The Hockey PDOcast - How the Avalanche Beat the Jets in Round 1

Episode Date: May 1, 2024

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by AJ Haefele to talk about Colorado's dominant round one performance against Winnipeg, the things the Avalanche did so well in the series, and where things went wrong for the Jets. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Regressing to the mean since 2015, it's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey-PedioCast. My name is Dimitri Filippovich. Joining me is my good buddy, AJ, Havely, AJ, what's going on, man? You know, just reveling in the afterglow of a series win and, you know, hanging out. Hanging out. Well, that's what we're going to do today. We're going to talk Abs Jets, a series that wrapped up last night.

after a tight opening pair of games, I thought, quickly spiraled out of control for Winnipeg and decidedly shifted in Colorado's favor. They pretty much did whatever they wanted offensively and were going to get into all that. I just wanted to start this off with, though. I was reflecting on my series previews and kind of what I got wrong, what I got right, kind of what to do for round two previews. And I did feel a little sense of regret because I feel like at the time I did it with Jack Fraser and Jack Khan, the three of us. I think we're way too optimistic about the Jets, and a lot of it was sort of guided by how the regular season had ended, and I just couldn't shake that feeling, right?

I think we even acknowledge sort of like towards the end how I was like, man, this makes me uncomfortable that we're all so high on this Jets team because this Aves team we've seen at their best is still absolutely frightening. And really, for my money, no one in the league can match their fastball when they're absolutely firing it. The issue was that with the way they had ended the regular season, it kind of threw me off the scent a little bit, just because it was not only an uninspiring performance

against some key teams that you figure would get the best game out of them, but also just like how it looked. I was like, man, I don't love what I'm seeing. And then they start this series off, game one, kind of reinforces a few of those habits for me, and then they really flipped the switch and took off and kind of showed us what they can be when they're at their best. So credit to them because I was a bit skeptical

or I guess lack confidence that they'd be able to kind of do so. but they showed especially from games two to five. I thought that it was like their peak form. So it was quite a performance. And I think that's kind of what I want to start off with. Yeah, I was actually with you guys. I had picked the Jets in the series. I thought that it wasn't so much how they were finishing,

just the overall body of the body of work between the two teams. And me being as close as I am with the avalanche and being in it every day. I think I made the fatal mistake of forgetting that Nathan McKinnon and Miko Ranton that have the ability to kind of just turn it on like that. And there isn't really anybody on the Jets that can do that. There isn't anybody that you're going to look back and say, oh, yeah, he had nine points in five games. That makes sense.

And that I kind of lost sight of that, I think, is where I went wrong in looking at this series. but it was really more about what I liked so much about the Jets coming into the series was more just about their consistency through so much of the season. You know, Halibuck obviously had been great for so much of the year. And, you know, you always talk about how goaltenders and defense win championships and all that in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And this kind of offensive performance, I think, has been shocking to. all of us that it wasn't just Hellebuck,

but it was the way that the Avalanche ripped apart that Jets defense so thoroughly. And not just one game they did it. And oh, yeah, you know, you had a bad night. But through five games, I mean, just that there was never really a down night for them. And I think that's, that was the part that really caught me off guard of how this series played out. No, and it was a thorough and just systematic carving in those games. And I think, you know, you mentioned kind of Ranting and McKinnon and certainly they sort of emphatically put the series away at the end of game five when the Jets were kind of hanging around. But I think what makes it even more encouraging for Colorado's outlook moving forward this postseason and maybe more terrifying for whoever has to play them.

