Gavin Brindley is the hero as Colorado Avalanche survive Vancouver Canucks | DNVR Avalanche Postgame

Gavin Brindley is the hero as Colorado Avalanche survive Vancouver Canucks | DNVR Avalanche Postgame

[Music] Get [Music] a heat. [Music] Welcome in to the DNBR Avalanche postgame show live from the Toyota Winners Lounge powered by your front range Toyota dealerships and presented by Bet 365. Bailey and Rudo coming to you as the ABS win in overtime. They are allowed to win in overtime. five to four. Thank God. Over the Vancouver Conucks in a game that, you know, maybe you expected some craziness on a Sega Baba, but wow. Some of that was hard to watch. There was a lot of bad hockey in this game. And I don’t even mean like just the ABS. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of bad hockey from the ABS, but we were halfway through that second period and shots on goal in that period were two to one. I mean, there was just some bad hockey. Yeah. No, this is a classic. They’re they’re riding the second game. Obviously, they expended a lot more energy than I expected them to in that first game in Edmonton, but oh god, there there there were some instances in this game that were just difficult. Yes. To watch in many many facets. Um but the ABS won, so all good, I guess. Uh I guess we’ll break down both sides of it. I think we’ll have a lot to say on the good and the bad side of this game. Let’s start that off with a 60second rundown. Uh started a little bit weird. Possession at times was a little all over the place, but the ABS score the first two goals of the game. Both of them coming from Nathan McKinnon picking right where he left off. Uh not too shabby. They do give one of those goals back pretty quickly on the other end, but the ABS win the first period two to one. Early in the second period, uh terrible, terrible turnover from Marty Nas. Makes it a two-2 game. And you would not see any other goals in the second. Like I said, some bad hockey in there. Third period, all over the place. Lucky scores a goal to give the ABS a lead. The ABS give it back. Lucky scores another goal to give the ABS a lead. Some questionable penalties get called that I’m sure I will talk about. And uh Vancouver scores a power play goal with less than 5 minutes in the game to tie it up and force the thing to overtime in which Gavin Brinley love the trust that he’s out there at all in overtime and he plays the hero. The ABS don’t put McKinnon and Natas out together in overtime and they win. Crazy how that works. Can that be the first thing that we talk about? Let’s talk about it. that you know in overtime the thing that has bitten you in all of your overtime losses does not happen tonight and you win crazy that is who thought it was possible insane how that works no I I love I I want to head back to that trust in Gavin Brinley because I think that is huge in the way that this played out because there’s not many instances where you see a fourthlininer earning it y the way that Gavin Brinley earned earned that ice time in overtime here tonight. And I do think there’s a little serendipity there. Um Marty Nius was bad pretty much the entire game. Uh Bedar was had started shifting Brinley for a few shifts of the top line even at the start the third period, end of the second period. So there was a level of Bedar felt like he had to do something. But I love that it was Brinley that he goes with in that situation. He could have easily fallen back on a Nelson Nushkin. uh it could have played and he also sent Landy down to the fourth line so I don’t know if he was going to get some OT time but for it to be Brinley and and well earned we’ll talk about him more in the second period but growth from Jared Bedar to to do that in overtime the the fact that we’re not talking about another insanity conversation I think is a a win in any anybody’s book tonight. Yep. Um I don’t know some of that play from Nutas. You’re you’re hoping after a game like yesterday where he was a little quiet on the score sheet, he finally gets something on the board. He did come out of it with a point tonight. So, there’s something to be said about that. It’s was on the fourth goal. You feel like it was an important moment, but I I don’t know. But there it’s situations like that where I I’m glad Bedar kind of sat and thought about it and was like, you deserve to lose some ice time with some of the things you showed in today’s game. And again, I mean, it worked out obviously, but atrocious game from Martin Nes here tonight. Yeah. And and I can live with bad games. They don’t bother me all that much in a vacuum. Everyone has bad games. It’s fine. I do really struggle with the goal that comes directly off of his stick against though. Yeah, that’s one. It’s unfortunately a common error in Marty’s game where he just gets too casual with the puck in the defensive zone. It’s been a flaw in his game for his entire career. Yeah. And maybe a bigger systemic issue of the team tonight than just Marty Nous. A lot of dudes got outworked for a lot of this game by the Vancouver Conucks. Oh yeah. And it again, it’s something you don’t want to see in the second game of a backtoback, but you’re also battling with another team who also has tired. Yeah. Right. This is this is not a oh, the ABS are up against it. This should have been an even playing field. And the ABS got I should say most of the ABS got outworked for a large portion of this game. Yeah, there there’s a couple who are in their flowers tonight. Well, I’m sure we’ll get way more into that, but yeah, it’s it’s hard when you know, two of your three guys on that top line are outperforming a lot of the other ones. I I mean, Nathan McKinnon, multi-point weekend, nine points this weekend. Yeah. Um, two two multi-goal games, which if I I’m going to reference the graphic that Altitude put up, has not happened since 2001 in consecutive days. Joe Sackic was the last guy to do it for this Avalanche team. Crazy. Insane. But I mean, just goes to show the monster that is Nathan McKinnon. But Arttori Lechinan, who has kind of his fluctuations with getting points, has two tonight as well. The only guy missing from that is the guy who just signed a major extension with the team. Yeah. And again, I I don’t want to read too much into a night that was bad from Marty. He’s fine. He got a point tonight. Like you said, there’s not this isn’t, oh no, the ABS are in trouble because Marty Nate just signed his contract and now he’s bad. No, that’s not what we’re talking about. The the first game that he played postcontract signing is, I think, proof of that. