Brock Nelson and the Colorado Avalanche outwit, outplay, and outlast the Philadelphia Flyers

Brock Nelson and the Colorado Avalanche outwit, outplay, and outlast the Philadelphia Flyers

Got him again, boys. [Music] [Applause] [Music] It’s not the pregame, it’s the post game. Welcome in to the DNBR Avalanche postgame show live from the studio B, but still presented by Bet 365. We got Bailey and Rudo coming to you live. The ABS take down the Philadelphia Flyers in a hardfought win. What’s not to love? I you know, this was a fun one despite being the the back end of a backtoback. I I enjoyed this one. Yeah, me too. It fun game. I I think the ABS deserve a ton of credit top to bottom for getting this job done tonight. It was not an easy one. It was not a night where you expected the ABS to have a ton of jump and they found what they needed to. Flyers chat’s already talking about it. They’re a sneaky decent team this year and Oh, yeah. ABS still managed to take care of business in a tough spot. Yeah. No, and it’s I I like that you’re crediting everybody because it truly was a a full team effort. You’ve got production from your top line. You’ve got production from your middle six. Yep. Uh your defense is doing what they need to be doing. Devon Taves, great tonight. Great tonight. One of the guys on the board with a point. Yep. Uh secondary assist on that Valushkin goal. Uh McKenzie Blackwood huge save on a penalty shot that I I’m sure we’ll talk about why that No doubt should not have been a penalty shot or should have or you know consistency be be what you will. Consistency is the word. Yeah, but no, it top to bottom was a really really really good team effort. Yeah, I I I really there are some negatives that we will talk about, but the ABS team is just use the word resiliency that we’ve been using so often or or whatever it is. It’s a team that is they’ve played exactly one game where they’ve been an easy out this year and it was two games ago. Yeah. and the other 28 have all been fantastic work and they get rewarded for it. Um, let’s hit the 60-cond rundown first before we dive into anything else any deeper. First period, ABS start off getting a little bit of unlucky. It’s it’s a nice play from the Flyers, but a deflection just goes in on the ABS early. I don’t know that there’s anything to really fault there. Plays like that happen, and the ABS get the response in the first period. They’re able to pot a goal of their own. Thanks to Brent Burns, who was a shooting machine tonight and also had some issues, but we’ll get into that. Uh, this 1-1 looks like it’s going to be 1-1 heading into the second, but for the first time in what feels like a billion years, the ABS power play scores a meaningful goal off of some nonsense in front. It’s ultimately Brock Nelson to knock the puck in. It just barely gets across the goal line, but it does cross it. It’s 2-1 ABS after one. Second period, the ABS strike Valushkin pretty quick to make it 3-1. you feeling pretty good about the ABS. Things are looking good. Eventually though, you do get some push back from the Flyers to make it 32. And then the third period kept it locked in control. Blackwood stops that penalty shot and 3-2 ends up being your final. Nice. Kept it to 60. Heck yeah. Uh we’ll get into a lot more detail of all the periods here, but let’s start loosely chronologically before we, you know, eventually go off on a tangent like we always do. Great first period from the Colorado Avalanche. I know the Flyers give up the or get that first goal on a a deflection. That was their second shot of the period and then the ABS gave up a grand total of one more shot to the Flyers for the rest of the first. Holding a team that, you know, we we talked about it in the pregame not being like a super the Flyers anyway, not being a super heavy like shot team, whatever. And this was that this was the avalanche really holding down the fort. Holding a team to three shots in 20 minutes is kind of crazy. It is crazy concept to me. Um and and it’s not even a clean shot. Yep. Either like as you said deflection going in if that’s not perfect positioning by Curier there. ABS dominate this period. Yep. And again, this isn’t the ABS holding a team like Nashville to three shots. This is not a bad hockey team they’re going against. This is a team fighting for a bubble spot. Could be a playoff team this year. And the ABS, honestly, through the first two periods looked pretty darn puck dominant against this hockey team. So, it’s impressive stuff from them on that front. Um, when you look at this game design for the ABS, obviously a goal going in early, you didn’t love. You said, “H this could be tough for for them.” But to have a successful first period like this, I guess I’ll ask it to you a different way. Which rank the periods by importance for the Colorado Avalanche? First, second, and third. Oh gosh. Um, I feel like for me anyway, it probably and and this might sound a little weird, but first, third, second is probably the way that I go here. I second definitely the least important. I think you could go either way with first and third, but given that the ABS scored goals in the first and that that’s the way that I go with it is because you come out of the first winning the period. Yep. You you come out of it on top. You maybe chased for a little bit, but ultimately like you showed why that was the most dominant period by the Colorado Avalanche. The third period by all means, and I I think we can both agree here was sloppiest. It was survival, right? Yeah. Yeah. that that’s what it looked like. But even in that sense, like Mackenzie Blackwood makes a huge save. Yep. And you hold on. Yep. You don’t allow anything amid the sloppiness. And the second’s just kind of like a cherry on top. Like, yeah, Val Val Nashkin scores. Okay, cool. You’re you’re kind of dominating there. By all means, kind of even. It was a fairly even period, but yes, that that first and third were huge. It was good stuff. It’s not always going to be, oh, the ABs are just better and they’re just going to push their way to a win. Yeah, the NHL is too hard to do that. Especially playing your third game in four nights doing all of that. And honestly, you know, I this was not by any stretch a dominant hockey game for the Colorado Avalanche. It really was pretty even, at least on the underlyings for the majority of the game. But that doesn’t tell the whole tale. doesn’t tell you that the ABS were doing so many good little details, especially through the first two periods where you’re you’re watching them win puck battles or you’re watching them make the smart puck decisions. And it’s it’s refreshing to see a little bit. Obviously, the ABS are great every night, but it’s refreshing to see a team that sometimes can get away from that simple hockey to from minute one do the right stuff tonight. Yeah. No, that’s