MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche grind point but throw it away in OT again VS San Jose Sharks

MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche grind point but throw it away in OT again VS San Jose Sharks

[Music] [Applause] [Music] Get ah. [Music] Welcome in to the DNVR Avalanche postgame show live from the Toyota Lounge powered by your Front Range Toyota dealerships and presented by Bet 365. We’ve got Bailey and Rudo coming it to you live after the ABS lose in overtime. The San Jose Sharks 3-2. I outside of overtime, which we’ll talk about for the most part. I think the ABS played pretty well for the majority of this game. Yeah, I think in a lot of categories they deserve to win. They didn’t, which you don’t love, but they also get a point. They get three out of four points on the back to back. I don’t know that I’m very upset. No, I I think in a back-to-back situation, three out of four is a a great outcome. Um, no, I I didn’t mind this game from the Avalanche. I think they had most of this game in hand when it comes to looking at the stat sheet. Um, start started to kind of lose it during the third, but legs went for sure. Yeah, you’re you’re in the last, you know, 20 minutes of uh 120 minutes of hockey in two days. So, I I’m not I’m not super I’m not going to be one to harp on that. Not going to nitpick it too much. I mean, we will talk about the negatives and the positives. We’ll talk about all of it cuz that’s what we do. And let’s start with a 60-second rundown. Nas scores another goal immediately 30 seconds into this game. He’s got another one. Seems to have a knack for that. I don’t know how he does it, but he does. That gives the ABS up one- nothing. They really dominate the vast majority of the first period. Uh, but San Jose ends up picking up a late goal. Mlin Celibbrini is a pretty good hockey player, it turns out. Uh, 1-1 after one. It would be 2-2 after two. It would be the Sharks to score first on that one. A questionable pick play was made on Devontaves to spring a breakaway that I’m sure we’ll talk about. And then the other way, another weird play where McKinnon gets a great opportunity on his own that gets saved. The net gets knocked off, but is ultimately credited a goal as the puck was still loose and there was an imminent scoring opportunity. It’s 2-2. Third period, there would be no goals scored. You go to overtime and when you put McKinnon, Nius, and Mar out there together in overtime, you know what happens. We all know what happens. And the ABS lose the game. Um, where do let’s let’s start with Blackwood because it is his first game back. He ends up giving up three goals. Certainly hard to blame him tonight, I would say. I know he didn’t face the heaviest workload or anything, but you’re looking at the goals you give. Maybe the Celibbrini one, the first one, if it was a lesser player, maybe you want him to have that. But Celibbrini shot was just a missile. No, that that was a beautiful shot from Celebrini. The only gripe that I really have with Blackwood on some of those is positioning was just a little shaky, but again, it’s his first game back. Yep. From injury. I assume this is something they’ll go over. They’ll work on that with Jussi Parka, goending coach, and that that’ll be something that they talk about, I’m sure. But yeah, I’m I’m not apt to give him much of a beating for this game. I thought for what he faced, he looked pretty sound. Yeah, I he gave them a chance to win this game. He makes good saves in the third period. He makes a couple of great saves in overtime that ultimately don’t matter because ABS genuinely are the worst team in the NHL in overtime. But really not looking at at Blackwood as any sort of a problem tonight for sure. He he was not a factor in this loss, I I I would say, or at least not a big one. Yeah, let’s I mean, let’s knock out some of the other usual conversations. Power play and penalty kill. Penalty kill was good. I Some of that is the Sharks are bad, but penalty kill did its job. Power play did not, but another game where they didn’t get a ton of opportunity on the power play. So, I liked the last one a lot more than I liked the first. I will say that first one was pretty bad. First one, I think they maybe got two shots off, maybe three, but not not nearly as many as I would like to see. That last power play, it looked like maybe they were ripping it a little bit more. They started to kind of get the message that, hey, something maybe did work in that New Jersey game. Y um yeah, I didn’t love it, though. So there there’s some components of it I thought were maybe a little too stagnant. didn’t shoot it enough there. I I mean, it’s the same song and dance that we’ve been doing for the last little bit. Yeah, you we know the drill with the ABS power play, unfortunately, when it uh ends up looking like this. But Mhm. nothing really new on that front. I I’ll put it to you that way. No, I did. The ABS deserve better. And I don’t mean that they deserve to win in this game, but when you’re looking at the underlying numbers of this game, the ABS, they smoked San Jose. High danger chances are 12 to four. Possession is nearly doubling up San Jose. Scoring chances are double in the ABS favor. Actual expected goals are ridiculously in the ABS favor, too. Obviously, they didn’t win the game. How much of this is keep doing this and the the pucks will fall? And how much of this is well after we felt like the ABS broke out with their goal scoring the last couple of games, do the ABS just not have the finishing ability to consistently put the puck in the back of the net? Finishing is starting to look like a game by-game issue unfortunately for the Avalanche. So, I’m I’m I don’t want to make any excuses for them there. high danger chances are what they are, but I if you can’t put it in the back of the net, that that’s a problem. Like that is a hefty problem that I I I really I don’t know what to make of it if I’m going to be completely honest. Like they’re they’re finding the chances and they’re good opportunities. It feels a little like maybe they deserved some of this, but also they’re running into really good goalenders who are finding really good games against this team. It’s it’s tough. You know, Ascarov has his best game of the season against you, but even then you have a number of pucks. One trickles through Ascarov early and in the f or was it late in the first? I guess doesn’t cross the goal line. He’s just able to scramble and you don’t get that one. You have a redirect play from Brock