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um, and I said it on the watch along, if Marty Nas choose to have one of his worst games of the season on a night the ABS won. Yeah, I’m not complaining. Abs are fine. Yeah, I know. as long as he I mean again don’t make a habit of it but if if this is if we see prime Martin Nas in the game on Tuesday like I’m not necessarily upset about this game anymore from him. Yeah, I agree. Um there’s another topic I want to get into that I we’ll get it out of the way because I know a lot of people don’t like when we talk about this and like fair enough. I also don’t like talking about it but some nights I feel like I have to. Okay, there were three teams on the ice tonight and the ABS beat two of them. Yeah. Yeah. The refs were bad. I This is my take and I I think you and I agree on this just based on what I said on the watch along. It comes down to I don’t care if you’re calling soft penalties. Like soft penalties, yeah, it sucks to see it happen, but if that’s the way you’re calling the game, that’s fine. As long as it’s called on both sides. Yep. If you’re calling soft penalties on the avalanche and that’s not going the other way, that is where I have a major problem. And I I’m of the mindset that the fact that they are not held accountable for things like this. The fact that you can’t talk to officials or the league about this, that referees are so protected y with the within the league for their decisions pisses me off so badly. And I could live in a world with this game where before the start of the third period, I would have said, “Yeah, it was a bad refereing night. Whatever. You move on with your life. You get over it.” But the call the refs made to give Vancouver the late power play in this game is I I don’t understand. You missed that call earlier in the game. You were four feet away from Gabe Landisk who took that exact cross check in the offensive zone and you didn’t call it. Not to mention like during the third earlier in the third period as well again four feet from the behind Vancouver’s net something’s missed. I I just it’s you set a precedent and you didn’t stick to it. Like you were saying consistency is all I want there. And you directly affected the course of this game by being wildly inconsistent with your calls. Yeah. Do better. I I I don’t I I feel like I have no words, but at the same time, I have like all of them and there’s so many things I want to say. It’s just you have to do better. You you have it. You can’t call games like this consistently or else it like I I mean I just think back to last playoffs too where calls were kind of out of control and this is becoming a systemic issue. Yep. In the league. And like it’s not just the apps. Here’s what like it’s it’s teams around the league that are dealing with the same issue, too. And I’m like, it it doesn’t make any lick of sense to me. It’s just bad. It like it has to get better at a certain And again, we’re not asking for perfect games. We understand refs are human beings and they get calls wrong. Yeah. But there’s just there’s no world where you set the precedent in a game for what’s being called and then you change it randomly with five minutes left in a game. specific like I don’t know what Gabe Landiskog is supposed to do there. Even he looks confused like this is he’s he’s going to that ref and saying I talked to you about this at the end of the second period. The exact call that I wanted you didn’t give me and you just called it against me. I How do you play hockey as an NHL player when you don’t understand what the rules are? It it makes it too difficult. I I I have no clue. All right, we got that out of the way. We are I won’t talk about the rest the rest of the night. All right, we’ll move on. While I do think a significant portion of the ABS got outworked tonight, do they still get the resilience check mark? They do ultimately pull this game out. They technically never trailed even if they did blow three different leads. I’m kind of of the mindset like if if you’re the kind of team that can push to overtime. I feel like that overtime extra point automatically gives you that resilience check mark. It might have looked really ugly for for a good portion of that game, but you at least get a point out of it. And that that’s the kind of team that even Gabe Landiskog said like we we want to be known as this, but also like one point can’t just be good enough. And they went and showed that in spades today. It worked. You get four points of four points from a backto back. I Yeah. While we will pick more negatives out of this game for the ABS, I don’t know how you were mad about them. No. A team that found a way to win and and Yeah. Are were portions of this game about as bad as the ABS have played this year? Sure. Yeah. So what? No. And I feel like that’s exactly right. If you can say it, we’re saying so what after a win? Mhm. Like that. That’s what we’re taking out of this though. I feel like some again some of this was due. They had a great game yesterday. There was hardly any negative to talk about there. They that kind of all came to play out today. They were they were a team that was surviving, but a team that fought against all odds to come and get two points out of this. Yeah. And they got it. And did they make it harder than it needed to be at sometimes? Probably. It’s expected when your legs are that tired. You’re playing on the second game of of a backto-back. You’re uh you’ve got a goalender who has only played two games this season kind of fighting for his life back there. And again, you come out of it on on the positive side of things. You bring up the goalie. Let’s let’s get into that. What did you think of Blackwood tonight? I don’t know. There there are some of those where I’m like he he might want that one a little bit, but I’m also more inclined to say the abs were not doing him any favors. No. Back there. Um little sporadic. Rebounds were a little rough for me to watch tonight. Um but overall, I didn’t think it was a horrible Yeah, I it was not a horrible showing. You know, he’s going to end up with an under 900, which you don’t love to see, but I don’t know. Maybe the third one just because in his other game you saw him get beat high glove a couple times too and he gets beat high glove again on that one you don’t love but the other ones I don’t know how much more you can ask of him and I thought he was tracking the puck very very well tonight. So I I will say like despite what the score sheet and what the stat sheet says about him tonight like I I do feel like this was a step up from his last game. I would agree with that for sure. I think he was better than his. He’s definitely trending upward, which is again all you can ask from a guy who did not have the start to the season that he might have wanted. Yeah, hopefully this is a viewed by the ABS as a step in the right direction and they can uh get him starting a little bit more regularly there. 