what we were asking them to do. That was as much as Sagaba weirdness may happen, like this was overall like a pretty I I’m not going to call it a pretty game by any means, but it was it was a survivable game and they they took care of business. They did what they needed to do. You got contributions from pretty much everywhere on your on the ice and that that’s that’s really all you can ask for in a game like this. like you’re trudging for one point and you got two. Yeah, great way to put it. It the the extra point feels like a bonus almost. Although the ABS did earn the win, all of that. Great. I’m I’m curious overall thoughts on this. How much credit do we give the ABS defense versus how much credit or discredit is it to the Flyers failing on opportunities? Because it was bad, right? Like I do think the ABS deserve credit maybe outside of that second pairing which we’ll talk about in a little bit. Uh but the ABS you don’t hold a team to 26 shots on goal. It was like what 19 through the first two periods or less than that probably. Uh you don’t hold a team back like that without quality defense. But as you said I mean there’s a number of opportunities you watch just slip away from the Flyers in this game. The finishing was hard to watch. And this is coming from like I I I love the avalanche. I love watching the avalanche and I I love watching these opportunities fall off their sticks, but it was really difficult to watch. I’m sure as a a Flyers fanating watching watching that happen. And I I think the ABS for the most part capitalized well. Like I think they did like they did what they needed to do. Some of those breakouts were a little sloppy and they they maybe flubbed on some of those, but like they they capitalized on everything they needed to uh all of the mistakes and and that’s a characteristic I I keep saying this. It’s a charact characteristic of a good hockey team. It that’s what the ABS are proving to be and that’s that’s the expectation. Yeah. I mean, I think the expectation has proven out to be correct at this point in the season. It was just an interesting feeling to me and you know obviously we look at things through an abs lens but it feels like there have been a lot of games this year especially in their losses where you look at them and go well man they they had opportunities that just weren’t quite clicking tonight and it’s weird to see that happen to the other team against the ABS and you say hey when the other team is off that little bit you take it. I think really really helped too. Uh or no maybe not helped that’s that’s not a great way to put it but the ABS also had some flubbed opportunities on their part and as much as I give credit to the first period being the most important period for this game like that there were some finishing opportunities Lucky comes to mind. If this guy played a little better the maybe run away with this game for sure. Like that’s the one top guy that I’m maybe like we I I know you and me would have loved to have seen more out of the night, but no doubt. Again, I’m not I’m not complaining. Shouldn’t be. So, if you’re complaining now, it’s a long season if you’re complaining on regulation wins. Yeah. Right. Um, yeah, it’s the ABS didn’t play the fastest game I think I’ve ever seen them play and understandably so, but they played the game that they had to and and we talk a lot about stylistically what the ABS want to do and they want to play fast. They can play slow against some teams, but when you start winning games playing the way you have to, that’s when you start talking about a real cup contender. You can go into any game, any situation, and feel confident in your ability not necessarily to take over the game, but to play the game you’re in and still win. No, that’s I think it says a lot about this team, the variability of that. like that’s they are a team who by all intents and purposes play a fast game of hockey like that that is the main part of their identity but they do know how to slow that down. You see guys like Macar and Taves and McKinnon who see the ice really really well and can kind of gauge plays off of that. Um maybe saw more of that in today’s game than yesterday’s or the day before. Um I I think I saw them get a lot back to that identity here tonight um than I did in the last two. But that that’s that’s another characteristic here. You that that variability that reactionary type play where you know like knowing when to slow the game down, knowing when to pull that out of your hat, knowing when is maybe a little too fast versus too slow and building the game off of that. That’s how you set pace. That’s how you dominate games for lack of a better words. Yeah. I No notes. Keep doing it and you’ll get rewarded. Uh Joe and Philly in the Toyota chat saying they were at the game. Yeah, even on the broadcast there were a lot of ABS jerseys in that building. A lot of them. Interesting. Um I’ll take it. Not used to the ABS fan traveling well, but absolutely. If you can make it away arena feel like a home game, like I I’ll take that. Absolutely. No doubt about it. We’ll get through to to some player specifics in the next period, but I do want to give the context of this game a little bit more breathing room because all of the context in this game was setting up to be an excuse for an ABS loss. Yep. And instead, you’re now talking about a team playing their third game on the road in four days. You’re talking about a team that went into overtime yesterday and still found the legs to get themselves a lead, get themselves out in front and then hang on in this game. It deserves a ton of credit for the ABS best player down to the ABS worst player in this game that they all went to work tonight and and made sure to get the jobs done. Um, yeah, I can’t say enough, but you you look at some of the time on ice work stuff too here from the ABS. Yeah, your top players played a lot. your top line all over 20 minutes, but your second line’s right there as well. Nelson 19 minutes, Landy 1830, Colton a little bit less at 1540, but your forward core again gets that good stretch run except for Bardikov again, but you know how that goes, right? And your defense and also fairly even. Mar played a ton a ton, but even Taves didn’t even break the 21 minute mark. Uh, a bunch of dudes around 16, Brent Burns up at 19. This has become instead of the unusual unnormal Colorado avalanche where we’re used to seeing the top guys blow the minutes out to the max over the last five, six, seven, eight games, we’ve seen a much more normal break in in time on ice for the Avalanche. No, which is with as busy and crazy as the schedule is getting ready to get. Yeah. And I I say that too knowing want to point out like this is the last back toback of 2025. So thank God props. Yeah. But no with with as busy as things are going to get heading into the Olympic break