Nelson that goes post and out. You have another redirect play from Brock Nelson in the third period that just goes wide, hits the side of the side of the net. You have whatever that was on the Sharks power play where Ascarov falls over in the corner and Parker Kelly just can’t get it through Ascarov on a diving play 20 ft away from his net. That’s horrible from Ascarov, but a great recovery. It is, but also you want some on the ABS to put a puck into a net. They have to finish some of those plays. And if they do, we’re not talking about overtime. We’re not talking about how the ABS played well mechanically but lost the game. We’re talking about a team that converted their opportunities and and won. Mhm. And at a certain point, you have to just do the job. It has to go in the back of the net. And I’m not saying, “Oh, well, all these low percentage chances eventually one’s going to go in.” No, I’m talking about the high danger ones, the ones that are supposed to go in a decent amount of the time. The ABS haven’t done a good enough job of putting those in the back of the net. No. And it’s it’s becoming a tired conversation at that at this point. It is. You want it to be something that they can fix at this point because you’ve seen through we’re we’re past the 10ame stretch. we’re past the experimentation period. Then I understood, sure, but there’s there’s supposed to be a period of time after that where you’re like, okay, these were our issues. Now, let’s go and take care of that. And that doesn’t seem to be something that’s high on their priority list. They’re looking at this like, oh, the opportunities are there, but I I don’t know. You can’t get goalied every single game, but at the same time, even against you’re going to run into go good goalenders. That’s what happens in playoffs. You have to learn to put those in the back of the net, right? I It’s It makes life too hard on yourself if you’re not scoring on the ones you’re supposed to. Mhm. Sometimes you’re going to score on weird ones like the nature’s first goal of the game. It banks in off a skate. Awesome. But I I don’t think you can sit there and be happy with two goals on 38 shots and and the opportunities that the ABS generated in this game. No, the ABS are going to know they want more than that in regulation. Again, we’ll get to overtime on its own in a minute. This is entirely in regulation. Um, third period, as you mentioned, you know, the ABS kind of ran out of gas at the end of this thing. I think it’s worth noting that some of that conversation might be the ABS making their lives harder for themselves because of penalties. Mhm. The Taves one a little fluky. It’s a bouncing puck that he just catches and it flies right out. Delay a game. All right, that’s tough. the landy one. You don’t love it. You gota I know it’s a collision, all that, but you got to be in control of your stick. You got to understand the game situation. You’re in a two- two game in the third period. It’s penalties that you really don’t like. Yeah. No, it’s And you know, this is the same conversation we had for last game. Yep. Too where discipline can win or lose you hockey games. Absolutely. And there there are some of these opportunities. Maybe your power play can’t consistently find it, but that’s going to come and bite you at some point. And with as good as this team is five on five two, you’re learn you’re losing a lot of those opportunities to go and dominate on the other side of the ice while stuck defending for stupid decisions. Yep. It’s got to be just a little bit cleaner and Again, this is a sea baba. The ABS got a point out of it. Big picture, I don’t I’m throwing this game in the bin and going, they played pretty well. You got a point. Yeah. Out of a back to back. The schedule kind of is not in the ABS favor right now when it comes to backtobacks. So, I I’ll take what I can get in that regard. And three out of four, it it’s not bad. It’s not ideal in a in a best case scenario, but it’s not bad. I Yeah, of course you would like four out of four, but if you’re getting 75% of your available points, you’re the best team in the league. Yeah. Right. So, context does matter a little bit there. Um I I’m looking through the these totals and I’m like trying to find a stat that the ABS were worse in. I guess with the overtime faceoffs, the ABS technically lost one more faceoff than San Jose won in this game. Mhm. But they outshoot them heavily. Uh their penalty kill goes perfect. There’s just not a lot to take away from this where you look at the underlings and go, “Wow, the ABS got outplayed tonight.” Yeah. The only thing they did worse was score. Yeah. No, that’s I don’t have much to add there. Yeah. No, I There there’s not many too many different ways to say that. There is not. Did you miss the depth scoring a little bit today though? I we talked about the Parker Kelly goal. You had some other opportunities. Both your goals, one from Nas, one technically from McKinnon on the weird one, but it’s your top line both. I was going to say whether that’s Lean or McKinnon, it’s still your top line. Yeah, that that’s something you kind of need in a situation like this. And I I I really don’t know. I mean, your your second line gets some good looks. Uh, Landis Cog almost had a good opportunity. I I don’t know. It that is that part is a little frustrating when it comes to it like you’re dominating everywhere else except on the scoreboard and your top line your top line can’t carry you through every single game. It’s nice if they’re showing up every single game, but if that’s all you’re running through, I mean Jared Bedar knows that that line works, but you got to have more lines that you can trust to create that production. And it’s why they’re getting paychecks the way that they are, like a Brock Nelson, like a um I don’t know. And and again, I outside of your top pairing, I really don’t know that anyone of the ABS lineup played poorly at five on five tonight. I Yeah, I don’t know. So a Yeah, fair. Yeah, I I might if I’m going to give a a bad game to anybody, it’s probably him, which and he got his minutes heavily cut because of He played one shift. Yeah. In the third period and that is it. Yep. So that that’s a surefire way I don’t want to nitpick that too much cuz it seems like he’s starting to earn his sitting time a little bit. But other than that, I I mean I I I like Josh Manson’s game again today. I surprisingly liked Brent Burns a little bit, too. Um, fourth line, I I like the push from Parker Kelly. Bartikov had some decent