Colorado Avalanche keep point streak but lose in shootout to Minnesota Wild |DNVR Avalanche Postgame

Colorado Avalanche keep point streak but lose in shootout to Minnesota Wild |DNVR Avalanche Postgame

So [ __ ] cold. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Welcome in to the DNVR Avalanche postgame show live from the Toyota lounge. The first losers lounge in a while, but it is still powered by your front range Toyota dealerships. And we are of course presented by Bet 365. ABS do finally lose one uh 3-2 to the Minnesota Wild in a shootout. Just their second loss in the month of November and it is an overtime/shootout loss. So they do still get a point. The 10-game win streak might be over, but they still have a 15game point streak going. So big picture, I don’t think there’s all that much to be upset about. Plenty to talk about in this game though. Um, I don’t pretty high octane game, AJ. I I was not expecting it to be this shot heavy. Yeah, it really um both defenses didn’t look very good for much of the game, but I do think that some of the numbers felt a little bit inflated because it really didn’t feel like there was a lot going on in the middle of the ice. Neither goalender felt like they were under siege. It was just kind of like a steady stream of shot attempts more than it was like really good scoring chances. Yeah. So, I wasn’t um I wasn’t like blown away by uh the offenses in this game, but I do think that uh defensively it was way worse from the Avalanche than I was expecting. I think that’s a fair way to put it. Um let’s hit the 60c rundown before we do anything else. Uh jump on that. First period I first half of it felt like mostly Minnesota. Second half of it felt like mostly Avalanche. Both teams got their one power play of the game in that period and nothing to show for it. The ABS do eventually break through off some great work from Artur Lean and defeat Nathan McKinnon to give the ABS a one- nothing lead. Second period, by far the worst period of the game for the ABS. Uh Minnesota is able to score twice in that period. One maybe a fortunate bounce for Minnesota kicks in off of Capriov’s skate. The other one, a much better play. Uh, a good finish from Capri off of a nice setup where the ABS defense did get a little bit turned around and discombobulated to make it 2-1. Third period, the ABS come out and push back. Gabe Landiskog just refused to be denied on the ABS. Second goal of the game to make it 2-2, which gets you to overtime. I think the overtime tonight is everything wrong with the modern NHL overtime. So, it goes to a shootout. And then the ABS are still bad at shootouts, so they lose. Yeah. When um Oh, I’m not allowed to use adult language. When you’re being a whiny man baby about 3v3 and I’m rolling my eyes at you, that’s the kind of overtime that proves your point and damages my argument of I know it’s not as fun as it used to be, but it’s still a pretty good time. That wasn’t a good time. That was a waste of time for everybody. It was dumb. It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t interesting. It wasn’t engaging. It wasn’t dangerous. Didn’t do anything. The the abs in the final 30 seconds, the abs were like, “Okay, we can actually try now.” Yeah. And that was it. And it was just like so stupid. Well, here’s in this game in particular because you look at this game through 60 minutes of regulation and you’re going, “Wow, there’s been an extreme amount of shots on goal in this game.” Yeah. teams are averaging over a shot on goal every two minutes a piece like they were pumping shots towards the net even if it’s a you know quality and and maybe that’s poor defense or whatever and then you get into overtime and across a fiveminute overtime the shots on goal were I I don’t have it in front of me but it’s it was like two total maybe three yeah three in five minutes after the the game that we just watched for 60 minutes of regulation. That’s what the overtime looks like. Give me a break, man. Yeah, you can do better. Yeah. All right. I got my annoyance out with that. Yeah. I mean, shots on goal were 3533 uh at 5v5 in this game and at 3v3 it was three nothing. So, I coaches should be banned from overtime. No more coaching in overtime. That’s the how we fix this. I mean, when you when you take a a chronically dumb team like the Avalanche when 3v3 starts and you turn them into this extremely safe group, you’re like, “Oh, this is definitely headed to a shootout.” But I’m I’m I’m kind of on the other side of it. I was mad earlier this year because I was like, “Oh, why are they putting these guys out there who suck together in overtime?” And now they’re like, “Oh, we’re afraid to lose in overtime.” But you can’t win in a shootout. You don’t get the stops. You don’t score the goals. You don’t have any go-tos. Like, yeah, don’t play for that format. Like, I would much rather them just go all out in the 3v3 and just be like, we’re gunning for it and if we win it, great. And if we don’t, it’s fine. Because you know that you’re losing in a shootout. Yep. Some over They’ve won They’ve won a couple of overtime games. They’ve won like one shootout ever with this tandem. Like we don’t need That’s bad. We don’t need to sit here and pretend like there’s there’s the Avalanche have a chance in this format. So it’s like push it a little bit. Yep. You would have liked overtime. Or we can just take Nathan McKinnon out of shootouts entirely and like let’s get weird with it. I’ve joked we’ve seen Parker Kelly score two awesome breakaway goals this year. you’re perfect chance. Yeah. Let’s see what Ross Colton can do. Like, these guys aren’t built for that. Nathan McKinnon hasn’t been good in the in the shootout format in like five years. We don’t have to we don’t have to pretend that this is a thing. I don’t think I can watch Nathan McKinnon come down on a shootout, chop up the puck seven times, and shoot it right into a goalie again. I don’t think I can do that again. I’m I’m tired of it. Oh, man. the next the next shootout when Nathan McKinnon uh gets ready to shoot, you just need to go use the bathroom then. Prepare for the post game. Use the bathroom then cuz you’re not you’re not missing anything, man. It’s the same stuff. It’s a different move, but it gets there the same way. And then the end result is always the same. And he’s one of his last nine in shootouts, I believe. Like, you don’t have to pretend like this guy should be in there anymore. Yeah. I I don’t really know what to say about the shootout and that side of things, but there is plenty else to get into in this game. Um, a bit of a tale of two separate hockey game. I That’s not really