too. Like that’s what you want to see. Yeah. Those spread out minutes are really really good. Not just for that too. We’ve seen throughout the season that shortening of the bench. Bedar picking and choosing his players, double shifting guys. I mean, we saw it with McKinnon a couple times today as well, but knowing that he’s got that reliability down the lineup minus Zakar Bartikov and Yoel Kirant tonight like that that makes the jobs of everybody else on the ice so much easier. Yep. And almost like you understand why the first and second periods were, you know, some of the best or at least least sloppy. Yeah. From the abs, too. and you like you’ve got those spread out minutes and it really helps in a game like this. You fend off those tired minutes for as long as possible and they do come eventually, but you did a good job of uh of of fending them off in this one. We do need to take our first break of the show. So, let’s make sure we’re doing that and shouting out our sponsors for the day as I look, Christmas is coming fast. All right, we’re we’re talking about what less than three weeks away now. Two and a half weeks. It’ll be Christmas time and the great last minute option, the last minute lifesaver is Aura Frames. 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Second period of the DNVR Avalanche Podcast. Let’s get into the three stars. And this will be a jumping off point because there’s a lot of individual players I want to talk about tonight. Star number three though, I went with Marty Nous again. I don’t know that he necessarily deserved the third star tonight, but I think it was a really nice contrast. We gave him third star the game yesterday, too, because he had three assists in a game I didn’t think Nes played very well in. Tonight, he only gets one assist. The vast majority of the night, I thought Marty Nas was great. a vast improvement from even the last two games. I think he looked agree horrible. Uh puck management was not where it needed to be. He looked phenomenal today. He was flying uh held on to the puck really well. Um yeah, through through the neutral zone, through through uh zone entries. Uh I I I don’t know what else to say. Like it’s it was really really good. It from Ness. It was the the zone entries and holding on to the puck for me that really sell sold it. Yes, his passing was much much better today. But especially on the power play, we saw it once too. We saw it at five on five. Nate just getting the zone. There was no panic, no pressure, no trying to make that crazy pass. He would just carry it in, get deep in the zone, and then you get a clean setup for your offense. He gets it back to the point. Simple but very effective hockey from His in that regard today. So that’s and that’s what you’re looking for in a game like yesterday’s. um where you’re looking for for a little bit more out of your top guys and he he kind of set the tone for that for me today. Yep. Uh star number two went ultimately with the goalender and Mackenzie Blackwood did not give it to him last game. Not that he wasn’t good, but the penalty shot is what pushed it over for me today. Anytime your goalie gives up two or less, like we said, that’s a good game. you needed him in the third period in this one and in a way you maybe didn’t against New York because you knew the ABS legs were going to go. They did. The Flyers pushed especially as the third period started to drag into those last 10 minutes and you get exactly what you wanted. Sure. Did the Flyers miss some opportunities? Yeah. But maybe some of that is Blackwood getting in their head saying I’m not going to be easy to beat tonight. No, as we kind of mentioned ranking the periods like I I I do give credit for that third period. As I mentioned, holding a team to three shots is really, really impressive. And that’s what Philly did for the ABS in the third period. Yeah. And so, a lot of that credit, rightfully so, should go to a Mackenzie Blackwood for holding the four down the way that he did. Asked to play the backto back himself as well. So, you know, goalie fatigue is a little bit different than a skater fatigue, but that is a guy who’s played 125 minutes of hockey in the last 27 hours or whatever it is. So, yeah, great stuff from him. Star number one, going to give it to the gamewinning goalcorer in Valushkin, but also thought he was great tonight. Another guy that when the ABS were at their best in this game, which was probably 35 of the first 40 minutes of the game, their puck possession was effective. They they were managing the puck very well. They were controlling the puck very well. And then when they got in the offensive zone, they were making the right decisions with the puck. And I think Val exemplifies that. And then the goal he scores, the shots just absurdly good. Let’s talk about too, he falls in the the back half of that time on ice. Yep. margin too. And so he knowing that he played as well as he did with the ice time he was given. That’s what you’re supposed to do. uh you’re expected to even if you’re not getting as many as much ice time as a guy like Nathan McKinnon, you’re expected to be effective in those minutes and play some of the best hockey during those minutes. And Valishkin did that through and through. Yep. Here tonight. We talked about him yesterday being a very selfdriven player as far as his production goes too. And I really liked some of that from him tonight. Yeah, agree. it. Really good work from a game where we said, “Hey, you’re going to need your middle six. Guess what? You got your middle six.” And Val was part of that. Absolutely. Uh do want to expand on that a little bit. I I mean, there’s a lot of players I really do want to talk about. Let’s Let’s talk about some mixed positive and negative. Brent Burns and then expanding to that second pairing with Josh Manson. Not third game in a row. Yeah. Where it’s really not good. There’s a little bit more like great goal from Brent Burns in the first. Really like Brent Burns mentality in the first. Firing the puck like crazy. Willing to shoot. Yep. But for a pairing that you really expect to be a defensive quality pairing, you saw some good hits. You saw some good shots, but defensively not sound here at all tonight. I mean, looking at that Flyers goal that came during the second period, you could sit there and say, you know, well, Mackenzie Blackwood maybe wasn’t super positionally sound. Didn’t love it there either. But a lot of that you catch a Brent Burns flatfooted. And this is if that had been the first time this season where it’s like, oh, a guy snuck in behind Burns. It’s just a bad play. It happens. But we’re seeing this be a consistent issue with Brent Burns that we know his skating at this point in his career is not good enough for him to catch that guy. No. So he has to find a way to keep those plays in front of him. No. And there is a