harmfuljays wrote:
Ugh.....Girard doing what he does best....float around on D and get pushed off the puck.
The only reason Timmins was a -3 (and not Girard too) on that second goal is because the D change didn't happen fast enough and Timmins got left out to dry.
Timmins/Girard not so good last night. Only 1 game so we'll see what the effort level looks like on Friday. Thankfully Bo Byram may be in the lineup then.
Actually, I thought G was really good--he was moving the puck well and didn't shy away from the dirty areas of the ice. Unfortunately one of the goals against was a bad misplay on his part behind the net, and then everyone else just kinda coasted around after he coughed it up.
Timmins was fine IMO, obviously he has some kinks to work out of his game. If there was one Avs defenseman who looked like warm cow piss out there it was Ian Cole.
Chris18 wrote:
Saw Toews take a shoulder to the jaw and land on his face. Any word on him?
He came back later in the game and appeared to be fine, so that's a relief. I'm not reading anything about him being held out of practice or anything, so I guess he's fine.
Obviously not the start anyone in Av-land wanted. You can't be a team comprised of speed and then not skate. Utter horseshit effort last night and Jared Bednar didn't pull any punches. For being such a chill dude he can be quite direct and brutally honest. The new additions (Toews and Saad) didn't look great at all--I'm hoping it was just the lack of adjustment time. We'll see if they turn it around in due time. The two worst players for the Avs IMO were Kadri and Cole. It wasn't the worst effort I've ever seen from the Bednar-era Avs but we all expected a lot better.
So I'm not worried about the effort level--that will get better. Nathan MacKinnon will not let this team slack off. But I am worried about some things they failed to address in the offseason. One, the power play still looks like shit despite the insane amount of talent they can bring to bear. Still too reliant on the perfect shot instead of just crashing the damned net and scoring ugly. I'm grateful that Ray Bennett came in and helped clean things up after the disaster that was 2016-17, but I wonder if it was right to retain him after continued special teams struggles.
Two, the goaltending was okay. Not great. And it was special teams and goaltending that did the Avs in when they were in the bubble. Mind you, they were on their THIRD STRING guy at that point, but Grubauer was fairly mediocre during the regular season. Frankie wasn't much better. Unfortunately even with all the goalie shuffling the this offseason, the Avs decided to stick with their guys. I don't necessarily blame them for that, but it could bite them in the ass.
Third, and this is my biggest concern, this team has depth and talent to spare, but they still don't have a third-line center, and that particular weakness really showed last night. The third and fourth lines got completely dominated by the Blues, and when it's Robert friggin' Thomas putting on a clinic against your Stanley Cup-favorite roster, there's a real problem there. Sakic already knew J.T. Compher was not the answer at 3C last season, so going into this season with the same gameplan was a mistake. I get it--he did a bang-up job shoring up other weaknesses, but IMO that one was pretty substantial. Don't know if prospect Shane Bowers is up to the task but he will start the season in the minors and frankly, I think he's a better wing than a center. The solution will likely have to come from elsewhere, unless they're just waiting for Alex Newhook to make the team.