlund, Dadonov, Duchene, Rantanen (sans crosscheck), Seguin, Steel, Robertson (if healthy). Hintz only occasionally throws hits, and Benn only hits when he's angry. It's really only Marchment out there looking for hits on a forecheck.

Get Malinski into this lineup ASAP. His ability to retrieve pucks and immediately make tape-to-tape outlet passes is such an underrated part of this team's game, and he'll skate it out of there's nothing as opposed to EJ flipping it out and turning it over. We need that in our lineup for game 2 and moving forward in this series.

One of the arguments for EJ playing is it potentially keeps Makar off the PK but I thought EJ was god awful on the PK last night.

 

[TatteredTornNFrayed]

Holy crap, Coyle! I didn't see that part of the Toewser goal before.

Battles like a mad man to steal the puck from Mikko, fling himself into the boards to retrieve it, then pass from his knees to O'Connor to start the breakout.

Doesn't get a point on this one, but perhaps an even better play than OC, Manson or Toews, all of which were excellent.

 

[dahrougem2]

Holy crap, Coyle! I didn't see that part of the Toewser goal before.

Battles like a mad man to steal the puck from Mikko, fling himself into the boards to retrieve it, then pass from his knees to O'Connor to start the breakout.

Doesn't get a point on this one, but perhaps an even better play than OC, Manson or Toews, all of which were excellent.

Nothing gets me more than Manson celebrating goals. It's hilarious how riled up he gets.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Rants has really fallen off a cliff after the trade. From a 100+ scorer to below PPG on both the Canes and Dallas. Wonder how pleased he is with himself.

I think he's wallowing in self pity right now. Said the trade was unexpected and he's obviously feeling down.

Actually, its his agent who screwed him by playing games with CMAC.

Take a discount to stay with the team you love and be happy or count up the coins put into your bank account.

I know which option his agent would take and I am not sympathetic.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Holy crap, Coyle! I didn't see that part of the Toewser goal before.

Battles like a mad man to steal the puck from Mikko, fling himself into the boards to retrieve it, then pass from his knees to O'Connor to start the breakout.

Doesn't get a point on this one, but perhaps an even better play than OC, Manson or Toews, all of which were excellent.

Always dreaded Avs playing against Charlie when he was with Minnesota but am thrilled he's on the Avs now. Tremendous roster move by CMac in spite of Coyle' age.

 

[CobraAcesS]

It's why he needs to come out of the lineup. Dallas is not a physical team, they're not dumping pucks in and sending guys to hammer our defensemen. Most of their forwards are quite passive on the forecheck. You aren't getting run over by the likes of Granlund, Dadonov, Duchene, Rantanen (sans crosscheck), Seguin, Steel, Robertson (if healthy). Hintz only occasionally throws hits, and Benn only hits when he's angry. It's really only Marchment out there looking for hits on a forecheck.

Get Malinski into this lineup ASAP. His ability to retrieve pucks and immediately make tape-to-tape outlet passes is such an underrated part of this team's game, and he'll skate it out of there's nothing as opposed to EJ flipping it out and turning it over. We need that in our lineup for game 2 and moving forward in this series.

One of the arguments for EJ playing is it potentially keeps Makar off the PK but I thought EJ was god awful on the PK last night.

Right or wrong, I'm guessing we see Malinski at home so Bednar can control his matchups. He just doesn't quite have Bednar's trust yet. If he's good, then we might see more of him.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Anybody else a little concerned with rebounds off of BBW? Some of those sequences were terrifying.

More concerned about the D's inability to find the loose pucks and quickly clear.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

It's why he needs to come out of the lineup. Dallas is not a physical team, they're not dumping pucks in and sending guys to hammer our defensemen. Most of their forwards are quite passive on the forecheck. You aren't getting run over by the likes of Granlund, Dadonov, Duchene, Rantanen (sans crosscheck), Seguin, Steel, Robertson (if healthy). Hintz only occasionally throws hits, and Benn only hits when he's angry. It's really only Marchment out there looking for hits on a forecheck.

Get Malinski into this lineup ASAP. His ability to retrieve pucks and immediately make tape-to-tape outlet passes is such an underrated part of this team's game, and he'll skate it out of there's nothing as opposed to EJ flipping it out and turning it over. We need that in our lineup for game 2 and moving forward in this series.

One of the arguments for EJ playing is it potentially keeps Makar off the PK but I thought EJ was god awful on the PK last night.

I like your analysis. I speculate tha EJ was there because of anticipated physical (dirty) play from Marchment and Benn. It didn't happen. And it exposed EJ being a bit long in the tooth.

Love the guy and what he brings to the locker room but he's a shadow of his old self.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Right or wrong, I'm guessing we see Malinski at home so Bednar can control his matchups. He just doesn't quite have Bednar's trust yet. If he's good, then we might see more of him.

The negative on Malinski is that hard physical play tends to intimidate him. I'm not quite convinced that's entirely true. But the Avs aren't playing St. Louis. It's Dallas.

 

[Avsfan1921]

More concerned about the D's inability to find the loose pucks and quickly clear.

It crazy how passive they are, the whole 5 man unit. I get positioning is a thing but they just leave so many uncontested loose pucks for the opposition along the boards. I yell at my tv 5 or 6 times a game for someone to chase down a puck lol. They have the speed to get to it a lot of the time but just put the brakes on and go turtle mode for the shift instead.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Nothing gets me more than Manson celebrating goals. It's hilarious how riled up he gets.

When he's on - like he was last night - it reminds me of 2022. He's a force when he's 100%.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

It crazy how passive they are, the whole 5 man unit. I get positioning is a thing but they just leave so many uncontested loose pucks for the opposition along the boards. I yell at my tv 5 or 6 times a game for someone to chase down a puck lol. They have the speed to get to it a lot of the time but just put the brakes on and go turtle mode for the shift instead.

It's like maintaining position is more important than my #2 defensive priority..... out number the opposition via support in your own zone.

(#1 is never let on opponent get between you and your goaltender.)

But I am definitely "old school".

 

[CobraAcesS]

The negative on Malinski is that hard physical play tends to intimidate him. I'm not quite convinced that's entirely true. But the Avs aren't playing St. Louis. It's Dallas.

I think he's improved in that area in the second half, but the playoffs are a different animal obviously.

Dallas is less physical than I expected tbH. They're still living on Benn's reputation more than results.

 

[Avsfan1921]

It's like maintaining position is more important than my #2 defensive priority..... out number the opposition via support in your own zone.

(#1 is never let on opponent get between you and your goaltender.)

But I am definitely "old school".

I’d get the positioning priority if they were better at defending than transition lol. But they aren’t and if they have a chance to collect the puck and remove the need to defend I want them to take that chance every time. It’s not like they are defensive stalwarts who routinely break up plays and relieve pressure. More often than not it leads to long cycles that tire them out and leads to chances against.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

When he's on - like he was last night - it reminds me of 2022. He's a force when he's 100%.

True. His top level is very high level. Sadly injuries.

 

[Avs_19]

EJ being able to handle the forecheck and physical play better glosses over other issues. There would be fewer opportunities for them to forecheck with Malinski out there to quickly retrieve those pucks and exit. EJ also loves that play where he grabs the puck and just tries to pin it against the boards instead of trying to move it, which just leads to trouble.

Dallas isn't that classic heavy dump and chase type of team anyways. They have a lot more finesse players now and they're actually trying more home run type of plays up the middle of the ice. They even tried it with Makar out there so it's not only against the poor skating Avs D. There may be a time and series for EJ's style of play but I don't think this is it, at least not to start.