opportunities. Overall, not a not a poor game from any one line, like collectively. Yeah, I I don’t mind pretty much anyone on the forward core again other than you just have to score at a certain point. But dominant puck possession top to top to bottom. And it’s not again the ABS problem isn’t generating the quality opportunities. They had 12 high danger chances at the Sharks four in this game. The chances were there. They just didn’t go in the net. Y. So yeah, that’s that’s the main thing. And then I Kale Mar wasn’t good tonight. I I don’t know what to tell you. He he did not have a good night. And Taves didn’t help. No, I I think Taves was maybe a little more sound than Mar just looked off. Yeah, he just struggled. Like he he had his good points, but they were his bad severely outshine that. Yeah, he of course ends up with a point even when he’s bad because he’s Kale Mar. That’s it’s the Kale Mar effect. Yeah, but you look at the first goal, Kale Mar’s gap is bad on Mlin Celibbrini. Opens it up just enough. You look at the second goal, Mar. Look, I don’t know that this is really Mar’s fault, but his decision to play high along the blue line along the boards gives up a clean breakaway. When you combine it with the fact that Devon Taves just gets picked like I I mean I think Taves probably gets back there if there isn’t that contact on the blue line. No, but I mean that’s not something you can go and challenge. It is not. So, it’s that that’s just an unfortunate look. Not that I’m going to sit here and talk too too much about the officiating, but it hasn’t been great. No, lately it has not. But again, I I don’t want to blame the ABS losing this on that though. Like there’s no like TA has to keep that play in front of him well before the pick is getting set. There’s a guy streaking in and he needs to know where he’s at and know where his partner is at. They can’t both be up at the blue line hanging out waiting for that play to go through them. Yeah. Um, and then the third goal is is overtime, which again we’ll talk about in a minute here, but we do need to take our first break of the show. 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So, jump in with Monarch. Don’t let financial opportunity slip through your fingers. Use code DNVR at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with code DNVR. Second period of the DNVR Avalanche podcast. Um should we talk about overtime now or later? What do you want to do? Let’s go ahead and rip off the band-aid. Okay. Um the ABS are 0 for five in overtime and a to shootout this season. They are objectively the worst team in the extra frames in the NHL. And some of that is silliness. Some of that is weird hockey things happen. Some of that is they’re terrible in a shootout. All of that I can live with. I can even live with the way this overtime started. Your best opportunity maybe across all five of those overtimes happened tonight where you put Valushkin on the ice, he goes to the net and creates a good opportunity. It doesn’t go. That’s life. Fine. But you’re seeing that work. And then you see the exact same thing in all three games the ABS lost in overtime. It’s the exact same guys that are losing you the game. Why? And and this is the question I mean I’ll I’ll pose to you. We’ve already had the kind of bedar conversation I guessed a little bit. Is there more heat here now? I know we’re still early in the season, but it you’ve seen that, you know, this this bites you this many times. It’s I mean I I mean, we’ve talked about the definition of insanity. Yeah. I I don’t think there’s more heat. I think Jared Bednar could do this 15 more times than the ABS could lose all of these overtimes this season and there still wouldn’t be heat because it’s just not again the ABS make or break is not in the regular season this year. And by the way, they have the most points in the NHL. If you’re talking about firing your coach because he’s bad in overtime when he is the best team in the NHL, that’s nonsense, right? But someone needs to sit him down and say, Jared, you can’t do this in overtime anymore because this is no longer, “Oh, well, it’s NIS and not Mo and and we’ll see what it looks like. Maybe it’ll work better when we know it didn’t work with McKinnon and Mo together.” It’s exactly the same. Yeah. And you now have a track record of three games this season where they don’t just lose you the game, they lose you the game almost immediately when they get on the ice together. It is instant turnover. Goes the other way. Terrible coverage in the back of your net like clockwork. And you know it if you’re looking at this happening this many times, you know, 50 50 games in and it’s still only, you know, maybe maybe three times this bites you, whatever. We’re 13. Yeah. like the fact that this is happening this many times and the thing for me right this is a team who is resilient. This is the word that Gabe Landiskog used to be able to pull them at least one point out of all but one of their games. Yep. You are such you are a team that spends a lot of your games in overtime and this is still an issue. Yeah. it. This is not something that’s hard to fix. It It is so easy to rotate at Chushkin and Lechinan and Nelson and Drury. You have multiple options at every position. You don’t have to do this to yourself by putting McKinnon and Nes out there. And again, if this was the start of the year and the ABS had been in zero overtimes or had McKinnon and Nas won you some overtimes, I’d say, “Okay, look, I get it. They’re your best forwards. You want to run with that. Yep. But they have directly cost you three overtimes in this season and you can’t you you just at a certain point you need a reality check, right? If something is going that poorly, continuing to run it out is not just a definition of insanity. It it becomes negligent at a certain point. it becomes if the ABS go to overtime in their next game on Tuesday and they put him out there, you might as well just turn the TV off because you know what’s going to happen. Yeah. I I don’t have a good answer for you other than stop doing it. It’s stubborn at this point. Yeah. And that that is one of the biggest drawbacks of this coach. I I think he’s he’s earned the respect of the locker room, which is good and great, but if you can’t pick out mistakes that easily at this point in the season, too. Again, if we’re talking, you know, about five overtime losses in the span of 30 games, 40 games, like this is a different conversation. Totally. We’re still maybe complaining about that pairing or that that pairing