lot of positive to a guy like Bren Burtons as you mentioned the shot volume. Yep. I love what he brings to the team in that he and it’s an unfortunate conversation because he is in the latter part of his career. He’s like, you’re holding on to a guy like Brent Burns and giving him an opportunity for what he can provide in the locker room and some of the good that he can provide on the ice, but he’s creating really really difficult conversations for some of those defenses blapses. I I’m not a huge f I haven’t been a huge fan of him on the PK recently. I would agree there. Anytimes the ABS have to chase it gets hard for him. Yeah. Right. And so, and that that’s just the reality. He’s an older player, unfortunately. He’s in the latter part of his career and he’s doing whatever he can to to provide, which I appreciate. Again, a goal like today’s beautiful, but I I keep bringing back that Landiscog conversation, and it’s more than just about getting on the score sheet. Yep. There are little things that contribute to being a good player, and I just haven’t seen a whole lot of that out of Brent Burns. and and you’re you’re saying, “Okay, well, you ask him to get a little bit of help in that regard.” And at times, I think in their own zone, Manson can help them, but when you’re talking about the plays like the goal that ends up in the back of your net tonight, Manson has a pension to make crazy decisions. He’s willing to pinch like a wild man in the offensive zone. And that leaves Brent Burns as the last man back. And it’s just a tough conversation to to say, I don’t know that we can afford to leave him back as the last guy because we’re seeing it consistently be hard for him to make a quality defensive play. Yeah, we we’ve talked about it for three games straight now. I don’t love the pairing at this point and hopefully this is like the worst three-game stretch this pairing has had. We’ve seen them have good stretches together, but I don’t have a great answer for breaking them up either. Like, so I the abs feel a little bit stuck right now with that. The thing for me too is it’s I I wonder how much of that is preparing for three games in four day stretch. If there’s someone who’s going to be fatigued, the 41year-old is probably it might be the guy. That’s definitely a fair argument. It makes me feel a little bit better knowing they have a day of rest tomorrow ahead of it. They absolutely need it. Um, but I don’t know as though I can continue to make an argument for it if this feels the same way during the game against Nashville. If it if it starts to stretch out into you’re struggling with this for four, five, six, seven games, eventually you have to right make an adjustment. And I I do want to give my flowers to this pairing in a way too because both like Nathan McKinnon is an enigma with six shots on goal tonight. So taking him out of the equation, Brent Burns, uh Josh Manson and Devon Taves all led in shots on goal with three. Well done. So like they were they were providing offense. They were driving a lot of that offense which I appreciate. And we talked about the ABS wanting to play through their defense a little bit more. I would love it to be Kale Mar finishing a plea game, but hey, we’ll take it from those guys, too. It’s good stuff. Expanding on that defensive conversation, and part of the reason you don’t want to break up Burns and Manson is because Sam’s club has been great. Y Gerard and Molinsky together looked awesome again today. And I know they didn’t like hit in a big goal or or all of that, but they consistently continue to be one of the AB’s best possession. In fact, tonight their best possession defensive pairing. Uh they don’t give up a ton. They do a good job of protecting the puck. Certainly a better job than say the Burns and Manson pairing. Um they deserve a ton of credit for that hard work. Your top pairing was also great tonight. Kale Macar felt like he was this close to doing something special and it didn’t come together. But I think the best game we’ve seen from Devontaves in a good long while. Yeah, I would wholeheartedly agree. I I thought defensively and you know like he’s getting deep in that offensive zone in some cases, too. Like he this was a great two-way game for a guy like Devon Taves. Yep. I you kind of knew that offense would start to uptick again for Taves at a certain point. would still like him to score maybe a few more goals, but you’re getting good good range on both sides of that from Taves where you feel more comfortable than maybe you were earlier in the season with it. Yep. Um I’m all right. The last three ABS power play goals have come from Landiskog and two from Nelson. Okay. At what point do you just put those guys out there? Like like the as much time as you give to the first power play unit, which like like we mentioned, Land’s been great. Y um Nelson’s been a a beast, a hungry guy on on the power play, which I can appreciate cuz maybe it’s not the prettiest like you see him today, like he’s whacking at a puck in front of the net. That’s not necessarily a clean your power play sucks. Maybe you need that. Like that’s if you’re going to make any sort of confusing situation happen in front of the net, like that’s what I’d like to see. I don’t necessarily want to see a passing show and that that’s what it’s become. Yep. Uh you’re looking for the perfect pass and this by all mean like not perfect. No at all. No, not by any stretch. But it got the job done. So you wonder how much of that is just creating chaos in front of the net. You don’t need like a picture perfect highlight reel goal. Correct. On the power play every single time. Like that works just as efficiently. It does. If it goes in and they all count the same. Uh ABS power play goes one for two tonight. I I know the second one looked bad, but I don’t care. They scored on one. That Yep. It could be the ugliest power play in the world. If they score on half of them, great job. Yeah. No notes. Uh that’s not true. Lots of notes. I was like, wait a second. It it’s it just feels complicated because early in the season the ABS were trying Nelson on the first power play and it wasn’t working and some of that is we feel like maybe you’re using him in the wrong spot and put him in the bumper spot. But at this point it feels like the ABS power play needs to grab onto anything that was successful and and give it some run because they’re desperate. And it’s I don’t know how you don’t and I I say that knowing good and well that this team is very very stubborn in how they deploy things like this. So they’re not going to of course not. But it’s for me I would really really love to see Brock Nelson given a little bit more trust. Yep. As far as the man advantage is concerned. Do want to talk about Brock Nelson a little bit more. But before we do that we got to take our second break of the show. So, let’s