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Try the best wings in Denver at DNVR Broncos tailgates, too. The next one coming up, they’ll have Fire in the Mountain wings if you want to give them a shot or visit their spots in the Highlands and Wash Park. Second period of the DNVR Avalanche podcast. Do we have the three stars? Let’s hit the three stars first, then. Star number three of this game. And I think there are at least to me pretty three clearly distinct guys that should be on the three stars. Whatever order you want to put them in, fair enough. But I put Art Tur Leadin as star number three. He scores two huge goals. Probably deserved to score a gamewinner in that third period. Showed up when the ABS needed some juice. And this is probably a little bit on the harsh side, but if I’m being honest, I think there were only two players on the Avalanche that consistently outworked the Vancouver Conucks for the majority of this game, and Artur Lechinan was one of them. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I mean, his third period, his third period performance alone, I think, kind of capitalizes that. He He gave this team a chance to win it. We I mean, I’ll go ahead and bring it up. the power play again scored two goals and he was one of them. It was good tonight. He was maybe not good consistently throughout the night but his was I think incredible. You you get an opportunity to capitalize, convert and give your team a chance to, you know, win this thing even if it doesn’t go to overtime. And that again, we say what we can about that Vancouver power play, but Arttori Leinan was one of the most noticeable guys. Yeah. On the ice. Fully agree on that. Yeah, the power play did give up a short-handed goal, but you know, maybe steps if you’re going to give up a short-handed goal, score two power play goals. All right, that’s the step to consistency. Like, I’m okay with that. You you can live with some weirdness if stuff is moving in the right direction like that, right? Lucky just Mr. consistency when it comes to the work ethic and good to see him get rewarded with some nice points. Some really good plays. He puts himself in the right spots and it works. Y star number two, and I do not blame you if you put him at star number one. Nathan McKinnon has a fivepoint night. That is the F scored five goals. Nathan McKinnon was involved in all of them. Now, to be fair, his assist in overtime was uh leave the puck to Kale and go change and he still picked up the secondary. But that is the reason why Nathan McKinnon is considered a top three player in the NHL is because of nights like this. Oh, no. He’s a monster. I I don’t know how else to put it for for a guy like Nathan McKinnon. He’s shown that this is I mean he’s the difference maker for this team. A guy who gets the momentum going early with two goals in the first period. Uh another hat-tick written out of the script for him. A second hattick taken away from him in two nights. Um call that what you will. But again, there is something to be said about early starts and McKinnon kind of spearheading the start of that and leading the charge there. And again, there is something to be said about the fact that he was involved in quite literally everything that went on that went in a positive direction for the Avalanche here tonight. It’s when you look at the lack of hattick, of course you want one for the ABS. Hat tricks are cool moments, all that. Nathan McKinnon’s the leading goal scorer in the NHL right now. And we’re like, man, he probably could have had one or two more to get to that one of those hat-ticks. That’s a crazy sentiment to have, but it I mean, it’s true again. And there’s no conversation here in my mind. I I know it’s very early on in the season, but he’s proving that he is one of, if not the best player in the NHL. I don’t know how that’s not a conversation in anybody’s mind right now, especially after a performance like this. He had nine points this weekend and McDavid had one. I know I’m cheating with that, but I mean I again fair part of the conversation though. Yeah. If you’re talking about two leaders of their respective teams and Nathan McKinnon is without a doubt, no questions asked. Yeah. leading that conversation and all of that. Your top line gives you four goals in regulation. It’s not enough to get it done. And who is the hero of this game but Gavin Brinley. And obviously the overtime winner is awesome. Like great moment. That’s the type of thing that he’s going to remember for the rest of his career. The the superstar moment in the NHL for Gavin Brinley. But this game is so much more than that for him, right? No, this is a guy who by all means looking at the stat sheet for regulation is somebody who was like, “Oh, he he wasn’t huge out there.” Like, he wasn’t this isn’t a guy I’m keeping my eye on. But to anybody who watched this game, this was everywhere. Aside from Arturi Luckinon, this guy easily work outworked every single other guy on the ice regardless of what jersey you are wearing. Like, and and this just goes back to what I’ve said all season, what Jared Bednar has mentioned. I I’m sorry if I’m glazing him at this point. I will never stop talking about this kid just because of how much drive and how much work he puts in night in night out on this team. He deserved every single minute of ice time he got. And I I mean, you and I were saying it during heading into overtime. If anybody deserves to get the win for this team, it is Kevin Brenley. It was him tonight. I don’t know how you send him back down. You can’t. It’s the conversation is done. I Yeah. Sorry, Zakar Bartikov, but when LSC comes back, it’s you. It’s not Brinley, man. I I don’t know how that is even a conversation. Yep. So, it’s he has earned a full-time NHL job at this point that there is no argument there. And is it safe to say the Avalanche won that trade? Um, so how do you feel about Charlie Coyle? Did they win it long term? A thousand%. Two years from now, there is zero doubt the ABS will have won that trade. In the moment, I think you could make a argument that Charlie Coyle is a better player today. The conversation is a little more complicated than that because Charlie Coyle is being paid a lot of money to be a 3C if then realistically that’s what a role his role would have been in Colorado. Um, so from that aspect of it, the ABS saved a ton of money and they’re getting a quality player out of it. You could make an argument that the ABS have already won that trade and at the end of the day they’ve if that’s a long-term, you know, result of that though, like I I’m happy, I think. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I regardless of how you feel of whether they wanted it at this second or not, I don’t know how you’re not in love with the concept of the trade with uh with what Brinley has done with the work ethic with a guy who just will not quit and and he’s now shown up and scored goals in back-to-back games. Yeah. And is Gavin Brinley a topline player? No. I know he got some shifts up there and welld deserved, but we do I I hate to temper expectations a little bit, but the reality is this guy is going to continue to play in your bottom six and realistically your fourth line for the rest of the season. But it’s great to know you have that in the bag. I mean, if that’s what you’re getting out of your fourth line guy. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I guess that’s fun. I I’ll take we have to play him on the fourth line. Darn. Like no. And that that just goes to prove I mean we we talk about depth all the time. And this is just another prime example of the depth that this team possesses down all four lines. If that’s what if we’re sitting here glazing a guy on the fourth line. Yep. For producing and working as hard as he does. And you’ve you’ve created a situation that’s actually going to become fascinating for the ABS because Parker Kelly’s going to move back to center, which you know, fine. Obviously, we all like him better as a wing, but you have to do what you have to do. But then what happens if Kivir gets healthy? I guess Kivir is your 13th forward at that point. I don’t understand how he’s not. Yeah. I I mean again through it’s hard to judge what he was able to do through the games that he played so far, but before he got injured, I didn’t love him in the lineup. He was a The offense was pretty non-existent. Yeah. He was kind of a non-factor. And I understand again he had a career season last season. He earned every cent in that paycheck that he got, every cent of that raise. But given how this team is performing, the way that they are firing on all cylinders, I don’t know how you mess any of that up. I agree. Taking trying to fit Kibra back in that. Yeah, I I don’t think you can. Now, you know, Kib Ra might not be back for a while and who knows what things look like in December or whatever, right? But for where it stands, Gavin Brinley is the man. That’s that’s all there is to that conversation. Do we want to read too much into the blending? I I don’t know. I’m inclined not to. It’s not uncommon to see from Bednar, especially in third periods where they’re, you know, surviving the way that the Avalanche were. Certainly the nature’s Brinley thing is very clearly a you’re playing the hot hand thing to me. I’m not overthinking that one at all. No, I am curious on the Landiskog side of that though. He gets dropped down to the fourth line and obviously you’re doing some to some extent just moving stuff around trying to find something that works. But Landy really had his TOI cut in this game especially in in late second and third periods. Is that something to read into? Is that Ly’s still on a bit of a pitch clock in a backto-back situation? Is that just what happened in the moment? Landiskog’s kind of unfortunately with the way that he’s playing right now and this is not the knock on him that this is going to sound like but it’s almost kind of like one of those sacrificial pieces unfortunately like his game is not where he wants it to be. I’m sure Bednar is expecting him to kind of find that later down the season again when game what 16 like I don’t think he’s in any rush like yes obviously you’d like to find it sooner rather than later that’s what I think the result of this is is just you know Landiskog is not quite there yet they’re trying to find a spark from anywhere and unfortunately if that’s what you need to get a spark from the guys who are playing a hot game for you right now I don’t think Ly’s exactly complaining like if that’s what the team wants to do. He’s a I mean he’s a captain for a reason. There’s a reason he earned that C. He’s got the mindset to be that player for the ABS. And then that’s just kind of how the cookie crumbled at that point. Am I I really don’t know how to feel about this. Am I being overly critical of this? Is this blending a result of a second period where the ABS were getting dominated again? Oh, yeah. Yes, the ABS were on a second. Yes, they were had tired legs, but so did Vancouver. There really shouldn’t be an excuse for the ABS to get the run over the way they did in that second period as far as the pace of play and the possession and the way things shook out. Am I too focused on that being a negative and should be more focused on the positive of actually it turns out the entire ABS lineup is just flexible and you can play anyone with anyone and it’s great. I mean having that versatility certainly doesn’t hurt. Yeah. So I think that’s an upside to it. But again I I go back to Bedar needed to find a spark from somewhere. Yep. Right. And I guess there’s something to be said about, you know, this team, the lines, the way they were constructed, the chemistry that you’re hoping to build between linemates obviously wasn’t working. Like something was not jelling there. The chemistry was a little off in a lot of aspects. And you find that and I think that versatility is great. Um, but it it’s more so I I think again things just are not working. You got to find got to do something. Yeah, got to find a spark from somewhere. And it certainly doesn’t hurt. No. To shuffle things around. The ABS are have that flexibility. And a couple of more angles I want to get to here on some specific guys that we’ll talk about, but uh before we do that, we do need to take another break to shout out some more sponsors as uh we love our sponsors over here. And we are brought to you by the fantastic folks over at Game Time. If you want to go get yourself tickets to watch these wild abs play, you can do it with Game Time. Sign up with code DNVR on the app and you’ll get $20 off your first purchase. 