true. The ABS were just much better in the third than they were for a significant portion of this game is how I would put it. Not that the first was bad. Second was pretty bad. Um, they were okay in the first. It was it was extremes in the first where Minnesota was really good. Yeah. Cuz each team took their only penalties of the game in the first 10 minutes and then after that Minnesota was really good and then after that the ABS were really good and they scored and it was fine. And then the second period the ABS were okay and then Minnesota completely took over. Yeah. Completely took over. Yeah. And then to start the third period the ABS came out gunning. and didn’t really stop. Not even after they scored the game title, they came right back at it. Like they were they’re the best third period team in hockey for a reason. And we saw it like they they I don’t know what it is mentality. I don’t know if it’s just a willpower thing. I don’t I really don’t know what makes for a like a truly great third period team because this is a special group though through 24 games their play in the third period is unreal and we saw I mean they laid it on them in that period today. Yeah, scary to watch when the ABS are that good. So, unfortunately, they couldn’t break through with an additional goal to get this win, but I do think they deserve a lot of credit there. You’re I mean, realistically, your both your goals come from your top line tonight. One of them is Gabe Landiskog, but he was playing with the top line at the time the puck is actually goes in the net. Does this feel like a little bit of a lost opportunity for the ABS depth? Were you expecting a little bit better out of them in this one or is this just it’s the Azon won 10 games in a row. Some nights it’s not going to go. Yeah, I was expecting a little bit better. We talked a little bit about it in the pregame um that I was really hoping to see some better play from the Avalanche bottom six, but um I can’t say I’m like hugely surprised. Like I thought the fourth line was like okay. Yeah. Um this insist Oh my gosh. This third line, this Olivesson Drury Parker Kelly thing is just like killing me, man. Yeah. And I mean that’s just waiting for Val Nachushkin room like Well, and like he’s not he’s not a real thirdline guy, right? But Joel Kivy Ron, right, for Parker Kelly is an easy swap that should happen in my opinion. I mean, it just it shouldn’t matter tomorrow, assuming Natushkin is back. Yeah, I mean I’m not going to assume that. I’m I’m skeptical of all things until he comes and is actually in that lineup. So, um I’m not I’m not I’m I’m just not a big fan of that their game today. Victor Olson’s gone a little bit quiet. Um justifiable. I Yeah, but you also have like a like you’d like to you’d like to see a little bit better from Marty Nas in that game, too. He’s not a bottom stick. Sick shootout goal, but did I hardly notice him at all before that? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I noticed him a lot, but it was a lot of bad stuff where you’re just like, come on, man. Like, what are you doing? There’s a reason Landis Scott got moved up to the top line in the third, and there’s a reason Marty Nate just didn’t play a second of overtime. Like, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And they it would I don’t know. I I want to see a little bit better out of their bottom six. And I wonder who’s the best guy for that. Is it Landisk or is it Colton to to move down and be like, “Hey, let’s give it a little bit of a kickstart.” I mean, is there a world where Val comes back and you just stick him on the third line? Like, no. No, no. I I I would go either Colton or or Landisk down there. Um because those two guys can drive a line. Yeah, fair enough. And that’s kind of my goal there is just to get them is to get Dory and Olivesson kind of just like that classic like play driver that they need. Yeah. To to really be effective because we’ve seen them be insanely effective with both guys, which is why I lump them in together and I’m like, I truly don’t care. Pick one. Just either is fine. Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, either one is completely fine with me. All right. I This game’s in a weird spot because I think it’s too hard to put blame on your your defense and your goalending in a game where you only gave up two real goals. You feel like you need your offense to get you to three on any given night. But also the ABS defense got worked maybe because of their puck management more than anything for decent stretches of this game. Yeah. Um their puck management was the worst it’s been. Uh, I I would say even worse than the Nashville game because the Nashville game it got better as the game went on where they stopped making mistakes and in this one it was there were so many mistakes and I think the difference there is that Nashville’s terrible so as the ABS got a little bit better into the game. Yeah, there was not a lot that Nashville could do about it. But Minnesota isn’t terrible. And so when the ABS were making mistakes with the puck, like they were getting it crammed down their throat. Yeah. And it just turned into cycle into cycle into cycle. So that’s, you know, for me, I’m just like that’s that their play with the puck wasn’t good, but uh a team that’s playing with a ton of confidence. Yeah. Yeah, it did. That’s, you know, you you put yourself into the wood chipper there and that’s that. Well, you you got what you had coming to you. I think especially in that second period, you watched Minnesota give the 110% effort, right? Yeah. They were going full boore for the vast majority of the the night until they got scared in the third period and the ABS punched back. But you you got the I don’t know if I would say it was an A execution game from Minnesota, but you got the A effort from Minnesota. Yeah. And I mean, I’m not I wasn’t in love with the way it looked for the ABS at times. It did feel like the ASBs were chasing this game for for decent portions. And some of that is the puck possession, but some of it I think you look through some of those stretches and you want the ABS to be more competitive in the puck battles at times at the very least. If you’re not going to have the execution with the puck, you need to have the effort, I guess, is the way that I would put it. Yeah. So, yeah, definitely. And I also think that um when we’re talking about the improved Avalanche defense this year and their improved ability to clear out the middle of the ice, not give up high danger chances, you look at who was their worst defenseman today at doing that. It was Brent Burns and he’s been their biggest