Todd Cordell: Avs 3, Flames 2: Five observations from a concerning loss

Thx Todd, well said.

Thx Todd, well said.
- cnknut

Happens. Av's came to play, were first at pucks, won the battles on the boards, played with urgency & deserved that game. Flames should have been blown out that game.


We'll see how the team responds. I see Prout coming in to start dealing with the dirty stuff, Brodie had a horrible game & is playing too many minutes. Needs to be on the bottom pairing. Been preaching this for awhile, Tre needed to add a thug that can play hockey. Doesnt matter who we play, you need guys that can play both hockey & the real heavy game. Same as on D, we dont have any real dirty SOB's on back end. Refs are letting everything go. I respect the Av's backend, both Cole & Zadorov can play heavy dirty. The crosscheck on Backlund by Cole on his shoulder/neck looked awful. Saw the welt on him. These guys are going to be sore after this one.

Nate looked like he was playing in another gear. Dude is insanely good.

Smith has been a real difference maker. He looks completely different than in the regular season.



Gonna be great series.

Would be a gutsy move to put Czarnik in and scratch Neal. And Janko needs to show more.

If they didn’t have smith playing that good you would be down 0-2

Brodie was atrocious. Giving away incredibly obvious drop passes, two horrible breakaways, etc.

I was so glad when Andersson started being paired with Gio. I'm hoping Peters goes full-time with that.

If Peters and Ward haven't figured it out yet, the Avalanche have busted up the damn drop pass breakout on the power play.

I was literally screaming at the tv when Brodie turned it over... could have skated the damn puck straight in untouched... Flames need to adapt now, it's too predictable a play. At least when Rasmus was out there, he switched it up on the fly and entered the zone pretty easily.

Time for Brodie to ride a little pine, shift Rasmus back up to the top pair and bring in Valimaki.

Flames bending, let's hope they don't break this next game. They're getting dominated

Peters needs to shake up this line-up, now.

Gio-Andersson
Hamonic-Hanifin
Valimaki-Kylington

Gaudreau-Ryan-Lindholm
Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik
Bennett-Monahan-Mangiapane
Hathaway-Jankowski-Czarnik (Dube)

Neal and Brodie need to sit. They are awful, they are vets who aren't doing anything, experience is overrated - if you're bad, you're bad. Fantenburg hasn't done anything to warrant staying in the lineup, mostly dumpouts of our zone, and not winning puck battles. Hanifin's decision-making and passing have been bad.

Frankly, I haven't followed the Flames at all this season. Obviously because I don't like them. But damn I am impressed by where they are these days.

All of this series so far, even with it being a pretty heads up battle, I've felt like any moment someone is just going to stick it to the Avs and just lock it down. Tkachuk, Johnny, Bennett, Lindholm and Giordano all make me cringe when they are on the ice.

Solid young core that is very much so worth building around. Looking forward to an awesome rest of this series and hopefully many more in the future for both of these teams.

[quote=quinneroma]Peters needs to shake up this line-up, now.

Gio-Andersson
Hamonic-Hanifin
Valimaki-Kylington

Gaudreau-Ryan-Lindholm
Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik
Bennett-Monahan-Mangiapane
Hathaway-Jankowski-Czarnik (Dube)

Neal and Brodie need to sit. They are awful, they are vets who aren't doing anything, experience is overrated - if you're bad, you're bad. Fantenburg hasn't done anything to warrant staying in the lineup, mostly dumpouts of our zone, and not winning puck battles. Hanifin's decision-making and passing have been bad.


Agree with sitting those 2 but I would go with Prout and Vali on the 3rd pairing.
If Neil isn't finishing checks (and he hasn't all year), he is useless in the modern game. Fly By James Neil!

Prout is just bad, plain bad. No way, I'd rather anyone. He gives the puck away more than Brodie, and is too slow to recover - he'll end up taking at least 2 penalties per game because he can't keep up.

Prout is just bad, plain bad. No way, I'd rather anyone. He gives the puck away more than Brodie, and is too slow to recover - he'll end up taking at least 2 penalties per game because he can't keep up.
- quinneroma

Don't love Prout either but asking Kylington or Vali to play the right side would be tough.

Don't love Prout either but asking Kylington or Vali to play the right side would be tough.
- DEDDIE

Taking Brodie out and replacing him with Prout would be insane. They just need to keep his minutes down. Let Andersson share the load with Gio.