of McKinnon and Nas, but that that’s a completely different story. This is 13 games, right, that we are seeing this issue so soon. Zero for five. And if you’re going to fix it, it’s now. Like this is this is the point to take care of that. Nip it in the bud early. So this is not an issue halfway through the season. It it Yeah, it’s I don’t think you can live in a world where you just accept that if the game goes to overtime, the ABS lose. No. And that’s the world we’re in right now. They’re too good of a team for that. Yeah. I clearly Yeah. The the reason these overtimes are so frustrating is because how good the ABS have looked in other situations of the game. Yeah. Their power play is not great at times, but their penalty kill awesome. Their five on five play awesome. Yeah. And then all this talent in the world just falls apart at threeon-ree. I don’t know. I don’t know why, but it does. This win and lose with your best players on the ice mentality I think is getting a little old for me in a way. And and it’s not like the winning part’s great when it works obviously, but it’s again it’s just negligent at this point. It it’s it’s an old story. I I feel like we’ll we’ll probably hammer this point many more times this season. It’s just to feel this way about it this soon just it it seems wrong to me and I I don’t have any other way to put it. Yep. Figure something else out. I I don’t need to watch the same story again to see I didn’t need to watch it in this game. Yeah, you everyone knew it was coming in this game. It’s time to stop with with those three in overtime. Especially on a night where Kale Mar wasn’t good. You saw his male Mar’s minutes got cut in this game and a lot of that he played 27 minutes last night and just didn’t have any legs left. Yeah, but I think you can certainly do a better job of reading the room a little bit. You know, Kale Mar hasn’t had it tonight. You know, Nathan McKinnon, Marty Nis, while they have produced for you in this game, have never had it in overtime. And the signs are there whether you want to read them or not. Yeah. So at a at a certain point someone’s got to read them for Jared if he’s not going to read them. No. Um but you know it’s not going to happen. No. I’m sure next overtime McKinnon and will come right over the boards and eventually one of these games they’ll make a sick play and win in overtime and then the ABS will be one and five or in overtime or something. But that that ratio is just not good enough. And and I’ll keep you know hammering on this point too. This is not to say again win best player win with your best lose with your best. This is nothing to take away from the fact that these are two very talented players. These are wonderful players who can win you games just together in overtime. Right. And I trust them in almost every other situation, but not that one. So it is what it is. We can move on through to the rest of this game. Um, Taylor Macar obviously fourth line didn’t play a ton, but in offensive, do we think he gets another game? Uh, I I mean, if Brinley’s healthy next one, probably not. I’d say no. Yeah, fair enough. If Brinley is not healthy, I still say no. I I don’t know. I think that’s fair, too. But yeah, I I don’t know. I didn’t hate him tonight. I didn’t love him. And I think there are other guys performing for the Eagles that could be a little bit more effective on that fourth line in Brinley’s place. Yeah, I I I don’t disagree with that conversation. The ABS have two days off, so if they want to look at other options there, they possibly can if Brinley is not back and and good to go. Um I feel like you end up in a weird spot. Again, they cut Kale Mar’s minutes, but they also cut Solovio’s minutes at times in this game. So, you end up in a spot where for a significant portion I actually haven’t checked the final. I I want to mention this, too. We talk about Cam Mar’s minutes getting cut. He was still the guy with the most minutes on this team. And yet, like we’re talking about a guy being cut when he played 25 minutes tonight. That’s cut minutes for Kale Mar. That is insane to me. That’s what happens. But you end up relying on essentially a 4 and a half man defense at times. And don’t get me wrong, Sam Molinsky as an individual player was awesome tonight. At five on five, he was on the ice for one shot attempt against. That’s ridiculously good. But because of the usage and the weird pairings that you end up with with the Slovia minutes cut, he only plays 15 minutes tonight. Mar 25, Caves 23, Burns 24, Manson also broke 20. That’s a big ask in a Sega Baba. You are really stretching your defense thin there, which you are, but if you’re going to do it, do it on the Sega Baba when you have a two-day break. True. Following. So, if you’re going to run your guys into the ground, like this is the game to do it. I don’t love it. It’s interesting that that’s where that distribution is happening. And I don’t know, this is another kind of I guess gripe that I have too. And I I guess trust is a big part of it too, right? You you want your coach to trust you as a player. And it seems like some of that is getting to Molinsky. Like Molinsky is earning some of that trust. To not have a reliable D partner though. Night in night outough really really frustrating. Yep. For me need Sam Gerard back. Yeah on that front just for consistency sake if nothing else. Um yeah I I feel like we’ve gotten all the negative out for the most part because I really am struggling to find other negatives in this game. Put puck in net. Fix your overtime. Yeah, that’s that’s like look at the EB’s depth in this game. Your top line, McKinnon, Nas, and Lechin combined for 10 shots on goal. Yep. In this game, your depth was keeping up with them. Nichushkin had three. Uh Landiskog had one. Parker Kelly had four. Ross Colton had three. I don’t know where Drury is, but he had a couple, too. The ABS are getting the offensive generation that they need, but they’re just not scoring. I don’t know how many ways to say it, but that’s what this really what this game boils down to. The overtime problem is not a problem if you win the game in regulation. Yep. The ABS just couldn’t get it over the finish line when they needed to in this one. Nope. It’s tough. We do need to take our second break of the show. Let’s make sure we hit our sponsors up here. Lots of good sponsors, by the way. I love all of our sponsors, but especially Kors Light. You probably saw me drinking a few on the watch along. Choose chill with Kors Light. Cold loggered, cold filtered, and cold delivered to make sure you get the best refreshing flavor out of Kors Light. Uh when you embrace a chill mindset, it’s a good time to choose chill and crack open a Kors Light. The mountains on the bottle or the can turn blue to let you know it’s ice cold and ready to drink. 