change from last year in improving that part of their game. So he has a bad day and suddenly the rest of the defense is struggling in that area. Sam Gerard was the best ABS defense in preventing high danger chances today. That’s backwards of what you were thinking it’s going to be. Brent Burns is supposed to be that guy and they tore him up. Fair shout, but I would not say I was content with any of the Avalanche defenders when it come to giving up the high danger chances. It felt like Minnesota was finding the middle of the ice extremely easily for the entire game, to be honest. I yes and no. Like I think they had a lot of high danger chances, but I think there was a lot of contested high danger chances if you know what I mean. Like I it was a lot of like stick on stick bodies in the lanes. Like some of these chances are getting are getting counted as high danger chances when it’s like there’s five guys in front of the net and everybody’s slapping it a puck and sure one of them floats to your goalender kind of thing and it’s like okay that’s I’m really not worried about that but from where it is on the ice that’ll be counted right. Yeah. And so I think some of the numbers are going to be bloat today and I really I I’m excited. I will rewatch the game in the morning um and just see if I feel if I view it differently because I didn’t feel like the middle of the ice was a huge problem in terms of like clean looks. Sure, the puck was there a lot, but I didn’t think there were a lot of clean looks and but Brent Burns was the guy that I felt was the worst at it and he’s supposed to be your best. And that’s where I’m like, hey, this isn’t a hard this isn’t a hard straight line to draw because I would agree with you. I’m not looking at any ABS defenseman going, well, that guy had a good game there. Yeah. No, no, but the guy who that is what he does defensively at the at the highest level and is like one of his only selling points in the defensive zone cannot be your worst in a game. That’s a tough one. And I don’t know that I’d say directly at fault. There are other issues there, but he is the man. Marking Capriovv coming down the middle on Minnesota’s second goal. I frankly he’s the man there. I don’t really have very many other problems with the play. If Burns is paying attention, he just ties up the stick. We’re not like we don’t Yeah, we’re not looking at that. We do have to take our first break of the show here. So, let’s make sure we’re shouting out our sponsors like Shady Rays. Feels like the ABS might have forgotten something in the second period in the defensive zone. The same way I have forgotten my sunglasses when I’m sitting at the gas station. It’s very sad when I realize I’ve driven off and that those sunglasses are never coming back. But Shady Rays has your back in that situation. You can go get yourself any pair of polarized sunglasses from Shady Rays today. Get 35% off that pair with code DNVR. But once you get them, you’ve got 30 days. You don’t like them, you lose them, you break them. Shady Rays will replace them entirely for free. So you don’t have to worry about wearing your sunglasses. You don’t have to worry about forgetting them. 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It was the weirdest thing that aligned with Marty Nas and Nathan McKinnon that I had a problem with was transporting pucks. Yeah. And Nes especially fumbled like pucks through the neutral zone in this game. It was weird. It was like the puck was just hopping over a stick. It was just skittering away from him. He’s trying to make plays that don’t exist. He’s just not not making a play where there is one to be made. He’s just throwing pucks places and hoping. and you’re like, “This is the worst version of Marty Nes. This is the one that drives you crazy.” Um, and so I think that uh I let’s like let’s be real here. If Arttori Lein is not winning a battle somewhere, he’s not contributing much to that line. True. And he’s not going to do much of anything when it comes to transporting pucks. Yeah, that’s not his game. It’s not what he does. They don’t ask him to do any of that. It’s just not it. Total nogo, right? He’s there to do exactly what he did on the first goal of the game, which is he outworked two dudes and put a puck in the middle of the ice. Like, yep. He’s he’s that’s that’s where his his game lies. That’s where his value is. And he did he did that just fine. I have no issues there. But when they’re going to be really really high event, as they always are. Yeah. uh they need to be moving pucks through center ice to create the danger that that comes from the offensive side because they’re not a great psycho line. They’re not bad at it though, right? Like it’s just not you’re not looking at at them and going, “Well, they’re going to cycle you to death and to death.” And they had a couple of great shifts doing just that. But a lot of their goals that they score are because they are able to put teams in transition and they they beat them because teams are trying to sort out the rush the rush defense which is the hardest thing to do in in the NHL and these guys are all great at that and that’s why it just didn’t if they’re not going to move pucks well through the neutral zone uh their effectiveness nose dives considerably. So, a lot of their puck possession is was for not today, but they were they were okay. I felt I felt good about some of it, but it just the the their A+ attribute wasn’t it. It Yeah, this is a credit to Minnesota, I think, is they disrupted their timing. They disrupted how they play that game. And when they do that, uh, they give themselves a puncher chance. What has made the Avalanche so tough this year is that when that top line isn’t dominating a game, the other lines have been able to chip in and we didn’t get that today. And because of that, I mean, you’re just like, “Okay, that’s your offense just went quiet.” Now, can we live with that? And I know the answer is obviously yes. You’re not going to blow up about it for one game, but I already asked you about the bottom six. intentionally kind of left the second line out of this conversation because isn’t is it not the second line that you want to be the one to step up when maybe you need an extra goal out of someone beyond your top guys? Yeah. And right now their second line is like all guys producing at a third line rate, right? Yeah. it. So, and it ended up a little bit hodge podge too with Nas playing the third period on the second line, but and for the record, uh, the Naturous Nelson Colton line actually was pretty good together. Sure, but it didn’t score. No, I I mean, it didn’t score. None of it