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Whether it be trucks, SUVs, sedans, 17 different models with all or four-wheel drive. So, I know it hasn’t snowed yet in Denver, but it’s coming. Believe me, it’s going to come. And you’re going to want that four-wheel drive on the roads to make sure you’re locked in and good to go. 16 different vehicles with low or zero emissions. They make more than anybody else out there uh combined. So, jump in with that. If you’re trying to save a little bit of money on your commute, you can visit your front range Toyota stores at a location near you, including Autoation Toyota Rapun Centennial, Corin Toyota in Boulder, Group, and Littleton, Mount Stone Endeavor, Steven East in Aurora, and Steven West in Lakewood. Toyota, the official vehicle of not just us at DMV, but the Colorado Avalanche 2. Toyota, let’s go places. Third period of the DNVR Avalanche podcast. And uh I also wanted to get in before we jump into some of these other specifics, checking the stat sheet with Dick’s sporting goods. There are a lot of stats you could get into tonight on this one, but I think maybe the most interesting one of the night is not all the scoring, not the power play, not the special teams. When you look at the time on ice distribution tonight, Nathan McKinnon 20 minutes barely including an overtime shift. Nate just under 20. Third most time on ice in the ABS Ford core is Jack Drury at 18 minutes. And this is what I’m talking about with that flexibility. Uh Brock Nelson was cut all the way down to 14 minutes and 31 seconds. And you can take an approach to this where maybe you want more out of Brock Nelson. Maybe you want more out of that second line. Although Nushkin is a guy we’re going to talk about who gave you a pretty good game tonight, I think. Um, but the conversation with the ABS third line has been so good that we’re drifting into a territory where functionally the ABS third line might just be their second line some nights. Yeah. I which is a really difficult conversation to have for me. I think it from a I think salary standpoint. I guess I’ll start first off. You’re talking about a Brock Nelson who’s being paid. Yeah. To be and he needs to produce more. Absolutely. But functionally, I I think chemistry alone puts this third line in a league of its own. Yep. When if if it’s just the middle six we’re talking about. Sure. Like that’s I I love the way that they have jelled so far. I I’m mean I hashed out all my Jack Drury smarts yesterday, so I’ll leave that conversation alone. But no, the the way that they’ve been jelling, the way things have been kind of clicking for that line functionally, the way that they move across the ice, it it’s hard to not sit there and say like that that team’s earn or that line has earned every little bit of trust that Jared Bedar has given to them on the ice. Yeah. And Jack Dury didn’t produce a point tonight, but goes even at five on five, plays those 18 minutes, did a ton of penalty killing for you. face off was horrible in the face off. The numbers were not great. Every AB not named Nathan McKinnon was horrible in the faceoff. You know, went 50%. Nelson was only a little under 50. Uh yeah, weird faceoff night. Yeah, put it to you that way. No, not a stat I’m worried about. The time on ice is the more interesting one. On the back side of that, Kale Mar popped right up to 27 minutes tonight as you expected. Are we surprised? No, not even a little bit on on that one. Uh Mar also picked up a couple of assists, including an easy one on the gamewinner, but he did get one there. Uh wow, those are gigantic cups. Well, the other ones I was spilling everywhere, so Okay, so you put together a game where you’re like, “Oh, well, you know, NIS was was actually pretty bad. Landisk didn’t play a ton. you maybe your traditional second line wasn’t good, but you got a good game out of your functional second line and your third line. Olivesson picked up a point tonight. You find ways to be effective when there are issues in your game. And I I think this is part of something that the ABS have done a lot this year, especially in a lot of their overtime losses. They’ve had issues that they’ve found ways to be effective. But does it feel a little bit different because they got this game over the hump? I think so. Okay. Yeah. I I think that’s a fair outlook to have. I feel like any situation like this was a really really big obstacle that the Avalanche just could not get past. Um one of the only teams left in the league without a win in overtime, which was for a team that is playing the most overtime, right? playing not only playing the most overtimes but the best team in the league. True. Also true. Like that. It’s just it’s a weird quirky thing. Yep. And that’s something they I mean could maybe still call quirky just given statistically their success in overtimes p or anything past regulation. But that’s something that they can finally check off as being like something that they have solved. True. Wonder if that gives I mean this was kind of I don’t know if I would call this night an anomaly for a guy like Gavin Brimley but again you try something different in overtime and it works and it just seems like of all like of the things that did not go right for this Colorado Avalanche team tonight like that’s the one big draw to take out of it for me I don’t know on a game with issues we talked so much about the first 20 games about tightening the screws it did feel like some screws got tightened tonight with you get an OT win. You you learn your forward core a little bit better to not make the McKinnon nature’s mistake in overtime. Your power play scores twice against a bad power penalty kill. You’d also give up a shorty. I’m not saying you’ve they’ve solved it. That’s that’s not what I’m saying. But you are in a situation where the power play you feel better about. They scored big goals for you. They scored honestly both of the power play goals looked good in a sense of yes they’re nice plays but the ABS didn’t try to make the perfect play to get these results. They’re getting into dirty areas. They’re power play doesn’t look one-dimensional which I I think was the biggest thing for me. Like it’s not as easily telegraphed. They’re they’re making those dirty plays. They’re trying to find the middle of the ice. They’re not just a perimeter passing team anymore on the power play, which is huge. And this is the thing that we were talking about with the power play and being like, ideally, this is a team that should be producing every night or at least every other night on the power play. Like, this is a power play that should be producing consistently. Yes, the shorty is not great, but the shorty in a lot of ways gets lumped into Marty Nas’s bad game for me because it only happens because Nas is late to the wall. Doesn’t get to the puck and puts himself in a position where it becomes a really bad decision. If he wasn’t going to get there and he backs off, it’s a clean twoon two. You’re fine. If he’s going to go for it and he gets there, it’s a great keep and you keep yourself in the zone, but he misses it and it creates a disaster. Yeah. So, I don’t know. I’m I’m choosing to take this as a like if we’re looking at small victories out of a survival game. Yes. For this Colorado Avalanche team, like that is one of mine is the power play looks dangerous like in in almost every single facet of it. Like they have looked at what went wrong between