harmfuljays wrote:
Hmm yeah not too sure I am drinking all of that kool aid on Bednar.
I'd like to see some analytics on these last 2 games. Is there anyone out there breaking these games down? Any links?
https://www.milehighhockey.com/2020/8/2 ... ake-game-2Quote:
I think the chickens are coming home to roost for half the Avs defense corps. You know my thoughts on Nikita Zadorov, he looked hopeless without Erik Johnson next to him. Same goes for Ryan Graves when you take him away from Makar’s insane puck moving and resulting corsi numbers. And I know it’s not primarily his job, but Sam Girard is really bad in his own zone and when defensive babysitters aren’t there around him, he looks really exposed.
This game showed massive flaws in half the defense that has per percolating for a while. Zadorov is reckless, Graves is in over his head when he has to deal with tougher competition, and Girard can’t be more than a sheltered secondary offensive defenseman. I guess it’s good that Connauton seemed invisible in this game, but it might be because he only played 10:31 minutes, eight seconds less than the injured EJ played in Game 1. Maybe this was an outlier bad game for these guys on the back end, but unfortunately, we may only get two more chances to test that theory.
Not sure if I am willing to throw that much dirt on it but if they can't pull out of the tailspin its definitely going to need to be looked at. Pretty sure Graves had decent numbers before Makar even came around.
Girard was a -3 last night and he has not been good with the increased responsibility since EJ went down. Makar was a -1. Leaning on young ones while Dallas plays a pressure D approach is a recipe for disaster IMO (think Reilly/Barrie). I am not sure I would excuse that pairing so easily (more like turned and burned). But Dallas is poking at a weak point on the Avs and Mackinnon's knee it seems.
What bothers me the most is that Dallas depth players are clicking. They are rolling everyone with consistency and getting results. A good team of Vets like the stars knows that taking away time and space is key. Add that to the already obvious button pushing approach and the Avs are going to need to dig deep.
Calvert is a huge character loss.
Bednar leaned on his horses last night and that didn't work....so I guess we'll see where he goes from there. If this continues to evolve into the Nathan show only then they can forget it. Its gut check time and this is where championship teams are made or broken.
Yes, you can always get the analytics on this site of any given game.
https://www.naturalstattrick.com/Basically, the Avs completely dominated in period 1 but only managed one goal. In the 2nd frame, they were great...right up until that penalty. Then within 10 minutes of that, everything that could go wrong, did. Then they just looked gassed in the third and Dallas was perfectly fine sitting back and disrupting the Avs' attack in the NZ.
The top line was good as usual, but that 2nd line is simply not producing, and really, they're not creating any solid scoring chances. Bednar basically promoted the 4th line to serves as a de factor 3rd line, and put Nichushkin with Bellemare and Nieto. I thought that was a reasonably good checking line, though two of those guys are being asked to do a little too much. It was the "new" 4th line of Namestnikov, Jost, and Compher that was a complete and total disaster. Even in 9 minutes of ES time, Compher was abysmal and whenever he was on the ice, the Avs got completely caved in shot-wise. I don't know what his problem is, he's played nervous as hell in this series and it makes zero sense. He's bobbling pucks, making bad reads, and doing absolutely NOTHING on the forecheck. This whole disaster started when he made a really bad clearing attempt behind his back going into the defensive zone, which led to a turnover, which led to Girard's "slashing" penalty. If Calvert gets healthy, it's readily obvious who should sit.
But bottom line, doesn't matter who the coach is, Barry Trotz channeling Toe Blake could not get the Avs to win if that's the goaltending they're gonna be getting. Frankie needs to pull his head out of his ass, and do it fast.