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Like they outshot him 38 to 22, I guess is 24 after overtime. Uh they completely controlled all of play. They had on most nights the plays they converted, you’re scoring four or five goals tonight. Mhm. And they really gave up very little. One really bad breakaway that you give up tonight that you probably want back. And that’s it. San Jose really wasn’t that dangerous outside of that. What I’ll ask I’ll ask the chat. I’m I’m curious what their thoughts of what the ABS could have done better beyond score better and overtime. No, I and that’s what makes this game really interesting, too. Not not just this specific game, but the sport as a whole. Like that that’s hockey, of course, unfortunately. Like that is what any team can win on any given night. I the joke I love to make is they they they lead the first but they’re down or they they won the game which is of course why they lost. Yes. Indeed. And that that’s I mean I mean that’s hockey but individual efforts as much as you know we could talk about depth scoring. We could talk about the finishing issue. We can talk about the lack of scoring in general. Individual efforts are something to be commended here. I think agree. Yeah. I I think it’s important to note too when you run through games like this, you look at your top players and you ask them to to step up. And guess what? They did in regulation, you have a play from NIS that scores you a goal. Even if is it a little fluky? Absolutely. But he scores you the goal with assist from Macar and Taves, who you who I didn’t like tonight. and they still at least had some level of positive impact in the game. Mhm. Your second goal is McKinnon and Lechinan. Your top line again getting it done and you look at the second, third, fourth line. Yeah, of course you want them to score a goal, but also sometimes they’re not going to. I think especially your third and fourth line, it’s hard to ask them to score every night. Yeah. A a point I also want to bring up which I guess is both positive and negative. We we talked a couple shows a ago about this team being a really good third period team and being really horrible in in the first period kind of seen that change completely 180 which you know part of that I love the early start get getting in front early like I I love that I want to see more of that but I also don’t want that to come at the expense of being able to score when you need your guys to do at most. Yes, you need to be, you know, call it clutch or whatever you want, but in the big moments, you need to be able to rely on some guys. And I look, is it really fair to compare a third period and a Sega Baba? Yeah, because you just the last seven minutes of this game, the ABS legs went. Of course they did. You knew that was going to happen regardless. Mhm. Compare that to the Vegas one where it’s like, yeah, maybe they weren’t great in that third period with with less excuses. Uh the Toyota chat, multiple people shouting out the ABS physicality. I think that’s a fair shout. Uh I the ABS were not particularly physical in this game. No. Um you even saw in that third period when the A’s legs start to go, San Jose laid a couple of big hits. They were they were putting the body down. So I I think that’s a good good thing, a fair argument to make. That’s I I will say something that comes at the detriment of the lack of trust in that fourth line too because that’s where a lot of your you know forward physicality I think lies too. You’ve got a guy like Bartikov who’s not afraid to throw the body. Parker Kelly when he’s mad can throw a hit or two. Yep. Um, I’ve I’ve seen Taylor Marble able to throw it around even, which would have been nice, but I I did see Manson kind of take a step back in his physicality tonight, too, which I think if you’re talking about one of your most physical guys out there on the ice like that, that hurts. It does tonight. It It made the abs a little bit easier to play against tonight, for sure. I think that that’s a fair shakes, but also if you’re sacrificing that physicality to be dominant in possession in the offensive zone, there’s a little bit of give and take there that I think it’s fair to say the ABS were doing a lot of good things outside of that. And it’s not so much the strength, I think it’s those heavy hits that that you were missing. The ABS were doing a fine job of winning battles and corners and and doing that hard work along the boards. It’s not like the ABS played soft. They just didn’t crush anybody. So, um I I don’t know what to make at times of the ABS offensive zone and and we’ve had these conversations of who really are the netfront guys on this team, right? Because you say, “Oh, yeah, Brock Nelson, but he really more plays in the slot area and you’re looking for those reelect plays, which he got.” And and and they worked or nearly worked tonight. Valushkin on the power play, he’s usually there, but at five on a little bit in both are both situations. A little too important in driving play for that second line right now to be that guy. I think netfront I think Gabe Landiskog. Yeah, fair enough. He’s He kind of is that guy for the ABS right now. I I’m trying to find ways how to activate that more because the ABS got 38 shots on goal tonight and outside of the funky goal with Mack and Leki, there really wasn’t a lot of rebounds that led to immediate danger. I I will say for the Avalanche, them becoming a high shot volume team is a pleasant surprise. Yeah, it’s awesome. But they’re starting to get into that territory of quantity versus quality. I think we’ve talked a couple different times now about maybe running into good goalenders, but your goalender is always going to be good if you’re shooting at the logo n out of 10 shots. That is that is true. Yeah, that that’s that’s the issue that I kind of run into there. Um, but I I think a lot of that though too, if you’ve got guys who are willing to sacrifice the body in the ozone or sacrifice a stick or to uh put yourselves in a good position to to receive that shot, you see guys after practice practicing this like a a lot of your top guys are gathering on that right side of the ice standing and practicing deflections. Why? It makes me wonder why we’re not seeing more of that, especially in a game like this, right? Because look, you don’t go into the night thinking, ah, I think we’re going to be terrible at shooting the puck and their goalie is going to play great. That’s not how you think that. But you get halfway through this game and you’re starting to recognize, hey, Ascarov is saving a lot of stuff. We’re struggling to get packs pucks past him with not weird plays. Thought number one should be go to the net, take his eyes away. He can’t stop what he can’t see. Right. Right. Maybe something the ABS could use a little bit more of in that regard. But I again, I don’t know. I’m looking for reasons. If Parker Kelly puts a puck into an open net, the ABS win the game. It’s that it’s that easy to look for a changing moment. Um I I don’t know. I don’t know how I feel about this game because you look at the the possession numbers. Sam Molinsky was absurd. 