shout out a few more of our sponsors. Starting off with Game Time. The ABS have one more game on this road trip, but then they’re coming home. Or, I don’t know, maybe you live in Nashville and you want to go see the ABS. Get your tickets through Game Time. When you download the app today and use code DNVR, you’ll get $20 off your first purchase. Of course, terms apply there, but you can get whatever tickets you’re looking for today. It’s the uh Colorado Triple today. The ABS kicked it off. The Broncos probably have started by now. And then the Nuggets play this evening. So, you got all three to choose from. You can get tickets to all three if you were a mad man. I you wouldn’t make it to the Broncos game from the ABS game. They’re in Vegas coming from Philly. That you would not make that one, but you could make it home in time for the Nuggets. You could get back to Colorado. Are they in Colorado? I don’t even know. Uh whatever the event, get your tickets with Game Time. It’s even got concerts and theaters, so not just sports. Again, make sure you use that DNVR code at your sign up to get $20 off your first purchase. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download the Game Time app today. Once you got your tickets to your next game, maybe you want to make sure you’re taking care of your money so you can get more tickets to more games. And that’s where Monarch shows up. You can get with Monarch. They’re basically an entire financial command center. It’s not just this piece or that piece. They’ll show you your entire financial picture, your banks, your investments. 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I’m not worried about the plus minus tonight. It’s a little bit silly with that first goal that goes in off of a deflection, but that goal puts him to 10 goals on the season and a total of 19 points on the season. This was game 29. Tomorrow is game 30 or not tomorrow, but two days from now is game 30. You’re a little overthird of the season done. Not quite to that 60 point level, but very much in the realm of producing with at acceptable rates for a 2C now. Yeah. No, I have very few notes about how Brock Nelson is playing currently. Yep. And that’s going as far to say like the only note that I had a couple weeks ago was the fact that the score sheet Yeah. was his defensive game has been very solid. Yeah. No. And as as a 2C, this is how this is supposed to look. You’re looking to get production from your guy who is centering that second line. And that’s what Brock Nelson’s been providing. Uh underlying numbers for him, from what I’ve seen, have looked incredible. And it’s getting to the point, too, where he’s producing for himself, but he’s also producing for everybody else on his line as well. he is improving every single linemate that he’s had. Um or at least getting help from them. Like again looking at a a Ross Colton who maybe not as showing not showing up on the score sheet, but his offensive game looks fantastic. Well, Ross Colton makes $4 million and Brock Nelson makes $7.5 million, right? So when it looks good and you’re getting some out of Ross, you’re happy with that. With Nelson, the production has to be there. Yep. And now it is. So awesome. You love to see that from him. If he’s the key to the power play, great. Keep using him. No, like that’s I’d love for that to be the answer. I know better than like it’s a lot deeper than that, I think. Um but if Brock Nelson is the biggest factor in a lot of what’s coming out of the power play, like I I don’t see how you don’t give that an opportunity. We are at the qu the point with the ABS power play. If something’s working, I’m not going to question it. Right. Right. Fair. That’s that’s a valid point. Uh I guess this was news at the top of the show. The ABS did officially announce uh Trent Miner has been sent back to the Colorado Eagles. I don’t think anything there is surprising, but gives you confidence that Scott Wedgwood is doing fine. I I was just going to go and look at the schedule here too for the Eagles and see where they’re at. But I mean, you can’t call Miner back up. Yeah, he’s got to play a game. He’s got to play a game. I wonder how that I assume him backing up counts as playing a game even if he doesn’t actually play. Yeah, it’s being present or at least on the roster sheet for one game as far as I’m aware. Yeah. Um I was going to say they don’t play again till Friday. So So yeah, that is Blackwood or Wedgewood has that tells me that Wedgwood is at least ready enough to back up. Yeah. like if if he’s got to go in like he’s ready for that which gives me a lot of hope. Some good news there. Um Gavin Brinley still a bit of a mystery but initially the conversation was he could play as at the end of this road trip which will be Nashville on Tuesday. I’m not super worried. Yeah, me neither about that. Not with the way this game looked y mechanically for me for at least two periods. I you’re just continuing to get such quality play out of a guy like a Parker Kelly. Even a Kivir I know Parker Kelly I also really liked in tonight’s game. He was really good. The ABS bottom six as a whole really very good. Uh maybe you’re saying the weakest link of that bottom six right now might be Victor Olison and he picked up an assist. Yeah, it’s a little bit cheap but he picked finishing’s a little bit of an issue for him. Yeah, he had that breakaway. You would have liked him to finish that. Definitely, you don’t love that. But also, he’s he put in a couple of decent def defensive shifts tonight and broke up a couple of plays. ABS lineup is going to be hard to get into. Like, it’s just the reality of how good this team is. But you wonder too in a game like the LA the previous two before this one where maybe a spark like you need a guy who’s going to drive a lot with a lot of energy and there’s nobody denying that that guy could have been a Gavin Brimley if he was healthy. Definitely it so I I think that factors a lot into the conversation if he’s good to go for Nashville, right? it, you know, we don’t have the full details there, but I I agree. Had that jump that he has is is meaningful to the Colorado Avalanche. Other other guys on the lineup feed off of things like that. If you see a guy hustling as much as a Gavin Brinley does like that, that’s everybody gives that extra step. Yeah, it’s contagious. Yeah, agree. We’ll see. you know, if he is good to go and healthy, maybe you even consider throwing him in just because that’ll be the ABS fourth game in six days, right? You have some legs there guaranteed. So, ABS have options and that is extremely fun that the ABS do in fact have options. Uh, as we continue going through this game, you have the good Brent Burns goal, you have the good Nelson goal at the end of the first period. I don’t know that it’s necessarily a mentality thing or serendipity or whatever you want