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Avs absolutely demolish the Third Period Comeback Queens of Anaheim 8-2. Nice to see them be on the other end of an absolute thrashing this season.

Funny enough, of those eight goals, Mikko Rantanen and Ryan Johansen didn't register a single point on any. In fact, Johansen was taken off the power play entirely in the third period, and barely played more than 10 minutes.

Admittedly it was a Ducks team that had played the night before so it was clear their legs were completely gone by the time the third period rolled around, but it's a good win nonetheless.

Joel Kiviranta in two games is looking like a perfect fit. Got a goal (a nice one at that) and two assists last night.

So Quinn Hughes is getting a lot of hype right now, and justifiably so. He's doing things defencemen have not done in 30 years and everyday he seems to be tripping over some new record that only the like of Orr, MacInnes, Coffey or Wilson have achieved before. I mean really rareified air, and even more impressive as points are just harder to come by now. days.



Since this is the Avs thread, here is my point. I had not even noticed how well Cale Makar is doing, just so much Hughes hype in Canada.. Makar has played two game less than Hughes, and has 27 points. He's on the same damn pace as Hughes (130 + points) and at least up here, he's getting non of the attention ( I don't feel too bad about that as Hughes has been forgotten about for years while Makar was having tributes thrown at him) Still its pretty remarkable that we may be looking at the two best defense men to come along in over a generation and they arrive a year apart. I have a feeling that barring injury, they will be compared to each other throughout their careers, which are going to be pretty damn long.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

So I make my little Hughes/Makar comparison post above, then go to Canucks Army and bang, they've just posted the ultimate in Hughes vs Makar comparisons.

If you were starting a franchise, which one would you choose?

https://canucksarmy.com/news/quinn-hugh ... nversation

I think its too soon to tell yet, but imo Hughes has a higher upside, Makar is built to stay, and a safer choice. Having said Makar's historical comparable to me is Ray Bourquesque at the high end and Al MacInnes at the low end. He has the opportunity to be one of the best of all time. So I'd probably take the safe choice with a wee bit lower upside and go with Makar.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

5-2 Avs, with the 5th on an empty net. Van out shot the Av's 29-25 but I'm pretty certain the Av's out chanced the Nucks as they just seemed to be the more dangerous team. So the right team won, but it was a good test for the Nucks to find out where they are, and they're pretty close to one of the better teams in the league.

I have to ask, does watch Georgiev make you nervous? He always seemed to be on the cusp of pulling a Cloutier to me.

Ryan Johansen is pretty magical. It takes a lot of talent to make a body that big just disappear on the ice.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Only time I ever notice Johansen is when he’s on the ice for a scoring chance against.

Yeah, Georgiev makes me nervous, his rebound control isn’t quite as bad as Kuemper’s but yeah he’s been very hit-or-miss this year.

Avs win big against the Mighty Canucks, which is good since they choked horribly against the Predators the game before. Tonight was a win against the Wylde, which was a fairly ugly game all around. Kurtis MacDermid of all people got the game-winner.

Bad news about Girard. Takes a leave of absence, enters the NHLPA assistance program.

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And he's admitted to underlying anxiety/depression issues that led to alcohol abuse. Good for him for being so public about this, as he certainly did not owe us any explanation. I hope he gets the help he needs and gets his life and career back in order, however long it takes.

I believe I intimated some concerns about a year or so ago...I was publicly dismissive of a column or something that ran in his local hometown paper or something that lambasted his behavior during his Day with the Cup, but something about that didn't quite sit well with me, I guess coming from a long line of alcoholics made me a little wary. In any event, that may have been a sign that things behind the scenes were not good.

As for the on-ice stuff, Avs appear to continue winning despite the fact that they still just don't look like they're firing on all cylinders. Just very odd, they're essentially playing the top players a lot, which is to be expected, but the "second line" of Drouin, Johansen, and Tatar is getting scant minutes, they're basically a glorified fourth line. Meanwhile the Avs are getting decent production from those third and fourth lines, especially since Joel Kiviranta has entered the lineup.