scored, right? Like, yeah, I don’t know how many more great scoring chances Jack Drury is going to be able to fumble, but my man’s got to put one or two of these things in. Come on, man. And again, it’s this is a weird conversation depending on how much you want to zoom out because you look at this game as a whole and you’re like, “Yeah, you needed one more goal.” Totally reasonable ask from the Colorado Avalanche forward core that you needed one more goal. You zoom out to the last two games, well, they scored six against San Jose. You don’t feel like that’s a problem. You zoom out to the last four games. Well, they got away with a couple of shutouts that were essentially one- nothing games. They really haven’t been scoring that well. Yeah. And then you zoom out to the 10-ame win streak and you’re like, well, there’s a game where they scored eight. There’s a game where they scored nine. Here’s So, you can kind of make the story you want to make there. Big picture. I don’t think the ABS are running into a scoring issue here, but fair to say you wanted one tonight. Yeah, your offense just goes through lows. Yeah, it’s it’s not the 80s. It’s a higher scoring environment um nowadays than it has been at other times, but like Yep. Let’s let’s be real here. like every team is going to go through a lull and the fact that the ABS came into this game averaging half a goal more than the second highest scoring team in the league was like you’re pointing at the sustainability there. Yeah, you’re pointing at the avalanche going some of this is due for like I said in the pregame, it doesn’t mean it’s not going to be first. It’s just going to be less first. The gap between first and second is going to shrink some and that’s just kind of what it looks like tonight. But also, you got to give a lot a lot a lot of credit to Yesper Walstead. Yeah, he kicks ass. He was real good tonight. No argument there. That guy rocks. And I mean, that’s a that’s one of those few times where like you tip a cap and you just say, “Yeah, he was great.” Spencer Knight was great in Chicago and just didn’t get any run support, right? Like, yeah, Scott Wedgwood was just better on the other end in that one. But Walstead said tonight was I mean that’s the best I think that we’ve seen a goalender play against the Avalanche this season. He was awesome and full credit to him. Yeah, there have been some other good performances too, but no need to dice it up and really figure that one out. Wstead was very good. U here is my other question and I don’t know. I I’m I’m trying to formulate my thoughts on the ABS defense tonight. You already mentioned the the struggles of Brent Burns, but you’re looking at the top pairing and I I think I have lived with what the ABS have gotten out of Devon Taves a lot this year because there’s still been those moments where Taves has a great stick defensively and he’ll still break up some plays and we’ll still have that quality of play. his struggles with the puck, I think, particularly in the offensive zone, when do they start to become a problem? I guess I’ll ask it that way. I think we could start having this conversation for real. The season is a quarter of the way over. Um, yeah, we we’ve really been kind of having like the Well, he was he was slow to start last year, too, and then he had 33 points in 40 games or whatever to end the year. That’s fantastic. By the end of the season, he was like, “Duh, Devontaves is just normal, right?” Yeah. Now we’re we’re a quarter of the way through another slow start. He doesn’t have any goals offensively. He’s we’ve watched him sail multiple multiple like great scoring chances. And tonight was another one. Doesn’t even hit the net. Yeah. Um doesn’t has has a golden scoring chance early in the I think it was the third period and just sails the net. Not even competitive. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s I think that’s you’re starting you’re you’re starting to have a real conversation of okay, we’ve been talking about the Avalanch’s need for a third pairing defenseman on the left side. Y this isn’t a this isn’t a Devonte is washed or Devonte shouldn’t be on your top pairing every night thing. I’m just maybe the conversation is more you want to find a guy that’s a really stout defender and does have deployment a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. and and then move Taves around a little bit and you know like Sam Gerard is working his way into being the odd man out because Sam Molinsky looks so good and Gerard continues to just not he’s we’re still waiting for him to wake up a little bit and the longer that goes on the more expendable Sam Gerard looks and you know that that changes your math on what you would So I think that the Devont Taves conversation is completely fair at this point. Um that that it is it’s we could start talking about it and like this is something that we will keep an eye on and if the team if the team needs offense that I’m is is it a is it a is it a conversation of if you’re chasing in a game, do you maybe want to just put Minsky on the left side and like send it with the offensive pairing? Yeah. Like if you’re chasing if you’re chasing in a game, you’re already losing. Yeah. So, you know, like you’re less worried about what happens on the defensive end. So, that’s uh because Minsk’s dynamite offensively. He’s dynamite offensively. Even in this game, he had eight shot attempts. Now, not all those are great. Not all those are going to be scoring chances. A lot of that is just throwing pucks at the net. You know, Devonte also had seven shot attempts. But on the whole, I think that that’s part of your problem of your def of your offense tonight was that your defenseman, it was on them to play way too much of your offense. Yeah. Kale Mar has has 12 shot attempts in this game. Devon Taves has seven. And Sam Wolinsky has eight. Sam Gerard has four. Like, you don’t want your defense shooting that much. That’s way too many. It did feel at times in that third period even where mostly Kale Macar but I would say Sam Molinsky got in on some of that too where it was the defense trying to put the team on their back on the in the offensive zone. Yeah, Mar is a alien, so he just shimies three times and people fall over. But you’re you’re putting a lot of pressure on a defense, which of course the ABS play through a lot to drive that much offense for you in a game where again, you go look at the second period especially, and your defense is not having their best night at getting pucks going the right direction. your your forward core the expectation is your forward core needs to drive a little bit more offense when you