Oilers at Avalanche Recap: Avs Finally Have an OD, Win 5-2

good solid win…. finally seeing some physicality out of the D, need much much more of that. Whoever this Jay McClement is that dressed tonight, he can stay, the other one, not so much.

-Wilson was very good, that was a solid hit on Hall. McNab, who was between the benches, kept talking about how Edmonton was chirping at Wilson after the hit. Yet I didn’t hear the name “Andy Sutton” come out of his lips once. One was a headshot that was punished, one was a clean hit. If there was any incentive to hit one of their stars, it was provided by Sutton. Yet I didn’t hear Altitude make any connection whatsoever.

-Landeskog was active and played very well tonight, his best game in awhile. He clearly doesn’t have the overall scoring skills that Nugent-Hopkins does, but he certainly has a better all-around game. That whole line played well, got stronger as the game went on. McClement’s line was the best early in the game, O’Reilly’s line was the best at the end of the game.

-Through two, I thought Dubnyk was outplaying Varlamov. Thank goodness for the 3rd.

-SOB, who turned the puck over for their first goal, picked us up on the PP. Hejda, who made an unsuccessful pinch on their second goal, picked us up with our 4th goal. Goals 3 and 4 were on Dubnyk, no doubt, but you’ve got to shoot to score.

-The PK has now killed off 22 of the last 24. Winnik and McClement have been excellent on the kill all year, now it looks like they’re finally getting some help.

-This might have been Galiardi’s best game of the year, and I think that’s a couple of good games he’s had in the past week or so. He’s one of the forwards stepping up on the kill, and he was really active tonight.

-This might be the worst stretch I’ve seen for Stastny in his entire career. He was our worst center tonight, and that line was pretty blah. Nice to be able to win a game when your best player aren’t your best players, but he absolutely has to be better. Same with Hejduk, he’s in a slump. The C and the permanent A have been really bad lately, hope they can turn it around or we are in big, big trouble.

So when a player like Elliott gets the call up from the minors, where does he stay when he’s here? Crash on the captains couch or maybe they had a hotel room ready for him?

There is a ‘star’ on this team who is well on his way to playing his way OFF the team. I think it all started with the Stewart trade & this certain players Father flapping his lips,

This particular player is not playing anything like he used to. He’s clearly capable, yet he’s just not getting it done this year. Some will argue he’s still putting up points, but he’s not making an impact on the game like he did even 2 seasons ago…most of all he doesn’t look inspired or motivated on the ice. I’m not ready to say he’s not what he was cracked up to be, I think he is tired of what’s gone on with management & how they’ve handled ‘rebuilding’ this team. Total speculation…but….

We’re on game 2 without EJ on the ice. Call me whatever name you’d like, but it’s been two games of rather solid Defense, fewer turn-overs moving the puck out and all defensemen have been active in the other end. IMO, EJ is nothing more than a 3rd pairing D-man. I was all amped up about this kid coming over (while trying to ignore how much we overpaid for him) but he just hasn’t shown anything promising. I don’t think EJ is a bad D-man, but I do think he overacheived his rookie season. A lot of players do this coming into the league & unfortunately EJ is one of them, IMO.

On the blue line and even in goal, this is not a bad team. Giguere has played great, Varly started out excellent and as the entire team slid, so did he – but he was also hung out to dry a couple times. But, Varly has been good 2 consecutive games & will give him the benefit of the doubt, he’s young and is a starter at a position most don’t get a legitimate chance of starting until their mid/late 20’s.

The Avs were good as a whole in the first, the intensity was good but that had a LOT to do with Wilson destroying Hall. In the 2nd when the game settled down, the Avs began to look lifeless offensively again, the boo birds came back out and they genuinely didn’t deserve to win the game. In the 3rd they finally scored some goals and turned the crowd in their favor.

Elliot is the real deal. I don’t care which D-man pays the price and gets shipped out other than SOB, Quincy, Wilson to fit Elliot on the roster but this kid needs to stay up here. He played the 2 on 1 PERFECTLY and with confidence. He played the middle of the ice and took the pass away at the top of the circles, forced the player to shoot while giving Varly a clean look. The player clearly didn’t want to shoot, he tried the pass and Elliot was able to block it, stop and move forward to knock it up to the forward. If you watch Elliot, his head is on a swivel. His eyes were all over the ice every shift. There is no need to break down his goal. Walking the blue line under pressure as a rook in your 1st game and scoring…gross. Oh Shatty how I miss you but Elliot just lessoned the pain.

I used to hate the boo birds in other arenas. Nothing pissed me off more than the fans booing the home team. I remember a couple times last season when the Bruins were being booed at home…THAT I don’t agree with, but when management trades away a power forward that when he was hot, scored a lot of goals, could trade punches with the big boys and played well with the teams stars and a puck moving D-man who was catching praise from Scotty Bowman & other big names, producing at a PPG for almost 2 months on an undersized blue line with shit goaltending for a former #1 draft pick under-acheiving D-man in Erik Johnson, fans are going to be testy, especially after they rebuild the D-corps through free agency while keeping some core players who were victims of a shit team, not a lack of talent. I don’t blame the boo birds at all. This team pisses me off, but management is responsible for this team and it pisses me off even more.

This team DID not need Johnson. The Avs could certainly use Stewarts 25-30 goals this season, the Avs could’ve used Shattys ability to move the puck & score on the PP. Maybe those 2 could have even scored in consecutive games where the Avs lost by a goal this year, forced over time & at least gotten a point. So you can argue I’m stating all what-if’s…which I am – but what exactly has Johnson brought or contributed to this team? Nadda, zilch.

Now the Avs have no major forward prospects finding their way to the NHL right now, Hishon is not the answer, Hishons career may be over before it even started. Mueller is done with the Avs at the end of the season and the poor guy had his career ruined by some bad hits, one courtesy of Blake. Mueller will contribute nothing unfortunately. So what do the Avs do to bring in a power forward who is going to draw attention, play in the dirty areas and free up some space for Duchene, Hejduk & give someone like Stastny a slap on the ass to get going again? Stewart did all of that, obviously all to obtain a struggling D-man, along with Shatty.

Oh well. I suppose I’ll just keep buying Center Ice every season and attending any Avs games in Boston, NYR & NYI and NOT boo when I’ve spent a lot of hard earned money to watch them lose & make stupid roster moves.