their hot start and now and fixed it. Yep. And that’s all I can ask it. I do think there are some other stuff I want to talk about, but we are over 100 likes. We got some winner shots to do. We do appreciate you, chat. Uh, if there’s 400 of in you here, you in here, you can get some more likes. But Dr. Dubs, get some emojis in the chat from our supporters club. We appreciate y’all. There we go. So, I think it is worth noting, look, when everyone on your team plays great, you beat Edmonton 9 to1 and it’s awesome and everyone has a fun time. But the reality of normal NHL games is you’re going to have some guys playing well, you’re going to have some guys playing not super well. And when you find ways to win those games where some guys are making mistakes that are costing you, the abs are great. That is a sign of a great team is when you can win games like this one. And you’re not going to win every night when it looks like this. But the ABS found a way. And it comes back again to that conversation of resilience, right? And being that, you know, this is a team that maybe did not look their best. Yep. But they came out of it on the other side against a team that I mean, maybe also didn’t look great, but definitely looked better. Y for most of the game. And that I think is a really defining trait of this Colorado Avalanche team. The fact that they can pull things like that out of their bag of tricks and fight and survive long enough to create your best opportunity to to find a way to win. Yep. It It’s not always the simple path. No. And the ABS have done a really good job of finding the path in games like this one that Yeah. You don’t love that they couldn’t close it out in regulation. Yeah. You don’t love the any of that second period to be honest. But good that the ABS understand, oh, we had a bad period. Let’s the game’s over. Let’s give up. Let’s collapse. I think we had seen some of that in the last couple of years from this Colorado Avalanche team. And we’ve seen pretty much none of that this year. Yep. The question I guess want I want to pose and it might sound like a stupid question but we we’ve talked consistently about this team stacking points right and being the resilient team to push to overtime and at least grab a point out of it. Is there something to be said about the points that they’re also leaking in in that case too? Like not only are they like both teams on each side of the ice are are getting a point out of it regardless of who wins the overtime. Maybe you can have that conversation with the Dallas game with the Utah game. Sure. A divisional opponent. Yeah. You want to talk about, hey, those are four-point games. Hey, you would love to really bury those teams in regulation, but both of those games, I think, were more of the hard fought. The ABS were the team that got a point leak to them, maybe. I don’t care at all if the ABS give a point to Vancouver. I’m I’m not worried. That is much more about the opponent than it’s going to vary depending on who you’re playing. Fair. A win’s a win at the end of the day. Yeah, it’s positive that they they were not the team with just one right tonight. I think that that’s worry worry about winning, not how you get the win. Right. There we go. If your if your win costs a point to the other team a lot better than losing. Yeah. No, and if that’s the habit, this ABS team can start to get into as well. Like I I like this win a whole lot more. Yep. After the fact. Same. I don’t think that I was going to be ever too upset with this game once it got to overtime. Three out of four points on a back toback is a win every single time. A seven% all of the obstacles in front of you that you know more than one situation was trying to put in front of you. But having four out of four, it feels good. It feels good. Yeah, that’s again I mean you and I talked about it earlier was this schedule is rough. It is the Avalanche like regardless of opponent like not not even like talking about the travel the travel situations the the severe amount of backtobacks that this team is facing in such a short amount of time like it’s not an easy schedule for anyone like I’m I mean yes the Avalanche are the top team in the league but I mean San Jose if they were facing like it it would be difficult for anybody in their position. Yep. The fact that they have gotten as many points out of the backtobacks that they have, I think is a win in and of itself, but going perfect on this one feels a little sweeter. It does. We are 16 games into the season. Out of a possible 32 points, the ABS have dropped seven. Yeah. Bordering on playing 800 hockey to start the season. Huge team. team is massive. If you had told that to me a year ago, wouldn’t have believed you. I would not have believed one word coming out of your mouth. I It’s still only 16 games. I I’m trying really really hard to not go full homer and drink the Kool-Aid, but last year it didn’t feel like this. No. Year before didn’t feel like this. There’s There’s something extra with the ABS this year. And I’m not saying, “Oh, they’re the team of destiny. They’re they’re going to win the cup.” I don’t know that. I I hope they do. But it does feel like this team has a little bit of that extra sauce. Yeah. I I don’t know. Last year’s trade deadline was a turning point I think of sorts for this not not just the team but just the the culture in Colorado as a whole around this around the team is that this is a team that wants to extend their window as long as possible to give this team a fighting chance and this is I mean I mean the ABS are lucky and that they’ve won a cup recently. Yep. But since then, it’s looked a little rough for the squad in playoffs. And this feels like the closest they have been to looking like the team that’s going to go and do it all. And again, 16 games, it’s it’s really hard to like kind of home like rein it in a little bit, but it’s I mean, I’ll repeat what I said yesterday. It’s hard not to be romantic about the way that this team is playing and how they’re approaching the season so far. Yep. It’s It’s crazy. Yeah. GX in the Toyota chat. 14 goals in essentially 26 hour 26 and a half hours. It’s a good stretch of hockey. It’s a good stretch of hockey. Unfathomable to me that like that is a stat that does not quite compute in my brain. I did want to get back to Nathan McKinnon’s five points too here because the best players on the planet make everyone around them better and the list of players that picked up a point alongside Nathan McKinnon and some are more than one point but Nathan McKinnon picked up a point on a play with other teammates that include Nushkin Mar Olifson Lechinan Nas and Brinley. Yeah, pretty much everyone on the team that played with him figured it