run into a game like this one I think it’s yeah it’s also okay to live in a world where the ABS didn’t play great and got beat tonight because that happens in hockey and they still got a point out of this game in overtime and to have a 15game point streak like we keep we keep talking like oh hey if you’re going to lose a game lose it in overtime because then you’re not you’re walking out with a point. Yep. It’s 500 hockey by losing in overtime, right? I mean, you’re talking you’re talking they have one regulation loss through 24 games. Yep. Why? Like like the biggest difference Yeah. They’re winning a lot of games, but they’re at 17 wins. Dallas is at 15. Uh Tampa Bay is at at 15. Minnesota’s at 14. Like it’s not the way that they’re winning. It’s the way that they’re losing that has put them where they are in the standings. And it’s the loser point is is just helped push them ahead a little bit because they’re not having any zero point nights. The way that they’re winning would still have set themselves up at the top of the league, but the way that they’re losing has created that gap to the rest of the league. Yes, great great way to put it because after after this game and since Dallas hasn’t played its game tonight, uh they’re even in games played and the the ABS are up by six in the standings. Yep. Six over. They have they have a two Well, they have a two- win advantage. Y Okay. So, where do those other two wins come or those other two points come from? It’s the losses. Yep. So, it’s they’re they’re doing fine. I mean, correct. In no way is anybody panicking about this. It’s it’s I mean obviously nobody’s going to panic. You lost a great hockey game. You didn’t get dominated. I mean there were there was this obviously the stretch in the second period where the Wild were by far the better team. But what I love to see is that in that third period they’re chasing the game. They had the answer. They’re down they’re down 2-1 and they found it. Yeah. Yep. They found it. They they were stringing long shifts together. They were doing exactly what you want to see them do. Uh, and they they got they earned that the game tying goal and then they put more pressure on like they were great, man. I do want to get really really good again today. They were I I wouldn’t I they didn’t bring their agame, but they were good. Um, do want to get into that third period push a little bit, but I’m already way over time for our second shout out of our sponsors. 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Of course, when you do gamble at Bet365, you must be 21 or older, physically located in Colorado. Please gamble responsibly. If you or someone who knows a gambling problem, call or text 1800 gambler today. And if you make a little bit of extra money through Bet365, maybe it’s time to pick up some Brunt Workware. Could be a fantastic gift for the hardworking man in your life. They make high quality stuff when it comes to your work wear. They have their bestselling Marin work boots. Not only built for the toughest job sites, they’re also completely waterproof. So rain, mud, or just standing in water, your feet stay dry. They have more than just boots, though. Their high performance gear is built for tough jobs. From heavy duty work pants to weather resistant jackets, Brunts Design, durable, Brunt designs durable, reliable work wear to keep you protected and productive in any conditions. Uh they’re really awesome at what they do. They’ve kind of changed the game a little bit. A lot of the workware brands out there have just been doing their thing for years and years and years, and Brunt came in and wanted to shake up the space a little bit. So, uh, go check them out and get $10 off with code DNVR. Especially with the temps dropping and the holidays coming up. It’s a great time to go get some Brunt Workware, either for yourself or whoever might be the worker in your family. That $10 off comes with code DNVR at checkout over at bruntwork.com. That’s bruntwork.com. Use code DNVR. Order today and let them know you heard it here on the show. Third period of DNVR Avalanche podcast. I think the one thing about that game that sticks in my craw is the ABS squandered an incredibly good game from Gabe Landiskog. Landy was awesome tonight. Yeah. Um he’s quietly been building. We’ve been seeing it over the last I want to say like five games or so. Sure. Were you starting to see him putting a little like the skating started to feel a lot better? Um his puck play stopped feeling like oh my god this is bad. Y um it it started feeling competitive at a high level again and then we saw today. I mean it’s he’s he’s good man. I mean, when I’m when I’m talking about dropping potentially dropping him back down to the third line when Nushkin comes back, I think it’s gonna have to be Colton. Yep. Landy’s been too good. Yeah. And that’s the thing, like you trust Gabe Landiskog in that role a lot more. And he started there for a reason. And I there was a lot to like. There was a lot I mean the Landiskog Nelson chemistry. There’s a there’s a lot to like in that just in that duo. Sure. But Landy had kind of played his way down the lineup earlier and then with injuries, you know, now he’s back up here. But it’s I think you’re seeing really good out of both Brock Nelson and Gabe Landiskog. And like even Ross Colton had kind of a quieter game today, but y I like I I really didn’t have a big problem with the second line outside of they didn’t finish. I Brock Nelson was sneaky good. He was sneaky dangerous today um with the puck on his stick. I again you said it in the last period. It’s not that the ABS played badly tonight. There were issues with puck management, the the neutral zone fumbles, but there was also a lot of quality offense generated or at least quality play that maybe didn’t quite connect. Whether that’s Walstead making a save, whether it’s Minnesota getting a stick at a lane, this was just a good hockey game where the ABS came up a goal short. And yeah, if if you want to go through the lineup and nitpick, oh, they they needed this here, they needed that there. I think fair enough. I do it all the time on this show. But you have to take that with the other side of the uh the grain of salt. I don’t Can you It’s a cube. A grain of salt is a cube. Flip it to the other face and you can acknowledge that the ABS played pretty well, ended up not being the better team tonight. It happens in the NHL. Yeah. And again, we’re talking about still got a point out of it. So, right, the the ABS floor this year has been at a point in all but one game. Yeah. Which is an important distinction. There are nights where you get a game