Taking Brodie out and replacing him with Prout would be insane. They just need to keep his minutes down. Let Andersson share the load with Gio.
- tincup

You're probably right but man Brodie has been terrible in the 1st 2 games.
Too many GVA'S and my 14 year old has a harder shot than him!

Taking Brodie out and replacing him with Prout would be insane. They just need to keep his minutes down. Let Andersson share the load with Gio.
- tincup

This

We also have another RHD we can put in you know. His name is Stone.

As usual, a whole lot of panic over minor setbacks. The Avalanche played about as well as they could and still needed a brutal turnover and a goal with the goalie pulled to even get the game to overtime.

The Avs may have generated a bunch of chances, but there weren't all that many great ones. Any decent goalie would have fared as well as Smith. He was far more superhuman in game one.

The Avs got their win in a game where they played their best and the Flames were middling. I'd be shocked if the Avs win another game this series.

As usual, a whole lot of panic over minor setbacks. The Avalanche played about as well as they could and still needed a brutal turnover and a goal with the goalie pulled to even get the game to overtime.

The Avs may have generated a bunch of chances, but there weren't all that many great ones. Any decent goalie would have fared as well as Smith. He was far more superhuman in game one.

The Avs got their win in a game where they played their best and the Flames were middling. I'd be shocked if the Avs win another game this series.
- Hunkulese

Avs played solid game one as well , if it wasn’t for Smith it could be 2-0 Avs

As usual, a whole lot of panic over minor setbacks. The Avalanche played about as well as they could and still needed a brutal turnover and a goal with the goalie pulled to even get the game to overtime.

The Avs may have generated a bunch of chances, but there weren't all that many great ones. Any decent goalie would have fared as well as Smith. He was far more superhuman in game one.

The Avs got their win in a game where they played their best and the Flames were middling. I'd be shocked if the Avs win another game this series.
- Hunkulese

You clearly haven't seen the Avs on beast mode then. They played a strong game but chances were as you said, weren't super dangerous. If you think 40% CF and SCF is a minor set back, what do you consider a major set back?

No doubt this will be a hard fought series, but Smith has stolen you at least one game. Game 1 I felt the Avs couldn't get their feet under them and trailed in races to the puck all game. But if the Avs come to life, better figure out how to score 5-7 goals really quick.

Avs played solid game one as well , if it wasn’t for Smith it could be 2-0 Avs
- Avalanchephenom

If it wasn’t for Brodie it could be 2-0 flames 😉

You clearly haven't seen the Avs on beast mode then. They played a strong game but chances were as you said, weren't super dangerous. If you think 40% CF and SCF is a minor set back, what do you consider a major set back?

No doubt this will be a hard fought series, but Smith has stolen you at least one game. Game 1 I felt the Avs couldn't get their feet under them and trailed in races to the puck all game. But if the Avs come to life, better figure out how to score 5-7 goals really quick.
- LlamaLord

And if the flames come to life you better figure out how to score 6-8 goals

I can play that game too lol

You clearly haven't seen the Avs on beast mode then. They played a strong game but chances were as you said, weren't super dangerous. If you think 40% CF and SCF is a minor set back, what do you consider a major set back?

No doubt this will be a hard fought series, but Smith has stolen you at least one game. Game 1 I felt the Avs couldn't get their feet under them and trailed in races to the puck all game. But if the Avs come to life, better figure out how to score 5-7 goals really quick.
- LlamaLord

Not sure if you even watched game 1 if you think Smith is the only reason the Flames won! 3m line dominated Avs big line. Defence played outstanding. Brodie’s not going to give you guys chances every game.

You clearly haven't seen the Avs on beast mode then. They played a strong game but chances were as you said, weren't super dangerous. If you think 40% CF and SCF is a minor set back, what do you consider a major set back?

No doubt this will be a hard fought series, but Smith has stolen you at least one game. Game 1 I felt the Avs couldn't get their feet under them and trailed in races to the puck all game. But if the Avs come to life, better figure out how to score 5-7 goals really quick.
- LlamaLord

If it does turn into a high scoring game, I'll take the Flames. They are the higher scoring team all season and have more weapons. Avs are playing much closer to their potential right now.... if the Flames can't figure out how to match the effort/intensity, they might be in trouble.