Avs muzzle Coyotes 4-2

Phoenix vs. Avalanche.

Period 1:

This should be a good one. Phoenix is a tough challenge. Let’s see how this goes.

Drinking Updates: It was cocktail time!!! Two Rob Roys, one Martini (a girl ordered that for herself), I had a Manhattan, and a tequila-ish drink (a girl had that too). Who doesn’t pregame these right?

TANGENT 1: You know what funny? Cat memes.

The first shift was fantastic, two fantastic chances from Duchene’s line. They almost got a goal off a Hejda shot though. Still, a great start.

The game was back and forth for a while like 5 minutes, but 6 minutes in, Stastny line absolutely dominated the Coyotes. No goal thoughs??? L

TANGENT 2: Girls in Avalanche jerseys are probably, like absolutely, the greatest thing in the world. This will be a very distracted recap, FYI.

8 minutes in, the Coyotes got a great chance that rung off the good ole hockey post. Phoenix started using their own speed. A good corner game created multiple chances.

12 minutes in, the Avs took a penalty on a weird penalty. It was a boarding-type penalty on Parenteau. Regardless of the facts, though this guy thinks it wasn’t penalty, it was. Powerplay time for the Coyotes.

The Avs played a great PK until Phoenix got it down low. Phoenix moved it around and Boedker rang it off the most, but Doan was there for the rebound. 1-0 Phoenix. Not good Avs. Not fucking good.

However, a great rebound shift followed by the Avs. They never got pinched in their zone and moved the moved the puck at a super high pace in the Phoenix zone. Space was created, no goals were scored.

The Avs started to listen to me!!! And moved the puck back trying to find space. Hejda was able to skate it, got tripped, and the Avs get a Power play.

Drinking Update 2: More scotch!!! Balblair 2010. It’s gone now. Woops.

Goal AVS!!!! What a rip form Parenteau from the point. Great, just great movement from the Avs. They moved it east and west over and back and Duchene just put it on a fucking tee for PA. 1-1.

The final 4 minutes were back and forth, a few good chances, but honestly I wrote that stupid system article and Phoenix is making me look like an idiot. The played a completely different game. They played fast and barely trapped. Oh well.

2^nd Period:

The Coyotes came out like gangbusters. Varly had to make a huge save 2 minutes in to reserve the tie. The Coyotes are making me look silly. Their neutral zone is completely different. The puck is moving through to zone with speed. They had a great chance, but Varly was there. The Avs responded with a great chance by PA and on that shift Duchene drew a penalty.

Powerplay Avs. Wow. Stastny’s unit had good chances but really nothing came of it. Duchene’s line had 33 seconds to play and had absolutely great movement, but nothing came of it. Oh well. They looked d-d-d-d-d-dangerous though.

TANGENT 3: This is one sloppy game. Holy hell. This makes no sense. Did every read my post and say you know what, Scott can go fuck himself, we are ruining his thoughts. HAHAHAHAHAHA. FUCK YOU.

What a great goddamn shift by the 4^th line. Fuck them man, wow. 10 minutes in I am very impressed. They pinned in Coyotes and did a great job. However, that is just the 4^th line. The top lines need to start scoring goalses.

At 11 minutes, Varly absolutely robbed the Coyotes on a 2 on 1. Everyone including me and the announcers and the fans thought he scored. Guess what????? Nope. NYET. VARLY SAYS NYET.

However, POWERPLAY AVS. Somehow I missed it. I have no idea how. Avs need to score. McGinn gets called for a hook and now it’s 4 on 4.

MacKinnon makes a great play and they draw a penalty. 4 on 3 for 13 second. Wait never mind. Scratch that. They gave Riberio a 10 minute major. That was one of the weirder things I have ever seen. Why? Why refs? Oh well. Penalties over. No goalz.

With under a minute, the game was crazy back and forth and the Avs almost got a Stastny tip in off a shot from the defense. Greiss gots it though. Fuck you Greiss.

TANGENT 4: Greiss? More like GREESE. HAHAHAHAHA.

Period over.

A good one but a weird one. No systems made sense. The Avs used speed and so did Phoenix? I have to think it will pay off in the 3^rd for the Avs.

3^rd Period.