into overtime and it feels like you stole one. Yeah, I I don’t think that’s what this game is. Yeah, exactly. This was a game where the ABS played pretty well, couldn’t get it over the hump, and unfortunately that cost them a point, but it they still did get one point out of it. So, that is what it is. On Landiskog’s front, I mean, that goal shift alone has to earn him some some credit, right? Like, he just he’s awesome. One man armied that thing from the neutral zone all the way through. Gets hit in the face and still gets up and out muscles a guy for the finish. Yeah, he was awesome. What more do you have? I mean, that’s that kind of like that’s that heart though, you know, that they’ve that they have been lacking and that just some of that will to win that we’ve talked about in recent years where it was like the the last two years of Avalanche teams when things didn’t go their way. They went away sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. You could see there were nights where they just went away. We’re 24 games into the season and I don’t think there’s been a single game where that’s happened. No, they’ve just the fact that they’ve made it overtime in all but one games and even the Boston game they lost in regg, they were like unloading in the third period on them. Oh my god. I mean, you go and look at the numbers from that game and you’re like, “Yeah, this is the game they lost, right? This was it.” So yeah, it’s u we talk about that floor a lot and Landiskog has done a great job of like raising that floor and making them a lot more well-rounded, bringing some of that emotional maturity and and that heart and the soul, the physicality, the toughness. I mean, it’s what he does. And we talk about, hey, it it might be Colton that needs to go down to that third line. And I think part of that is you need a little bit more of the Gabe Landiskog in your top six. Yeah, you have Artur Lechen who goes into corners and does that hard work, but especially when you look at that second line. Nelson is a big guy, but that’s not really what he does. He’s he’s not really the guy that you’re going fishing into corners and expecting to win battles. Nouchkin can do some of that, but doesn’t quite have the edge to his game that someone like Gabe Landiskog does. And and frankly, you even look at someone like Colton, and Colton does work hard as well, but unfortunately, he’s not built like a linebacker like Gabe Landerskog is. So, he’s just, frankly, Colton’s just not good enough. Sure, he does. I mean, when you talk about him being a second line player, I think Ross Colton does 95% of everything that you want out of a just a little out of his depth. Yeah. Yeah. He’s He just That guy botches so many scoring chances. So many scoring chances. Yep. And that’s because he’s not good enough to catch them. He’s He’s He does everything right getting there. He helps create them. He’s in position. He does all of that really, really well. But he just doesn’t score. Yeah. He’s a good enough goal scorer to or I should say he’s a good enough player to be a 20 goal scorer every year because he creates a volume of chances that he can get away with missing on three out of four of them or whatever the those numbers are made up. But yeah, he he is in pos he’s in position to score right 30 a year, right? Exactly. We’re we’re talking about him actually getting to 20 because I think he’s only done it once in his career. Yeah. I mean, he had 18 once, I think, too. But, you know, Right. And he’s hovered around it. Yeah. Basically, his whole career. Last year, I mean, last year he played 61 games, he scored 16 goals. Yep. Like he’s always in that ring. Right now, just shy of a 20 goal pace. Yeah. So, I think he’s probably it like he’s he’s he’s the obvious candidate there. But I absolutely love what Ross Colton brings to this lineup. He’s great. His toughness and and his drive and he’s got the right kind of crazy because he doesn’t play on an edge where he takes a lot of dumb penalties, but he does bring an edge and a competitiveness to a lineup and he’s got skill. You know, you look at what Ryan Hartman does for Minnesota. Hartman is nuts and yep, frankly, he’s a jackass, but he’s really he’s really really effective because he gets in guys heads and he does all this and he’s got enough skill where he’s had a couple of pretty good years, but he also hurts his team a lot by doing dumb stuff. Yeah. This is this is where Ross Colton, you don’t worry about that with him. Yep. like he doesn’t make those silly mistakes. He’s so I love him, maybe more every game because he’s so you see his value to his to to his team when they need someone to kind of pull them into the fight when they’re sleepy a little bit. Ross Colton has consistently been able to do that with them. It’s so good. And all of this to come full circle on what we were talking about earlier. Yeah. Is the ABS offense going through a little bit of a lull and maybe especially their depth? Sure, but then you remember, oh right, Val Nushkin’s out. Oh right, Gavin Brinley’s out. And all of a sudden, yeah, you get Nushkin back soon, whether it’s tomorrow or whenever it ends up being and guys start to slot back into where they’re supposed to be in this lineup and no one’s going to be shocked when the third line scores a goal with Ross Colton back on it. Well, and like I think I think we’re sort of working our way towards Gavin Brinley maybe slotting in for where Victor Olivesson is now. Logan O’ Conor and Parker Kelly and uh Kiv R making up a fourth line because I still don’t think that Bikov is going to keep that job when all these guys I don’t either. I don’t either. And Kelly’s going to go back into the middle which which sucks. Like that’s it’s But you can see where the Avalanche are going to value that. And you’re talking about guys being out. They haven’t played with Logan Oconor for one second this season. And they have the third best penalty kill in the league. Yep. And like this is exactly the kind of game that Park that Parker Kelly that Logan OKor would have been great in with his speed, with his physicality, his defensive prowess. Yep. like you you put that guy in into your lineup and you’re you are a little bit more dangerous and you’re not having a line that’s you’re you’re out there going, “Oh my god, they’re out there getting absolutely caved in again because with this with this version of the fourth line, that’s what you’re worried about.” And they weren’t the problem tonight. They I don’t even think they were a problem tonight. It’s like I don’t think they had a bad game. It’s just that with LOC, the difference between LOC and Ivan Ivan