OffThePost.org

or "M'Oshie M'Oshie!" take your pick.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/preview.htm?id=2 ... sb:preview

Matt Duchene, you're doing it right. Ryan O'Reilly, you're doing it wrong.

In any event, Avs come into this contest outmanned and outgunned. Unlike Crashville, they have guys who can actually score. We'll see what happens I guess.

AAAAAAAAGH!!!!! Tarasenko just got majorly dinged with a blindside hit from Mark Olver. Technically speaking it was a clean hit, but goddammit, completely unnecessary.

I have to ask, am I the only person who thinks "finishing your check" is complete bullshit? I don't ever remember hitting a guy after he let loose of the puck unless he did it a split second beforehand and I couldn't stop in time. Any time a guy passed the puck or otherwise lost it, I veered off. Why is it so different in the pros?

Good news: Avs win it in OT with a stellar play by perennial goats Matt Hunwick to set it up and David Jones putting it away.

Even better news: Usually former Avs roast their team for a few goals/assists. But on the only score of the game it was Chris Stewart's lazy backcheck that left Jones wide open.

Bad news: As said before, Tarasenko taken out by a borderline Mark Olver hit. He looked extremely dazed on the ice. Not good at all. I absolutely hate this.



Elliott and Barrie have increased the puck skill on the Avs' blueline by about 100%, still very raw though, especially in their own zone. But they've done nothing that says to me they don't belong in the league.

Finishing your check now means clubbing someone in the head five seconds after they passed the puck and are already headed to the bench. That's the problem.

_________________

I'm completely in agreement -- it's interference under every definition. It just has come to be accepted in "the [moronic] code", in the way that punching an opposing player isn't necessarily a penalty, even though it gets you ejected in pretty much every other sport.

_________________