out. Even Even Marty Nate just got a point in this game by playing with Nathan McKinnon. I feel like that’s the trait of a superstar though, right? Is it is it absolutely looking at, you know, he can be the monster that he is, but he’s also going to make every single guy around him look incredible as well. And I I mean not just tried I I don’t know if he was trying to look bad but he looked bad tonight. But again to still get what he got out of it. Yeah. Tonight like we’re calling this a bad night for Martinees who still got a point. Yep. It and that I mean just again going back to Nathan McKinnon like that that’s trade of a superstar. I I don’t know how you look at that any differently. Your floor can’t be a black hole. It’s got to be at least decent. especially when you’re getting high ice time like a a Martin Aes. But you move beyond that. In some ways, I think he got lost in this game because both of Val and Chushkin’s points came pretty early in this game. He has multiple assists. The first Nathan McKinnon goal is far more Val’s play than it is McKinnon. McKinnon basically had an open open net to shoot it into. Uh Val was one of your best possession players in this game, too. I do think he had gone a little bit quiet over this last stretch, but that’s a guy that’s always lurking for the Colorado Avalanche. He’s part of the reason you have that flexibility. Felt took shifts with the top line tonight. Felt took shifts with the third line tonight. You It’s I appreciate what you are watching from the Colorado Avalanche this year. Yeah. because there are not a lot of teams that have the depth that a team like the Colorado Avalanche has. No, it’s this is a fun era and not just like I I’ll shout out, you know, our other beats as well, but this is this is a fun era of Denver sports in general. Yep. where three of the four major sports teams are leading their respective leagues or at least dang near close to it. But I don’t know, this being an Avalanche podcast, like it’s very hard to not be happy with almost every single thing you’re seeing from the Avalanche are earning it and they’re playing really pretty hockey in most games. And the games that they’re not playing pretty hockey, they’re resilient enough to at least make something positive of it. Yeah, I there’s too much good to get hung up on the bad with the Colorado Avalanche right now, which I we’ll keep my mouth shut about the Broncos and the vibes I’m getting from them, but compare the Broncos vibes where they’re squeaking out wins. The ABS squeak one went out tonight. Yeah, but this has not been the norm. This is uh yet another way that the ABS find a way to get the job done. Yeah. No, it’s it’s hard to be unhappy. It is. I If you’re unhappy with the ABS on a three-game winning streak and are the best team in the NHL, maybe ABS fandom isn’t for you. The like fan how you want to fan, but if you’re not happy now, you may never be happy watching hockey. And again, like I understand the conversation if it is still relatively early, but of course given given what is happening currently, given the way that they’re playing in the sustainability at which like I I mean I wasn’t necessarily a part of it, but we just had our frauds and yes, whatever. Frauds and gods. This avalanche team doesn’t fit into the fraud conversation at all. Not at all. Not even a little bit. like there. It’s not as though they’re playing like they I mean we could talk it. I mean, god level. Okay. Um No, but this is this is a team that the kind of hockey that they are playing is something that is sustainable through 82 games. Yeah. And it it has to do with the personnel, the the depth, the star power on all all parts of it, like down across all 200 feet. Like it’s this is a really deep team and a really good team when you consider the top end talent. It’s those underlying sustainable numbers, right? Obviously, they’re not going to score nine goals every night, but we also went through a stretch of this season already where I was like, “Wow, we would really like the ABS to finish a little bit more when they’re losing games two to three to San Jose and the puck’s not going in.” This is kind of the course correction there. Five is a lot of goals tonight. I think Kevin Lankin was in a tough spot having to start both ends of a backto-back and the ABS took a little bit of an advantage of that, but good when teams give you opening. Exactly. Exactly. And and the ABS did that tonight. Gavin Brinley maybe most of all on that overtime winner where he gets to his uh his own rebound and makes it work. Talk about drive. Yeah, it’s it’s good. And and for as poor as some of the portions of this game were for the Colorado Avalanche at the end of this game, which for the vast majority of it was a one-goal game or tied, there was not the ABS were up for two by a little bit. At five on five, the ABS had the better of possession in this game. actual shots. The ABS had the better at five on five. Penalty kill got shellacked a little bit. Yeah, but honestly survived. You give up that late one, but you you’re one for five on your PK’s fine. I I don’t have a problem there. Scoring chances 24 to 23. Pretty high octane. Actual high dangers 14 to 10. Mhm. In the ABS favor. Yeah, that’s a team we’re nitpicking for. They lacked effort. It’s a team we’re uh nitpicking for. Some guys really struggled tonight. Mhm. And they’re still pretty positive on a lot of the five on five metrics. Yeah. I I Okay. How How do you stop them? How do you stop them when when the team is firing on all cylinders the way that they are? I mean, talk about five on five underlying numbers. You talk about the power play finally getting going. You talk about the penalty kill being as dangerously good as it is. And you’re getting McKenzie Blackwood back. Yeah. which we’re expecting to move in the right direction. Yeah, tonight was step one and there’s a lot more steps for Blackwood to get to. Uh it’s really good. All of it is is really really good. We do have uh I think a few super chats to get to here and then we can move into some of our final thoughts on the show. $2 from Connor who says here to say GG from Vancouver. Much love to my guy Lanky. Connor, appreciate you. Yeah, thank you. That’s your homies, right? Yeah. There you go. I I don’t know. Shout out to the squad. I could live in Vancouver. I’m not rich enough to live in Vancouver, but I could. It’s pretty. It’s pretty. Uh 55 pounds. I can’t tell what the symbol is. Euros from Teemo who says backto back and all but 88 on first line is still not great. Should shoot more than he is. 88 and not starting overtime I feel was just byproduct of Bendar. Yeah, I the right decision. And again, this is not a knock on Marty. I don’t think this is not a