95% course. He’s such a good depth defenseman. When you don’t overextend him, he’s going to cook for you. Yep. And then your followup is your third line. Your third line all over 80% Cory4. It’s not like they’re out there ah struggling, trying to battle through, trying to figure things out. They’re dominating the other team. Mhm. I That’s really good hockey. Yeah. No, it I I love the trust that’s come out of that third line. It’s and and you don’t see that in with a lot of different teams, too. Like, of course, you know, that trust is higher the higher up in the lineup that you get in most situations. I feel like, you know, you feel good putting a Jack Drury out there in threeon three. you feel good putting a Jack Jury out there in five on five cuz not only do you know he can win you faceoffs but he’s going to be great on both sides of the puck and that that comes I think Landisogg’s elevated that too. Um I love the trust in this this line. A lot of that does come I think from putting a Landisk on that line though too cuz you know that Bard loves this guy. He’s your captain. Players love him. Coaches love him. the the entire community loves him and that that’s going to elevate that tenfold. Yeah. I mean that line alone generated a full expected goal at at five on five. It it didn’t go for him but scoring chances nine to zero. What did go for? I mean that first goal was a good bounce I’d say but that’s about it. Um I did want to get your thoughts on the a second goal though. I think we’re in agreement that it should have counted and it did. There’s an imminent scoring chance. I understand the having to go back and look at it, but to call it off tough at first. Yeah, that was a tough look is absurd to me given it like you’re right there. You’re seeing how that’s, you know, playing out. It comes off the the post and like I I don’t know. The puck is right there. It gets shot in right after it gets taken off. There’s no reason that should have been called a no goal initially. I’m glad they went back and fixed it. Lucky finally gets his 300th point, which again took a long time being able to post that graphic felt euphoric, but no, it’s Yeah, there there should have that was kind of a no-brainer call for me. It should have counted. And that that just goes, I guess, into matinea weirdness, bababa weirdness, but I mean, the goal counted, so this is maybe more of a tangent than anything, but should the NHL more aggressively call penalties about this? Because yes, every defenseman in the league knows how to accidentally on purpose knock their own net off. Like what it comes down to at that point though, and I’m trying to put myself in the NHL’s shoes here, is it’s either a good goal or it’s a penalty. I mean, I I know this is not how the rule book is written, but I think it should be both. I think it it should be both, but looking at it through their eyes, like that that’s going to be the line there is do you want a good goal out of this after we go back and review it or do you want us to punish the guy who’s pushing the net off there in the first place? Because you’re getting rewarded either way. Do you want a reward here or there? So, and I think maybe that weirdness is why I feel pretty comfortable with this loss. Hockey games are weird. Especially matinea games are weird. You look at both the ABS goals. It’s weird. Kale Mar being maybe your worst defenseman is weird. Like Yeah. You know, and and he call it, you know, playing with his brother and him kind of having that on his back or whatever. I I look at it Kale Mar specifically if we’re if we’re going to head back to that. I I mean you are talking about a guy who is playing north of 26 minutes almost every single night. Tonight is an exception. He played 25 minutes and 21 seconds. It’s a lot of times. Yeah, that that’s still a lot of hockey for this guy being a generational talent in the NHL. Being what I would say is a nobrainer best defenseman in the NHL currently. Not close. It’s not close at all. I I mean I feel like he was kind of due for a game like this. Everybody’s got bad games. It sucks. Got a point tonight, by the way. Again, like if you are one of the worst guys on the ice at that point and you’re still earning a point, like I I’m not This is a wash for for Kale Mar, you know. Yep. I I don’t know. Have a bad game, fix it. If he shows up on Tuesday and has three points, cool beans. All right. You know, I’ll take it. And something I would like to see the ABS do is not dwell on this, right? And not that, oh, feel like there’s no problems. We don’t have to fix anything. That’s never what I’m saying. But we watch the ABS go on a four-ame losing streak, even if three of them were in overtime. And we can overlook some of that cuz they were picking up points. They course corrected. They just had two big wins against New Jersey and Vegas. They sit again top of the Central, top of the West, top of the entire league, sort of depending on points percentage and what some other teams do tonight. All of that to say, as long as you can keep yourself from going on slidesh Mhm. the division, the conference, the league is this team’s to lose. Yeah. Simple as that. They’re not the only team that’s lost to the Sharks. And someone was saying in chat multiple times, Sharks beat New Jersey their last game. You brought it up earlier in the show, the NHL’s too talented. Any team can win on any given night. Even if I do think the Sharks are bad, and I do think the Sharks are bad, but there they have Mlin Celbrini. They do. Who’s not bad? No. By any stretch? No. But there’s enough talent on the worst team in the NHL, which is Calgary, not San Jose. uh to