to call it, but the ABS understood the assignment, right? You you win the first with a late goal and you come out and compound that lead by scoring early in the second period. It’s again, the ABS understand every situation that they seem to be in. And and is that credit to the players for knowing what’s going on at any given moment or is that credit to the preparation from the coaching staff? I think you give the players more of that credit. All right. Um I I don’t know. Just seeing mechanically how that locker room works. Benar like yes Nolan Pratt and Dave Haxel put in a lot of work with these guys especially on the offensive side of their game. Coach Bednar has given a lot of credit to them and how they’ve helped develop their game but ultimately it’s the players out there. It’s the players putting in the work out there. um they coaches might be barking orders, but even in that sense, Jared Bednar gives a lot of leash to a lot of his guys to to drive some of those plays and to make a lot of those decisions. You see a couple games ago where Nathan McKinnon’s giving out ideas and it ends up working out in his favor. So for for situations like that, like I give a lot of that credit to the players for being as smart as they are and and pushing like a lot of that resiliency comes from them putting in the work. Yeah, I fully agree. If we want to dive into some of the numbers of this game because if the ABS players are going to get the credit for it, you went even ultimately in Corsy in this game. 54 shot attempts to 54 shot attempts at five on five. But that doesn’t tell the whole picture because the vast majority of that push back from the Flyers comes in that third period. It comes in a game where yeah, Colorado they ran out of gas. I I no, not trying to argue with that. The third period was them hanging on for dear life and they managed to which is awesome but it’s not something you would super expect from the ABS uh in a normal circumstance. Through the first two periods high danger chances were three to three very low event very much coded for a tired ABS team and then Philadelphia put up seven high danger chances in the third. This circles back around to why I gave Mackenzie Blackwood the second star. No, he was huge in that third period. He he set the tone. Yep. And I I remember saying to you during the watch along, I was like, playing this way with only a onegoal lead seems very very uncomfortable. Yep. For me, it was a very anxietyinducing type period. And McKenzie Blackwood’s the only reason they come out of that alive. 100%. I cannot feel I cannot feel better about what Blackwood is doing because as we talked about in the pregame, yeah, the shutout streak was awesome. It was like, “All right, cool. Blackwood’s back.” But you knew that’s not reality. You’re not going to play at that level for a significantly extended amount of time ever. And now you’ve seen two games from Blackwood where, yeah, one of them he didn’t have a huge workload. This one he didn’t really have a huge workload until the third period, but he showed up and makes the consistent plays. Makes the ones that you’re saying he can do this repeatedly night in night out. And that’s what the ABS need. We We’re not talking about a hockey team that needs a goalender to stand on his head every single night. We just need quality goalending most of the time. And Blackwood feels like he’s falling into that rhythm. No, absolutely. So, it it’s good to watch on that front. I don’t like East Coast road trips. I don’t like them. Yep. Chat, hey, let me enjoy my day a little bit better here. Get us to 100 likes. Get us our winner shots here. You’re a 64. You can get us there. It’s 2:30 in the afternoon on a Sunday. The Broncos are playing. I love that a lot of the the morning games come when they’re on the East Coast. I And and I say that with all the sarcasm in the world. I I hate it. I hate it. I don’t like give me give me my night games or my late afternoon games. I I don’t like it one bit. Me neither. When you look at the rotation of this team, and I know we’ve talked about the time on ice already, but over the last couple of games, we saw the ABS play everybody with everyone at times looking for a spark, at times looking for whatever. You’ve got a more consistently structured lineup tonight. first line stuck together, were great, by the way, dominated possession for the vast majority of the game. You had a second line that more or less stuck together, at least on five on five. And you go down the lineup of of guys that instead of using the blender, you just had first, second, third, fourth lines outside of Bardikov. Again, you don’t see that messed up aside from at least really aside from when Erison’s pulled. Yeah. Six on five got you went with the guys you trust which you double shift Mac and then Landy and Nelson come out to do some things. Parker Kelly gets out there a little bit and I think that’s important to note because it’s not Bard doesn’t cut the fourthline guys because they’re fourthline guys. Parker Kelly is proof of that that if you’ve earned the trust, if he believes in you to close out a onegoal game, he will play you. M. So there are pathways to success there that for whatever reason, Bartikov maybe hasn’t quite earned yet or some other guys haven’t quite earned yet. But you get plenty of Jack Drury, you get plenty of of Parker Kelly as guys that Bedar trusts to be defensive stoppers. And we’ve I think we’ve underrated the ABS team defense quite a bit this year. Yes, we know their decor is great, but you don’t get to the team that gives up the least amount of goals per game in a season. Yeah, good goalending absolutely, but the consistent backchecking of guys like I mentioned Drury and Kelly, but you’re getting that from Nushkin much better this year. You’re getting the man mode version of Gabe Landiskog over the last 10 15 games. You’re you’re seeing that infectiousness that you talk about come up. Mack had a good back check tonight. Mhm. Marty Nas was at least competitive defensively. He got past the blue line and did some things. I didn’t hate it like I did last game. Exactly. So, it it’s weird to be like, “Oh, we’re underrating a team that’s this good, but quietly the ABS team defense just continues to find ways to be extremely effective.” No. And that I think gives them a lot of the push to be as offensively dangerous. Yep. As they are, too. I’ll bring back up Victor Olivesson. Good defense leads to good offense. And if you they don’t have to worry about not having a solid foundation in net. They’ve got they know three really good goalenders in a Blackwood, Wedgewood, and Minor when you need him. But you’ve got that defensive competitive nature from guys. I mean, you’ve got a solid defensive core. You’ve got solid two-way players. Yep. uh up in your forward core and that gives I think confidence for guys