is enormous. You know, like Ivan Ivan can be is a kind of a quiet player, but even on Logan OKConor’s worst days, he’s productive. It’s the same thing as what you’re talking about with Ross Colton moving up to a second line, right? Does 95% of the work there. But the conversation with those fourth line guys, I think, is a lot more. Obviously, Logan Okconor does a bunch of things. Great. reads the play well, super good defensively. But where Logan Oconor takes that next step is his hands are just good enough when you’re talking about a fourthliner. It’s not the yo kibir problem of every time the puck is on his stick the plate dies. It’s not the problem of okay, you can go out and do the hard work to earn a puck and then what? Logan O’Connor can give you that extra 2% to make the right pass or take the next step as long as he doesn’t go to his backhand on a breakaway. Uh it’s good but Amen. And we have also seen Gavin Brinley brings that try hard defensively. He brings he brings the effort. He brings some skill upside. Yeah. But the the skill with the puck is what makes him has made him such an intriguing and effective bottom six player to start this year because every line that Gavin Brenley becomes a part of their offensive ceiling gets a little bit better but they don’t have you look at like with with Victor Olivesson when he goes quiet he doesn’t do much. Yep. And what is he bringing to the lineup? Because he’s he’s a very limited guy with Gavin Brinley. That’s why I That’s why I have Olivesson kind of circled as my like if things don’t turn around before Brinley comes back, you know, which it’s still going to be weeks. Yeah, have some runway here. But like you do and this is like this whole conversation is indicative of why this Avalanche team feels special because you can take one of those guys out and you could put one of the other ones in and it gives the Avalanche lineup a different look and that look isn’t oh this sucks now. And in previous years, you know, you’re you’re looking at a lot of the callups where you’re like, I mean, there are things I like about Ivan Ivan, but they have some better options that guy for you. Yeah. Right. Like, you know, cuz cuz being a bottom six guy in the NHL is really difficult. It’s it’s largely about how do you impact a game in both limited minutes and limited ability? How do you find a way to impact a game? And if you’re not quite good enough in any of the areas to do that, you run into the Shane Bowers problem of what do you do for this lineup? It and I think that’s the Ivan Ivan problem that we’re having and the exact opposite of Logan Oconor and Gavin Brinley. Yeah. Well, it’s interesting. I I think Gavin Brinley kind of stands in his own box a little bit there. the the path to success of being a bottom six player isn’t necessarily play so good that you cannot possibly be denied which is what Brinley has done. Yeah. But there is also the pathway of being consistently effective. Any bottom six player can go out and have a great night. I you could go through every an AHL prospect prospects in the AHL I should say and you could call any of them up and on any given night on their best night they’ll look like an NHL fourthliner or better. Yeah. But what happens when you when you play five NHL games in a row? What happens when you’re not having your best night? How do you find a way to be an effective hockey player? And if the answer is you completely disappear, you’re not going to earn a lot with that. Yeah. And that’s I said Ivan Ivan problem. I’m thinking about Victor Olivesson problem because when Olivesson isn’t generating that offense, he’s not dangerous with the puck. He’s not doing much. Yep. His puck away or his play away from the puck has never been good. Defensively, it’s never been good. It’s been better the last two years. But this isn’t a guy that you’re putting out there because he’s he’s physical, he’s winning board battles, and he takes care of his own end. like his game is the opposite of that. Yep. He’s trying to get by in those areas because the other areas are where he thrives. We have not seen as dangerous a player from as as Victor Olivesson in the recent weeks. The last two weeks of Olson haven’t been nearly as good as the first like month. It’s hard to be a get more ahead player in the bottom six. Yeah. Olison at times this year has felt like a get more ahead player, but what happens when you need a keep it even player or get the lead player. Yeah. Don’t know that Olivesson has really done enough of that, especially over the last couple of weeks. Yeah, he had a point the other night. Okay. It was in a six to nothing win. I mean, I don’t know that I’m going to just take points away and just wave them off. It’s that it’s mostly that He had that point. I don’t care in what context he had that point. But it’s all the cluster of games around him. Sure. That have been the problem because he has two points in his last six games. That’s the problem. And that’s not like horrible, but when you’re asking a guy whose job is essentially just scoring points in that bottom six, you need to score points. And this is again to reiterate a nitpick. Yeah, we are we are coming off a stretch of hockey where the ABS are this is only their second loss in the month of November and they have yet to lose in regulation in November and they get a chance to go redeem themselves tomorrow night too. Yeah, I two I looked out a little bit further. Olivesson two points in eight games. That’s your real problem. That’s yeah, that that’s fair. That’s a bit on the slow side for sure. And you can see the ABS have Montreal coming up. They’re a team that their hot start has cooled off, but they are good. Then you get Vancouver, which is apparently open for business and selling. That’s a team you can beat. You get the New York teams, both teams the ABS have already proven they can beat. Philadelphia, Nashville, teams they can beat. It’s the ABS obviously have to go out and execute. You want them to keep this point streak going. They can’t let uh the momentum fall apart here, but they’re in as part of their schedule where yes, they’re playing a lot, but there’s no reason they can’t show up and win a lot, too. Yeah. I mean, you look at that 10ame stretch, man. I mean, Yep. I think tomorrow I’m concerned about it because I like Montreal so much and they have beaten Utah and Vegas on their road trip. But it is fair to wonder is Colorado like oh no like these are heavy legs. This road trip’s starting to get long. Are you about guys? Exact. And like they’ve had problems with goalenders trying to figure out which guy uh has it. Yeah. And uh the ABS are going to