score. They can pop off in any given game. They can go toe-to-toe with you and you got to earn it every single night. Yep. Simple as that. Yep. I I will say in looking ahead, yes, you’ve got the backto-back situation. You’ve got two days to rest up before you play a Tampa Bay team. Thank you for the graphic. I was just about to ask about that. Um you’re you’re playing a Tampa Bay team who’s finally in the win column or at least getting not the start they wanted this season for sure. Um, I mean, looking at this game, is there anything to take out of this that you’re specifically saying like this is going to lose you this game against Tampa Bay if this doesn’t fix it or fix itself? Um, I would say don’t go to overtime cuz you’ll just lose apparently if the ABS go to overtime. But no, if if the ABS put up 38 shots and generate this level of quality opportunities against Tampa Bay, you should expect them to win. Tampa Bay is probably going to be a little bit more dangerous. If your top pairing struggles like this, you worry about what a Cucharov and a point can do to you. But again, no hockey game is perfect. Mhm. You can you can play this way and expect to win most nights against most teams. Mhm. Some nights puck don’t go in. I I can live with that. If the ABS win two out of every three games, you go four and two in every playoff series. Not even depending on the order of the losses. Could be four and one. Yeah. I I just can’t put myself in a negative headsp space about this team with the good play that we’ve seen. Even if they are maybe losing a game that you don’t love them to lose, even if you want to ignore context of a Sagaba and wanted more out of that third period, okay, fair enough. There are situations always where you can improve as a team, but the ABS gave me 53 good minutes against the Sharks in regulation with tired legs. You got punished for your mistakes, maybe a bit more than you would like, but you put in a good effort. And the unfortunate reality of real life is sometimes a good effort’s not going to be good enough. No, I don’t know. It’s It’s hard for me to It’s hard for me to be frustrated with that. Mhm. which hockeyy’s oxymoronic because I can be not frustrated with the ABS as a whole and incredibly frustrated with an overtime that is awful and a power play that we’re to the point where I no longer care what the power play looks like, right? It just has to score regularly. Yeah. You can’t go four for six every 10th game and be like, “Look, our power play percentage is okay.” No, you have to score. Yeah. You might only get two opportunities a night. You got to score with two opportunities sometimes. You mentioned with with Tampa Bay’s situation too with Point and Cooerov being as good as they are too. I almost wonder if one of those, you know, fix this things too is one thing that really hurt the Avalanche this weekend, discipline 100%. Taking penalties. Y this is not a team you can afford to do that against. Yeah, it Tampa’s power play will punish you in a way that the Sharks absolutely did not in this game. That’s a fair shout. They’re not comparable at all in in my mind. Yeah, I would agree on on that front. Um, I let me let me actually look up the numbers on the standings really quick here because it’s it’s too good of a season for that much of concern. Even for the things that are bad for the ABS, yes, I want them to fix them, but I don’t live in a world where the ABS should be solely focused on the bad. Mhm. So, yeah, ABS point percentage is 731. Winnipegs is 750 with the game in hand. So, if they win it, they’ll be ahead of the ABS. If they lose it, they’ll be behind the ABS. Um, and then in the West or in the East, sorry, two teams are at 727. So, just behind the ABS. So, the ABS, even by the least generous metric, are the second best team in the NHL right now. Yeah. Okay. Cool. Great. The thing about the NHL is the best team in the league loses 20 25 games a year. Like you’re going to lose some. The ABS. Let me ask you this, Bailey. With five overtime losses, yeah, two of them are shootout. Sure, whatever. The ABS deserve credit. Are the ABS a positive point total with those overtime losses? Did they squeak out points in games they should have lost or are they a negative point total because they turn games that should have been two points into one? No, there there’s nothing. I mean, yes, you’d like to win every single overtime shootout situation you get into, but taking at least one point away, I hate going back to it, but it’s it comes down to resilience. This is a team that can play you up until the last minute of hockey in 12 in 12 out of 13 games. That that’s you’re call some people are calling that negative. That that seems like something that’s pretty positive to me, too. And especially looking further down the season, if the Avalanche can learn to close games out sooner, get the lead, hold on to it for an entire 60, so overtime’s not even a thought, that’d be ideal. But these overtime points, these these nonregulation points that you’re earning are going to matter toward the end of the season. That’s what earns you standings. That’s what’s going to f that that ultimately is what comes down to deciding who the Avalanche are going to play in this first round. Like I feel like it’s not a stretch to say when they get to the playoffs just with the way that they are performing now. This is a good team who can stick with teams through 60. I I don’t see how that’s a negative situation to me at at all in the slightest. Yeah, I would agree. the power play itself or the penalt power play penalty the overtime itself is a negative absolutely but getting to those overtimes not necessarily a negative I think you could be a little bit more negative about it today I think you’d have liked them to win this one in regulation but on the whole with their five losses certainly at least three of them they’re happy with a point even if you are kind of negative about today’s two you’re looking at a situation where the odds were kind of against them they were the better team for most of this game and they still like they they didn’t lose it in regulation. Everyone loves to be in a vacuum and look at every game by itself and and yeah, you can be frustrated with this game in a vacuum. You probably should be frustrated with this game in a vacuum, but then you remember, oh right, the ABS played yesterday. Oh right, the ABS played yesterday against Vegas. Oh right, Kale Mar played almost 27 minutes yesterday. And the context starts to come into play of like, yeah, they