like a McKinnon, like a Netis, like a Victor Olivesson even in spurts during this game to to kind of turn that on a little bit no matter what zone you’re in. Uh how do we fix penalty shots? I I thought I didn’t have an answer for the power play. I don’t even know what to make of this cuz as you and I have been preaching for the entirety of the season, consistency is key. Yep. For a lot of the officiating that is happening here. And consistencywise, outside of the penalty shot, I thought it was better in this game. Not perfect, but better. But you see you see that call get made on Nathan McKinnon. Yep. But the same thing happens a couple minutes later or something very very similar. Yeah. To McKinnon to McKinnon and it’s not called the same way, right? And and like okay, if you want to make an argument that McKinnon didn’t have a free clear lane to the net or whatever, it’s fine. But also, we’ve had referees on the show. Mhm. We’ve had referees talk about this and it’s been pretty consistently the case in the NHL that if the player gets a quality shot attempt off, they’ll just call it a normal penalty and not a penalty shot. And Trevor Seager’s got a quality shot attempt off. Like I I don’t understand. Yep. Like unless you’re calling whatever McKinnon did to him before he got the shot off, but that’s not what it looked like. Yeah. And like it’s absolutely a penalty on McKinnon. feel like absolutely should have been in the box and and part of me is like awesome call more penalty shots I want more penalty shots in the NHL great but then you have an opportunity to do it with the McKinnon one and you didn’t like the the the consistency or lack thereof is baffling to me and I I hate being one to yell about the officiating like I that that’s not an excuse and the ABS didn’t like they won this game. So like what is there for me to complain about? I feel like but at the same time just call it the same way. There is levels to bad officiating, right? Everyone watching the game is going to be mad about the refs just because they’re rooting for whichever team to win, right? Totally fine emotional response. We don’t have to get into the nitty-gritty of of saying, “Oh, how this had affected the game, how that affected the game.” The game happens and you have to play through it. whatever the refs are, that’s on the teams. But when you start talking about the refereeing significantly affecting the viewing experience of the average viewer of the game, that’s when it becomes a more of a problem for me because if you’re watching your first hockey game and you watch Trevor Zaggress get a penalty shot there and Nathan McKinnon not get a penalty shot there, you’ve now have no clue. Like you have no idea. I have no answer there. There is no clear-cut explanation for this. Yeah. So that’s where I struggle and and you know obviously the called back goals the other day. Maybe it all boils over for me emotionally more than the reality. But I just I I want normal hockey games without bad reing. That’s all I want. You know that’s what I asked for in the pregame today, too. I just want a normal hockey game. And that that was not necessarily given. It wasn’t today, which I I will, you know, bite my tongue. And it’s like I have no doubt the Flyers postgame show is saying the same thing. The first power the power play the ABS scored on is a madeup call, dude. Do you like Yeah. But I mean, you you play to the whistle. You play you play what’s given to you, I suppose. Yeah, absolutely. But and and that’s what the ABS did. Um, Flyers tried to do it as well. Um, I I just I don’t know as though I have a whole much else to say. Yep. It is what it is and it’s bad. It’s I I don’t I call it bad. Call it atrocious. Call it egregiously horrible. I I don’t know what else. Abs power play NHL repping. Which one is underperforming? The levels are even right. Exactly. The levels are even. So yeah, that’s I don’t know. And what do you even do about that too? Like do you I almost wonder if you take like an MLB type approach. You should they they get the umpires get a grading at the end of each season and if you are horrible at your job, you do not come back. There has to be some level of accountability. And I get when you’re calling penalties, I get it’s harder. Like there is always going to be some gray area with a penalty, but things like did a puck cross the goal line? Was a player offside? Surely we have technology that can tell us V. Exactly. Why is this stuff not being implemented for hockey? It’s not that the technology does not exist. Yeah. And you know, maybe if they put cameras that are more than 480 on the blue line, 480p on the blue lines, you could actually see it in a review. Hockey hockey is living in old age, the stone age, man. It’s It just seems like it has not it like teams will get sky cams before they upgrade their cameras for ice level. Like that’s that’s a problem. The NHL in North in US, I know Canada has some 4K games. In the US, almost every NHL game is in 720p, not even 1080. Like, what are we doing? Yeah, you can do better. It’s I I It’s bad. It is. It’s It’s awful. So, anyway, I’ll stop ranting and tangent over. We’ll move on from that one. Um, we could bring up the current 10 game, next 10. I don’t know what we’re calling it at this point, but it to me, of course, you want to win every game. Of course, it you look at them individually in many ways, but okay, the ABS started with this road trip with a loss and are now two- one. They guarantee, excuse me, the worst that they can do on this road trip is going 500. Mhm. And you wouldn’t love it if they lost to Nashville. But you’ve set yourself up great again. Yeah. If if they go and lose this game to Nashville, which could be potentially considered another scheduled loss. Yep. Whatever. Considering how they started this road trip, if they go out and lose to Nashville, like I I’m content with what they’ve been able like they’re bounced back in the backs and they go home happy, right? And you’re 71 and one in this stretch of 10 games. So you have a you could potentially go 8-1 and one and then you have 17 of 20 possible points. Yep. And even if you lose it, you still have 15 of 20 possible. It’s Yeah, they didn’t go 10 and I guess in their last stretch they were what were they 80 and2 I think in their last stretch. Sounds about right. So they’re basically have the potential to match that. Like I guess one point worse. All right. Yeah. Like when’s the slowdown coming? Because this is in it. No. And it goes back to a conversation we had earlier in the season too about sustainability, the the fraud versus, you know, actual playing actual sustainable hockey. This is not out of the realm of sustainability for the Colorado Avalanche. It’s not this is by all means like for how this team is structured this year, what should be the norm, what they are setting as the norm