get Dobby tomorrow and that guy uh I think gave up just the one goal to them last year in the That’s right. Yeah. Mont Yeah, Montreal won what? Two to one in a shootout and Yes, it was the Dobby was in that for that game. ranted in power play goal was the only one that got scored. I don’t know why I remember this. Um, but they’ve got like Montreal is another like uh the top of their lineup is really really good and you have to respect them and they can do a lot of different things to you, but the bottom of the lineup is you should be eating greedy. You should be able to to have your way. You should t you should tear them up a little bit. and you’re getting the better of their two goalenders, but so much Montreal. So, we’ll see. I’m excited. I think it’s gonna be fun. Should be a fun one, except for the fact that the ABS are wearing the Nordique jerseys. So, maybe cursed jerseys. We’ll see. Yeah. What are they 0 and1 in them? Yeah. Uh, all right. We can move over to the super chats now as we are starting to wind down the show. We did have one the other day uh that we missed from Rusco. Shout out to him. Uh he said this was from last game. So shout out X3. Love to see a statistical breakdown of this team versus historically great ones. Really put this all in perspective in the moment. Yeah. Yeah. I when I get a little bit of time um at some point if there is time at all I that is something I wanted to do. Yeah. And uh it stacks up pretty well. Put it to you that way. All right. $5 from Ryan who says shootout auto loss strikes again. The book is out on the abs. You don’t have to force it for win in OT against with how bad their shootout is. Yeah. This continues to be a problem that I just don’t care about. Yeah, if you I I’m less mad about the ABS for being bad in a shootout and more would say I would just like the ABS to win in regulation. Just do it that way. Yeah. Like it’s annoying. Yeah. But this is their third shootout loss of the season. likedeed they’re it’s it’s fine and it doesn’t happen in the playoffs so correct $14 from Henson who says so I guess fake hockey and matineese are the ABS kryptonite this year how many games in a row with a point will it take to get frosted tips I mean we’re so far away from that I don’t even have to bleach my hair now that the ABS have lost I’m in the here. It’s not happening. This is the real This is the real loss of the day is that this dream died. Think I’m just going to give my bleached hair away for free? No. I I knew it was going to be hard to get to 13 wins. I don’t want to do that. How How about if they win if they go on another 10ame winning streak, we get some bleached hair? Uh, maybe we’ll start here. We’ll start here. If they still only have one regulation loss by Christmas, I’ll bleach my hair. Jesus. All right. I mean, that’s not going to happen. I know. I don’t want to bleach my hair, guys. It feels like Verto’s trying really hard not to have his hair bleached. I don’t know. It’s You’re right. Tiff is correct. $5 from Tyler who says, “Ban afternoon hockey and get well soon, Gavin. We need you.” Yeah. Unfortunately, it’s a matinea tomorrow, so afternoon hockey is not getting banned. Get used to that. Yeah. The other the upside though is that both teams uh played matineese today and even playing. Yeah, this is and both teams are on three of four. It’ll be their third game in four days. So there’s no schedule nonsense. This is just straight up do you got it in you or don’t you? And I love that. I love not worrying about the schedule. It is nice. It is nice when it’s all even on the playing field. It’s easy to sit and look at the big picture of the ABS and say big chilling because the overtime point tonight gets them to be the first team to 40 points in the league. Like it’s I get being upset any day the ABS lose. You don’t like to watch your team win. Totally. Is there plenty the ABS could have done better tonight? Totally. But it’s hard for me to be that upset when the ABS have one of the three best starts in the history of the NHL. Like, yeah. Yeah. The way that they’ve started this season has made it so that it’s like, look, and especially again, if they’d lost this in regulation, we would all be going, the conversation would be the same, but it’s less bad because they lost in a shootout. it. Look, of course, more good would be better, but less bad is an all right consolation prize. I tell you, more good is is like what we’re all after in life. More good. It’s just that easy. ABS, they need to be more good tomorrow. I don’t know that I have too much else to say here, AJ. So, any final thoughts from you? No, man. I think uh definitely want to push everybody towards uh enjoying some of the Black Friday sales that we have going on at DMV because yeah, we have a lot of we have a lot of great merch and as somebody who primarily makes their living writing these days, we have a lot of really good written content across the entire site. If you’re only into one team, that’s fine. There’s still a lot to get into. So, I think that um you know, it’s a perfect time to to load up on some of that. Plus, this merch, I’m buying a bunch of my girlfriend’s family merch for uh for Christmas just so that they can not wear it. But, I’m trying to turn all these uh non-sports loving Italians into Colorado sports fans. So, this is the perfect sale to get the to get that going. There you go. Go get yourself some sick shirts. Some of them up to 90% off. Great deals to be had at the All City Network store. Go check them out. Get your DNVR stuff. Late super chat from Tyler who says, “You know what they need to do is flip that rice.” And I have no idea what that means. I really don’t either, but I’m going to agree with him. Well said. All right. Flip the rice. Go do that, I guess. Uh, we are out of here today, though. Something better not be some racist or some [ __ ] It really better not be some nonsense, man. Uh, we are out of here for the day. We appreciate y’all. Uh, we will be back for the Mata tomorrow. Pregame watch along postgame. Come join us. That’s it. This has been the DNVR Avalanche podcast presented by Bet 365. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

The Avalanche finally lose but keep a 15 game point streak going. Goals from MacKinnon and Landeskog were enough to get to OT but the Avs remain terrible in the shootout.

Intro – 0:00
Rundown – 2:23
Avs did not play a complete game – 7:45
Avs defense got worked – 12:43
Second line – 23:30
Devon Toews rut – 27:00
Third period push – 36:00
Still missing LOC and Brindley – 44:53
Coming up – 53:00
Superchats/ Wrapping up – 56:00

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