probably still deserve better tonight. They probably should have been able to get this game done in regulation, but getting that point, getting three out of four points is a job well done at the end of the road trip. When you come home and you say, “We got three out of four points. Our points percentage is really good. We come out of this on a absurdly good pace.” Yeah. It’s It’s too good. Yeah. I on almost 120 point pace by getting three out of four points here. And uh somebody brings it up in the chat here too about OT in the postseason is it’s five on five. It is five on five. You’re talking about a team who maybe they’re struggling with a threeon three now. That’s a non-issue. I I mean you you’ve talked about it before on shows like it’s a non-issue when it comes to actually playing in the playoffs, but you’re talking about a team that is so dominant at five on five. If they can squeak out these points, get to the postseason, that’s not something that they have to worry about and they can fall back on the fact that they are a great five on five team. This is by underlying metrics, they are the best team in the league at five on five by a decent margin. Yeah, it it’s so so good. And that’s what’s so encouraging to me about these losses. And I know, you know, some people are going to feel like this was not a good game for the ABS and and you’re you’re allowed to feel how you want to feel, but for me, I’m trying to pick out a game where the ABS played badly, where you can truly say the ABS were bad across the entire game. Mhm. And I don’t know that there is one Carolina game terrible in the first period picked it back up. That Utah game that they won really bad in the second period, but they picked it back up and even won that game. And instead of sitting here waiting for a complete stinker of a game, I just don’t know that it’s ever going to come. I I don’t know that the ABS have a bottom of the barrel game in the tank. They have games that you want them to play better. They have games that they’re going to lose. But I’ve yet to sit through a game this year, 13 games in where the ABS just stunk. Yeah. I I mean, you could make an excuse for that one Utah game that they won. But the ultimate like stamp on that game was they won, right? That that’s a two points. That’s another, you know, number in the win column. I I don’t I guess the Boston game that they lost like and even that one it ends up being a onegoal game. It’s a close game. You just had two really really egregious mistakes in that game. Yeah, it it comes back to again this is a team that only has one regulation loss. They’ve taken points in 12 out of their 13. Yep. And and yes, this is down the line. This overtime thing needs to be fixed. This is something that I think that Bedar totally should should work on because when it comes down to at the end of the year, one point versus two in the standings, you’re going to look back on now and be like, that should have been better. But it matters. Yeah. I’m I’m not pretending like it doesn’t matter in the regular season. As much as I hate it and hate analyzing it and don’t care for it personally, having two points is objectively better than one. Like, yeah, that’s I mean, it comes down to that. But again, you’re talking about a team that has points in 12 out of 13. That’s Yep. That that’s a win as of right now. It is looking not like over in an overarching sense, but right here, right now on November 1st at 5:59 p.m. Mountain time, at this exact moment, this is good. This is fine. I’m okay with that. I would argue most teams would say this is a great start to the season. Yeah, but the bar is just that high for the Colorado Avalanche. I want to point out that this again currently the Avalanche are in first in the league. Yep. And these are, you know, we’re we’re trying to pick out, you know, negative and positive when this is this is a team that is leading the league currently. I don’t know if this isn’t good enough, what is, right? Like, do they need to win the league by 10 points? all these margins that they’re leading in as a possession team. Like, does that need to apply to the standings at this point? Uh, I think we do have one super chat to get to and then we can wrap this thing up. $2 from Ryan saying, “Betar costing your team one in OT again. Please fix.” Yeah, I there are no excuses for the overtime at this point. I I’m out of ways to say it. You know the solution and it’s not play McKinnon and Nes together. Nope. And until you start doing that, I don’t think there’s any reason to start taking overtime seriously because you’re just choosing to lose. Yep. That’s it. I Yeah. I I have nothing to add. There’s only so many ways you can say it. You put it best. Convince. Honestly, one of their best overtimes was the one where they were killing penalties for half of it. So maybe just take a penalty and be four on three for the entire thing. I don’t know. You’re at least not going to have McKinnon and Nature’s killing penalties together. That’s definitely not going to happen. You need to start booing overtime at this point as well. Look, if it works for Mac, I’m down. Like, if that’s what he needs, all right, make it happen. Oh my god. Any final thoughts, Bailey, before we wrap this one up? I feel like we kind of hammered this one out. It’s you you got two days. You got two days. Take it. Take advantage of it. Rest. Bring it against Tampa. You win that one and nobody remembers the Sharks game. Yeah, that’s how it always is. Follow your losses up with the right stuff and you’re vibing. Yep. That is going to do it for this DNVR Avalanche postgame show. We appreciate all of you hanging out. We are off for the next two days. No pod tomorrow, no pod Monday. There will uh likely be pressers and stuff from practice and things like that. So, there still will be content. Go check that out. Head over to the dnvr.com for all of our stuff. This has been the DNVR Avalanche podcast presented by BET 365 [Music] [Applause] like the mayor.

Despite dominant play the Colorado Avalanche only muster two goals. Which was enough to get to OT against the Sharks where Colorado continues to prove they are the worst OT team in the NHL

Intro – 0:00
Rundown – 1:15
Blackwood – 3:04
Discipline – 10:00
Cale was not good tonight – 15:05
Overtime – 18:40
Taylor Makar – 26:25
Depth – 29:40
On the whole… – 32:45
Second goal – 42:37
Bad game for Cale – 44:32
Avs the team to beat – 46:00
Gotta lose some games – 50:53
Superchats and Wrapping up – 59:30

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