for themselves. Crazy to say that 800 hockey is doable for this team indefinitely. Yep. Like they’re they are that good. Um Sky in the Toyota chat mentioning if they do beat the PRs, they’ll be the first team in the NHL to 50 points, which also means it’s December 7th. Yeah. They have officially tied their worst season ever. Yeah. In point totals on It’s not even the 2026 yet. Nope. That mean what world are we living in? Like this is just my favorite stat. I know it doesn’t mean a ton. No, but that’s still like just goes to show how far this team has come. Like they going from that to expanding their window the way that they have, keeping it open, the longevity of the window for as long as they have making themselves a com a compete team. Yep. Like this is I I hate harping on this too. It’s my favorite little saying right now, but like the fact that this is the team that every other team is watching out for. Yeah. Currently, this is the team that every other team in the league, the level that they want to be at is so much fun. It It’s great. And it’s The ABS are going on what I’m doing math on air again like a dummy, but this would be their eighth straight year in the playoffs. They’re like they’ve gone to the level where they are perennial contenders. And sure, you could talk about disappointing playoff losses, whatever. Fine. But there are multiple teams in the league that would love to get into the playoffs for one year. Yeah. And it’s become automatic for the ABS. There is basically no universe where the ABS don’t make the playoffs this year from here. And you could say that’s that’s easy to do when you have a Nathan McKinnon and a Kale Mara on your team. So yeah, you know, it helps. That absolutely helps. But just kind of creating a full circle thing like it comes down to a full team effort. Like they they really top to bottom top to bottom this team has proven just how dangerous they are. They they have the goalending tandem to do it. Even when one goalender is injured, you’ve got a backup who is absolutely a serviceable goalender. Yep. Um you’re getting great work out of out of your uh defense top to bottom. Sam Molinsky, I’ll I’ll highlight him again incredible having an incredible season so far. And then I mean forwards we talk about Nathan McKinnon and Martine Ness, but Parker Kelly has been a guy we’ve highlighted a lot this season. It’s really easy to be where they are when you’ve got that much serviceable talent across your lineup. And it’s that top tobottom ability of, hey, you didn’t have your best game. You still did something effective. Whether that’s Brent Burns goal tonight or Nathan McKinnon playing the hero in the in the last game, it every single player, it’s not just the ceiling, I guess, is what I’m trying to say. Obviously, McKinnon and Mar’s ceilings are astronomical, but the floor of this team is just so so high on almost every single night that if you don’t give them your best, you’re not going to beat them. So, it Yeah. Colorado’s got it all. Yeah. Which is so much fun. So, it is it I have enjoyed this season by far more than the last three. Obviously, the cup beer pretty enjoyable. It’s hard to beat that, I think. Yeah. I I do wonder, we’ve talked so much credit to the ABS for being hungry and not liking the loss they had last year and all of that. I do wonder a little bit if the distance from the cup here has allowed them to breathe a little bit, too. It’s not that immediate pressure of you guys just won the cup, you guys have to go back there. There’s not as much comparison. There’s not as much to live up to. They have enough distance now to where the genetic makeup of this team is different enough Yep. for it to be like you can compare numbers, but you’re not looking at the same guys top to bottom, right? Um All right. Also, shout out Bailey, whose instant reaction is already out. Go read that. Uh I’m doing studs and duds tonight. AJ’s off for the day, so you’ll have a video format of that later. Also, a ton of other great content though over at thevr.com. You guys are going to want to go check all of that out. Consider becoming a diehard. Uh get access to all of our written content and help support us. You also get a free shirt. We’re both wearing DNBR shirts today, so go get yourself one. You know, little birdie told me there’s some cool hats available, too. So, you know, maybe go check those. Uh we are going to be off tomorrow. So, no pod Monday, but we’ll be back for the game Tuesday. Uh, beyond that, excuse me. Uh, I don’t I don’t know that I have a ton else. I guess consider becoming a YouTube member if you like emojis. Yeah, that’s an option. Behind the scenes behind the scen content, too. Lot of that videos every week for the members only. Uh, jump on that. Love that the chat is shouting out Landy, too. He’s a big deal. He does help. Um, I got nothing. Yeah, my final thought is AB’s really good. I’m I don’t they’re going to be like 95% to win the President’s Trophy or something the next time I do one of those videos. They the I I guess I will point out so Abs and Stars currently holding one and two. Yep. In the league right now. 34 belong to the Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes. The point difference. Yep. The Capitals are currently at 37 points. The Dallas Stars are at 43. The ABS are at 48. Yeah. the the rest of the league is in the dust. So, yeah, like this is this is a head-to-head race for for one and two right now. And the abs even with the way that they’re playing, if we’re considering this the, you know, the lull for them, a road trip like this, surely this can’t be the lull. Crazy to think about, but if this is like the quote unquote slowdown, like this is still insane. Yeah. Hockey from the Savs team. Dallas is going to have to have a lot of things go right for them to catch the abs. Doable. Let’s We’re not counting them out. Possible. The rest of the league. Yeah, I don’t think they’re catching the abs. So, we’ll leave it at that. We’re going to wrap this one up. We do appreciate all y’all hanging out with us. Even if you guys slacked on the likes and didn’t get us winner shots. It’s fine. You can do better. Uh we do we do love y’all though. Uh you’re awesome. Wouldn’t be able to do this without y’all. We will be back Tuesday. Hey, this has been the DNVR Avalanche podcast presented by BET365. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

The Colorado Avalanche pull off the b2b sweep with goals from Burns, Nelson, and Nichushkin while hanging on to a lead in the 3rd period.

Intro – 0:00
Rundown – 2:50
Where’s credit due? – 8:24
Context – 13:19
Three Stars – 18:09
Second pairing – 22:00
Rest of the defense – 26:46
PP – 28:00
Brock Nelson – 32:30
Miner reassigned – 35:05
Numbers – 40:00
Consistency – 42:52
Officiating – 46:40
Good road trip so far – 52:18

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