Pre-Game Talk: Week of the New Year at home! Vs Jets, vs Sabers, vs Canadians.

[lionsDen]

Kaprizov. Literally just Kaprizov. Without him they're nothing.

I think Dallas is our main opponent from our own division. Not too concerned about the others.

Kaptizov is out right now and they have continued to win.

 

[Vaslof]

Kaptizov is out right now and they have continued to win.

Don't expect it to continue if he's out.

 

[RECKLESS]

We're about to play the Wild two times in ten days. The first one is a back to back for us in their barn, the other vice versa. Would be huge if we'd be able to win both but likely we'll trade wins there.

 

[EdAVSfan]

A few weeks ago, the Avs were not even a wild card team based on P%. Now they’re firmly entrenched in a wild card spot and have gained on pretty much everyone.

All the central teams have mostly kept winning so the Avs have only gained a little bit on all of them (except Minnesota, gained a lot on them). But they’ve made sizeable gains on all the wildcard teams.

Exactly one month ago:
- 4 points behind Dallas (Dallas had 2 games in hand). Dallas still has 2 games in hand but now we’re equal in points.
- 10 points behind Winnipeg. Now only 7 points and Avs have a game in hand
- 10 points behind Minnesota (minny had 2 games in hand. Now we’re 5 points back at equal games.
- 3 points behind Calgary. Now we’re up 6. (Calgary has a game in hand)
- tied with St Louis. Now we’re up 7 points

 

[dahrougem2]

The only challenge is Dallas.

We know that Winnipeg is a paper tiger, and we know that Minnesota is playing above their heads. Wild are:

28th in Scoring Chances For
10th in Scoring Chances Allowed
25th in High Danger Chances For
5th in High Danger Chances Allowed
2nd in Save %
6th in PDO

Filip Gustavsson is 2nd in the league in GSAA behind Connor Hellebuyck. If his play even remotely dips, they're in big trouble because Marc-Andre Fleury ain't coming in to save the day. They NEED a Vezina caliber goalie to succeed, just like the Jets. We don't, and that's the difference.

We'll be fine.

 

[Pokecheque]

Kaprizov. Literally just Kaprizov. Without him they're nothing.

I think Dallas is our main opponent from our own division. Not too concerned about the others.

Kaprizov AND goaltending. For some reason Gustavsson was good, then bad, now good again.

Wylde are the luckiest franchise in the league, somehow parlayed a disgruntled backup into a franchise netminder.

 

[the_fan]

A few weeks ago, the Avs were not even a wild card team based on P%. Now they’re firmly entrenched in a wild card spot and have gained on pretty much everyone.

All the central teams have mostly kept winning so the Avs have only gained a little bit on all of them (except Minnesota, gained a lot on them). But they’ve made sizeable gains on all the wildcard teams.

Exactly one month ago:
- 4 points behind Dallas (Dallas had 2 games in hand). Dallas still has 2 games in hand but now we’re equal in points.
- 10 points behind Winnipeg. Now only 7 points and Avs have a game in hand
- 10 points behind Minnesota (minny had 2 games in hand. Now we’re 5 points back at equal games.
- 3 points behind Calgary. Now we’re up 6. (Calgary has a game in hand)
- tied with St Louis. Now we’re up 7 points

This is why Avs need to win games like the one yesterday vs Montreal if they wanna finish at least 3rd place in central, but seems like it’s not that imprortant for the Avs where they finish based on lack of urgency they showed vs the Habs

 

[EdAVSfan]

This is why Avs need to win games like the one yesterday vs Montreal if they wanna finish at least 3rd place in central, but seems like it’s not that imprortant for the Avs where they finish based on lack of urgency they showed vs the Habs

Has nothing to do with urgency.

I’m not sure why fans have this expectation that the team needs to be all out, maximum effort every night. That’s not realistic. Sometimes you have the legs, and the bounces go your way. Sometimes you have no jump and everything you do is wrong. And there’s no explanation for it.

Every team has nights where they look like crap, where they look lazy, where they look like they’re not trying.

 

[the_fan]

Has nothing to do with urgency.

I’m not sure why fans have this expectation that the team needs to be all out, maximum effort every night. That’s not realistic. Sometimes you have the legs, and the bounces go your way. Sometimes you have no jump and everything you do is wrong. And there’s no explanation for it.

Every team has nights where they look like crap, where they look lazy, where they look like they’re not trying.

After the Buffalo game Toews was asked if they want to catch everyone in central and finish 1st, he said they don’t care where they finish, just make the playoffs. If they really wanted that 1st place in central, they would play like it but they didn’t, so what Toews said it’s true. They don’t care if they finish 1st or wildcard, just get in. Avs may want to have home ice against a team like Dallas in the playoffs because the Stars have our number in the playoffs. If it goes to 7 games, we need that home ice advantage

 

[AllAboutAvs]

All top teams lose against weak teams sometimes. It happens. What is important is to win the games against the teams we are chasing in the overall standings but especially the teams in our division. Those are 4-pt games.

We are not going to win every game. Like I said yesterday I think we have been the top team in P% since the beginning of Nov - maybe not anymore with last night loss although we got a point. We'll be fine. Tomorrow will be a big test.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

The only challenge is Dallas.

We know that Winnipeg is a paper tiger, and we know that Minnesota is playing above their heads. Wild are:

28th in Scoring Chances For
10th in Scoring Chances Allowed
25th in High Danger Chances For
5th in High Danger Chances Allowed
2nd in Save %
6th in PDO

Filip Gustavsson is 2nd in the league in GSAA behind Connor Hellebuyck. If his play even remotely dips, they're in big trouble because Marc-Andre Fleury ain't coming in to save the day. They NEED a Vezina caliber goalie to succeed, just like the Jets. We don't, and that's the difference.

We'll be fine.

I'm not comfortable with this line of thought.

The Avs were a paper tiger... until '22.

Don't take anyone for granted. Especially teams with better records than you own. You start running into problems believing you are better than you are when you do that.,

 

[dahrougem2]

I'm not comfortable with this line of thought.

The Avs were a paper tiger... until '22.

Don't take anyone for granted. Especially teams with better records than you own. You start running into problems believing you are better than you are when you do that.,

Meh, we dominated Winnipeg in last year's playoffs and they had arguably a better team.

They don't scare anyone.