Avs also may have found a winner in Ivan Prosvetov. People who know more about goaltending than I do say Jussi Parkkila is working his magic, getting the big guy to cut down on his movements and avoid flopping around as much as he (apparently) did in Arizona. Whatever the case, he has been--so far--a good replacement for Pavel Francouz.

Lightning tonight, and MacKinnon may not play due to illness. Big test, especially if Vasilevskiy plays.

Oh and not hockey-related but...the Broncos have now ripped off five straight victories and sit in second place in the AFC West with a real shot at a playoff spot now.

They still don't look like a *great* team and admittedly the Raiders and Chargers have just been outright bad this season, so that helps, but it's yet another indication that my thread title may have been a tad premature.

Death, taxes, and Cale Makar questionable for the game.

Avs recalled Sam Malinski, so I'm guessing if one guy is sitting out for tonight's contest against the Coyotes, it'll be him.

OT loss to the Coyotes, who always seem to give the Avs trouble.

Knives are officially OUT for Bowen Byram, who has had a really rough start to the season. Leading the league (I think) in minors, including one he had to take in OT because he let a Coyotes player sneak in behind him for a breakaway.

Frankly, a lot of fans are overreacting IMHO, as is our nature as fans, but I'd really like to see him look toward dialing it back a notch and trying a more conservative game. He's just a little too haphazard and all over the ice right now, they need him to be much more reliable, especially with Sammy G in rehab.

Another day, another highlight-reel goal from Kurtis MacDermid.

Avs hang on to win 3-2 against the Ducks with an injury-and-illness-ravaged lineup. Logan O’Connor with the game-winner.

Rookie Oskar Olausson made his season debut, only his second NHL game, first one a year ago shouldn’t even count since he played maybe two shifts in a game meant to showcase a possible trade to the Canucks, who were in town that night. Looked decent for a guy still in development.

Only dude who looked really bad last night was Mikko Rantanen, who has struggled badly the last few games. Until someone says otherwise I think he’s trying to play through something.

Bad news though, Bowen Byram suffered yet another injury after taking a big hit from Max Jones. The hit looked legal, just one of those instances where Bo needed to keep his head up. Hopefully if he misses any time it won’t be too long.

Nice to see Jonathan Drouin begin to work his way back to being an impactful NHL player after a rough start. Now it remains to be seen if Tomas Tatar will figure it out. Effort is most definitely there but the guy just can’t get a break.

4-2 loss at home to the Jets. Extremely frustrating game--despite the fact that the Jets look really good this year and the Avs were reeling from illness and injuries, this was a very winnable game. But 0-4 on the power play, which included a 5-on-3, pretty much did them in. Also, the three goals given up were the result of horrid turnovers.

Of note, on the third goal scored by Josh Morrissey, Alexandar Georgiev got pissed off at rookie defenseman Sam Malinski for screening him and gave him a hard whack on the shin pad. He apologized later, and frankly I don't think it's that big a deal but it's still not good to see regardless. I'd be a little less irritated with AG if he were playing better, but frankly he's been quite mediocre this season. Avs are something like dead last in high-danger saves. Despite the fact that I don't think the goals were directly his fault, he needs to play better, and can the attitude a bit.

That said, goalies are kind fuckin' nuts, they certainly were when I played. And of course the annals of hockey history are filled with crazy-ass goalies doing crazy-ass things, from Terry Sawchuk to Gump Worsley to Eddie the Eagle to Tom Barrasso. This doesn't really come close to the shit I've heard about those guys.

Along with the lagging power play, Mikko Rantanen is a growing concern. He's goalless in like eight straight games and has looked like warmed over dogshit. Nothing like the Mikko from last year, who practically carried the team on his back when half the lineup was out.

Nathan MacKinnon is currently doing his damndest to win games. Factored huge on both Avs goals and was a force throughout, all while playing something close to 30 minutes.

Something's gotta give here, despite the fact that I believe they're still in the Western Conference and Central Division lead, they simply don't look that great and are WAY too reliant on their top players to carry them.

So, for the moment, the Avs have yielded first in the Central division to Winnipeg. They're 8th in the league, 5th in the Western Conference.