the ABS are changing things up. This is Gavin Brinley was the hot hand. Marty Nes was struggling tonight. Bedar made the decision and it paid off and Nas will come back on Tuesday and score two goals or whatever it is. And he’ll still be a really good player. Yeah. Recognize the game you’re in. Go with the guys who are going to help you win. And it wasn’t Marty Nes tonight. I’m not quick to say that Bednar has finally learned from his bad decisions because knowing how stubborn this coach is. I mean, I don’t want to be that naive in going to say that just yet. But this does seem like a step in the right direction in saying like this, we know it works. Brinley earned his ice time, but even without that, like he played really responsibly in threeon three. And this is not a knock to say that Martine Neas is not a competent OT guy. Again, just McKinnon and they just together doesn’t work. Together does not work. I fully expect to see Nes back out on the ice next time the Avalanche are in a three-on-ree situation as long as he doesn’t have like a horrible game and gets benched. But this is still like this seems like a step in the right direction for this overtime. And I Nas unfortunately was the odd man out with the way Brinley was playing. You know how look I’ve been a stubborn guy in my life too so I I think I understand the feeling that Jared Bendar might have gotten in this game where obviously the power plays with McKinnon and Major together were a disaster. So, there’s a little bit of I’m gonna throw Gavin Brinley out there because fine, like fine, I I’ll do this. Fine. Again, though, how do you not, right? But and then it works, right? And that if as a stubborn person, when it works, you’re like, “All right, maybe I was wrong about this.” Like, sucks to admit. At a certain point, you have to admit it. Yeah. I don’t know. like that that feels I I can’t speak for Jared Bedar obviously, but I imagine that being wrong about that and it working has to be like a bit of an eye openener. Yeah, exactly. In a way, like down the road for sure. Uh $2 from Ryan. East Coast gang. No, don’t need sleep. What’s that? Yeah, you guys are down bad. That’s crazy. Between you and our Euros, the sleep schedules are it’s over for you. It’s ruined. Yeah, that I I will say being a former East Coaster, I don’t miss those hockey start times at all. You’re uh you’re working the late hours, but you’re not in bed at 4:00 a.m. Yeah, that’s rough, buddy. Meanwhile, I will be in bed at 4 a.m. I got to go do video. That makes one of us. Yeah, I that’s always been my life. I just I have backwards schedule. It’s how you live. Fair. Um, look, the Colorado Avalanche are the best team in the NHL. And to some extent, you can say, yeah, that papers over some mistakes that you don’t want to let fester. But also, you just don’t have that many mistakes if you’re the best team in the NHL. No. The ABS have lost one point in their last six games. And those games include a four-goal win, an eightgoal win, and some grindy ones against Vegas, against Tampa Bay, against Vancouver. We’re talking about a team just very recently that had a four-ame losing streak technically. Yeah. Yeah. Three of those were, but Yeah. But again, you get three points. Yep. Out of those. There’s only one that you lose in regulation, which again we talk about traits of superstars of, you know, culture. That is a trait of, and I don’t want to get ahead of the ball here, but that is the trait of a championship team. Yep. A team that they’re not going to give you a lot, but they can recover well. and the resilience, the way that they’ve worked. It’s I it’s it’s incredible to watch. It’s incredible to be a part of. It’s knowing that they are capable of this makes me terrified. Yeah, team’s good. And like in the best way possible. No, I Yeah, exactly. Um so a good point from Bobby in the Toyota chat there. Shout out to Jared Bednar. 400 wins in the NHL. Okay. Pretty good. Pretty good at the coaching thing. Pretty good. Seems like the understatement of a century for a guy like Jared Bednar. I I don’t know. In his first season, he barely won 20. Yeah. Which again, it that’s kind of a full circle moment here, too. Looking at the start that Jared Bedar had with this team versus where he’s he’s gotten. I I have a special privilege of being able to see the impact that he has on these guys up close. Yep. The respect that he commands in the locker room and and we talk about that all the time. The way that the players look up to him, but the relationship that he’s built with them and the culture that he’s created in that locker room. There’s a lot of people, you know, the Firebed conversations come up more often than I personally think they should. It’s you’re you’re talking about a guy who has earned every single bit of every single positive that has come out of this team. He’s fostered that. He’s created this culture. He’s created a locker room full of respect and leadership and allowing this team to grow the way that it it has into the team that it is today is it’s remarkable. Yeah, it’s it’s special. But like I said, appreciate it while it’s happening with the ABS right now cuz they’re they’re awesome. It’s it’s great to watch. It’s great to be a part of. It’s all good. Any final thoughts, Bailey, before we wrap this thing up? And it it is tomorrow again. It’ll be nice to be back home on Tuesday. It will be. It will be. It feels like there’s been a lot of travel. I know they’ve played a decent amount of home games when we talk about that. You play one home game and you travel again. That’s just another stop on the trip. Yeah, it it’ll be nice to have a couple at home. My favorite theme night of the year is coming up later this week, too. So, I’m very excited about that. But, no, it it’ll be nice to be back home for a little bit. It’s all sitting pretty in Aland. They get a well- earned day off tomorrow. We are taking the day off tomorrow. So, we will see you Tuesday for that game. We do appreciate y’all. This has been the DNVR Avalanche postgame show presented by Bet 365. And we’ll see you on the next one. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

A sloppy SEGABABA for the Colorado Avalnche is survived thanks to a four point night from MacKinnon, two big goals from Lehkonen, and Gavin Brindley finally gets the Avs their first OT win.

Intro – 0:00
Rundown – 2:10
Three teams on the ice tonight – 8:07
Resilience check mark? – 11:00
Blackwood’s game? – 13:40
Three stars – 16:50
Where does Kivi fit? – 24:55
Blendar – 26:20
Checking the Stats – 32:00
Worry about winning not how you get the win – 39:30
Nate Makes everyone around him good – 46:20
Superchats – 53:40
Wrapping up – 57:00

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