Wow. Under a minute in Guenin rips a shot form the points and beats Greiss. Wow. Nate. Great shots. This was all due to Stastny’s line and its great fucking cycle. The cycle eventually got the puck out front to Nate who ripped it home. It was hit first goal of the year or first NHL goal ever? I am not sure. Thanks Altitude. Either way, nicely done sir . 2-1 Avs

The play slowed down but the game never became more trappy which was odd. It was like every single player got one step slower. Hard to guess why, but the Avs will take it now. They needed to keep their speed, it’s all the Avs. It’s their only hope????

Wow and guess what came next?????? Speed. MacKinnon to be exact. MacKinnon grabbed the puck and skated around the Coyotes defense, put a backhand on Greiss, who stopped it but Landy grabbed the rebound, passed to Stastny in front and the puck was in the back of the net. 3-1 Avs.

With 9 minutes left, the Coyotes had speed coming through and the Avs had to take a penalty. Powerplay Phoenix. Half way through, Benoit when for a hip check and I started yelling "no nonononono" because it was not the right time to make that play. The Coyotes got around him and fed Ekman-Larson who almost walked around Varly. Phoenix could not scored though.

With 13 minutes left, Phoenix had a breakaway and Sarich made a great play to get the puck away but evidently EVID-FUCKING-DENTLY tripped the guy. Fuck that man. Powerplay Coyotes. I was sitting here complimenting Yandle as he rips a shot and scores off a great tip by Doan. Wow. 3-2 Avs.

5 minutes to go and Duchene did his that there thing he does. Duchene took a puck at a dead stop. Literally stopped. Started moving, kept the Coyotes defenseman a way, cut inside and drew a penalty. Powerplay Avs.

Wow, just wow. Duchene PP unit did great but could not get a goal. However, once the 2^nd unit came out, MacKinnon went into crazy mode. MacKinnon got the puck wide, and sped left, spun, found Landy and Landy just buried it. .

However on the next shift the Avs got called for a boarding penalty. MacKinnon needs to watch that shit.

Powerplay Coyotes was, um, interesting, Varly was pissed off. Varly just robbed literally everyone. He robbed Vermette, he robed the Coyotes, he robbed me, he robbed you, he robbed your sister’s virginity. Fuck that man. And then he just threw the puck away. Just wow. Also, Holden saved a goal on that so do forget that at some point next week. Good job there Nicky.

The Coyotes even pulled their goalie to make it 6 on 4 but couldn’t get a lot of pressure. Once MacKinnon came out of the box he had a great chance to rip an empty net but unselfishly passed to Talbot who had it blocked. NO GOAL SPARTACUS!!!!! WHY NOT!!!! What rookie passes that? Oh, the future Calder winner, that’s who.

Game over. Great fucking game Avs. Just wow. The Avs played great. Honestly, great. They had some lapses but this really was a great game. The Avs played their system, shift in and shift out. Phoenix never got a chance to get into their game plan.

Okay. I am still impressed by that game. Okay onto the important shits.

WWWWF:

1) Phoenix Defense: The never got a chance to keep the Avs pinned. I think the Avs did a good job to keep the puck moving in the zone. Phoenix never looked comfortable. What are you thoughts commenters?

2) Phoenix Neutral Zone: I was very impressed by this. I watched Phoenix set up the trap but the Avs really created their own space. They kept pace going into the neutral zone and Phoenix, again, never looked set. Like Busted Twiggy said, they never let Phoenix set up. Did you commenters see anything else?

3) Colorado Breakout: Good not great. The Avs made their space off turnover, not breakout. The breakout was still good but Phoenix was, um, odd. They changed their game tonight. They didn’t look like Phoenix. They looked off. They looked sloppy and hectic. Was that the Avs? Was that an off day? Was that a combination? Who knows. What do you all think?

Three Whores:

3^rd Whore: MacKinnon. He played great. Kept his point streak alive and really used his speed not for the sake of speed but honestly used it to change the game.

2^nd Whore: Landeskog. The girl next to me in my chair in the Avalanche jersey says he was the best player. You know what, he’s number 2. Shut up.

1^st Whore: Varly. We all know why. He said NYET. He stopped pucks. He looked great.