Plus-12 goal differential, good for 9th best in the NHL.

As for special teams, they have the league's 7th-ranked penalty kill, but 20th-ranked power play.

Nathan MacKinnon leads the team in scoring with 37 points, Cale Makar is 2nd with 37, Rantanen 3rd with 31, after that the dropoff is pretty substantial.

Alexandar Georgiev leads the NHL in goaltender wins with 14, but has a Sv% of .902, which ranks him 26th among goalies who have played at least 10 games. His GAA of 2.86 ranks him 21st in that same category. And the Avs have a team High-Danger Save Percentage of 79.31, which is 8th-worst in the league.

Sources: Natural Stat Trick and the NHL website.

So in short, goaltending is not bailing them out, their power play is costing them games, but despite all that (for now) they're still in a contending spot.

There's ONE caveat to all this though--I don't have the charts in front of me but apparently the Avs have one of the softest schedules in the league this year. It's bound to get a little tougher later this season, so we'll see what happens. It's obviously hurting them badly that Rantanen is slumping, Makar is clearly nowhere near 100%, and Sammy Girard is out indefinitely.

Massive comeback win against the Flames at home but oh shit that ain’t the spiciest item on the menu tonight.

https://theathletic.com/5130407/2023/12 ... ed_article

Mikko Rantanen finally ended his goalless drought and later in postgame called out Artturi Lehkonen’s dad for making some comments in an interview where Rantanen’s offseason work ethic came into question. He seemed pretty steamed about it but said he and Lehkonen are still good friends.

Hey if that’s what it takes to end the drought I’m all for it. Maybe Ismo Lehkonen can set his sights on Ryan Johansen now.

Talking shit is all good but you have to know your audience. How embarrassing for Artturi...its one thing to get hammered and talk shit on the father's trip...entirely another to talk to the media about your son's teammates.....sounds like a rec league lacrosse parent!

Huska just does not have this team...they are all about doing whatever they want still. Huberdeau just can't stop making terrible forced passes.....but at least Kadri and Mange Punani showed up. I think for a second I even saw Dube! Lindholm is going to be a catch for somebody at some point. Coleman is also earning his money. I was just impressed they kept it close but then blowing it in the 3rd undid all that.

Vladar......842......more Wolf please!

Anyway good to see Mikko figure out whatever he was working through. I doubt Artturi is in Mikko's trust circle any longer, friend or no.

The Pepsi center was noticeably empty in the 3rd.....and all I could say was I was glad I wasn't there with the Denver Douchebags to endure their hostility at the end.

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No AI has been used in the making of this post

Colorado is still the favourite to win the cup according to sports betting as of Dec 13th. I'm surprised, Vegas is a team that just seems to have no serious flaws and if I was betting I would out my money on.

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

I’d probably put my money on them too if I was to put it on anyone.

Emotional night welcoming back Erik Johnson for his one and only visit to Denver this season. He had to take a moment to collect himself during his pregame interview. Definitely safe to say no single person ever cared more or gave more to the Avalanche organization than he did. Rightfully got a huge standing ovation when the tribute video came up.

Anyway onto the game. Avs took care of business despite an absolutely horrendous second period, winning 5-1. Valeri Nichushkin was on a mission to get his 100th goal and he got it, and Nathan MacKinnon secured his 500th point.

Avs really gotta get those 2nd periods under control though. I believe they are statistically the worst second period team in hockey at present, worse than even the Sharks in goals given up.

Tomas Tatar, fare thee well. You were here for a good time, not for a long time.

Dealt to Seattle for a 5th rounder.

Dude certainly put in the effort but it’s impossible to characterize his short stint in Colorado as anything f other than a failure. 27 games, one goal.

Scuttlebutt seems to be indicating that this was a precursor to a bigger move. Guess we’ll see.

Not sure Tatar is finished, but he's been really hit or miss in various stops around the league. A borderline star in Detroit, he tanked in Vegas, was reborn in Montreal, was mediocre in NJ and tanked again in Colorado. He's a feisty player but doesn't use his linemates well. I think he doesn't jibe with some systems.

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