And even the Jets as they kind of now sort of sit back and reflect on what happened in this series and kind of, where they stand in the league's pecking order and how far they are from actually meaningfully competing in the future is that it wasn't just those two guys, right? I think we've become so conditioned to just so much has been on their plate, especially the past year and a half or so that they just, the abs went as far as they would drag them. And in particular, last year in round one against Seattle, it was pretty much all Nathan McKinnon and he took them as far as he could. And then we saw the limitations of that as that series wrapped up. And in this case, those guys were fine. They still got their points, right. The power play in particular was a big differentiator in this series. I think what McCar and

Randon finished with nine points, McKinnon had eight or nine himself. And that's awesome in a five-game stretch. Yet it feels like individually, they only kind of scratched the surface, in particular the two forwards. I thought McCar was really good in the series. The two forwards, though, they had flashes and they had moments, but they didn't really have like a signature performance from start to finish in any of these, the way we've become conditioned to expect from them. and you know that's coming at some point in the future here. So the fact they got all this sort of secondary scoring from guys, contributions from all across the lineup,

bodes really well for them moving forward because it's just so much more than just those two guys. Yeah, when you say they had flashes, that's exactly how we talked about it on my show, was that our show, not my show, was that moments. They had, you know, a shift where you're like, there they are. but end to end, an entire game, there was not that dominant wired wire performance. We were like, yeah, those guys just took over.

And I thought last night, game five, that was when you saw it, especially for Miko Ranton, and who has the most incredible ability to play really not quality hockey and finish a game with multiple points. It's incredible to watch him every single night where you're just like, I don't understand. how this human operates in this space. There are some nights where he's just the most maddening player in the league. And you think there's no way. There's 10 guys played better than him and he finishes with two points. And then there's a game like last night where he's that good.

He has a three point night. It feels like it could have been five. He was just all over the place. He was such a difference maker. And for him to kind of finish this. jets off was appropriate, I thought. Just to, okay, you needed them. The avalanche had gotten everything they could have ever asked for in terms of depth

scoring. Val Nchuskin was seven goals in the series. Arturio Leckenin finishes with five. You know, those two guys nearly outscore the Jets by themselves. And it's, okay, where you, you're in a three, three game in the third period of a closeout game. You just, you need that extra little push. And you got it from those.

two guys. But it, it, it, the story of the series is absolutely not them. It is. It is Alexander Georgiev. It is Valmachukin, Arturi Lackinin, you know, Kail McCar, as you mentioned, pretty good. Um, Casey Middlestadt. Wow. Wow. Yeah, you, yeah, Jakov Trennan. I mean, you just go on down the line. Like, I can, I can highlight so many performances. And that's what's amazing about this, what a team effort it was. And, and, and, So at the top, when I say, like, I was so high on this team after the trade deadline, you and I, after that sort of middle stat Walker duo of deals, we did a show with your colleague, Megan Angley, and we were sort of raving about them.

And I couldn't have been more effusive with praise than you watched them play after the deadline. And they reinforced all of that. And I just like, I kept saying this team's top gear is just unmatched. And then they play that stretch at the end of the season that kind of throws me off the scent. And I just wasn't sure if they'd be able to tap into it. And that's exactly what they did here. The goals in this series, 28 to 15 for Colorado scoring chances. I sent you the list of them.

I had it at 119 to 91 for the abs. In the series, they had seven guys in double digits over just five games. Natushkin 16 led the way by comparison for some context. Kyle Conner had 15 for the Jets. Sean Monna had 14. And then Tyler Tafoli was down at 9 and no one else over 7. So you kind of highlight sort of the discrepancy in depth and contributions from the two teams. And the story that everyone has been kind of gravitating to and latching on to, and understandably so, is that 28 goals number that I just mentioned, right?

Because the Aves scored five goals or more in every single game in this series. And I looked it up. This Jets team had given up five or more goals just seven times in their 82 regular season games. And they gave up five straight here. And people are going to get their jokes off about Hellebuck, right? I think there's certainly something sort of jarring about this week. The Vesna finalists were announced. I think he is going to win unanimously or close to and deservedly so based on the on the kind of

totality of work he had this regular season. Yet he just got pumped full of goals to a degree that we've kind of become on accustomed to seeing. And so that is the story here, right? What this Jets, what this Aves offense did to the Jets defense in particular. And I just thought like, you know, he was sloppy in the first two games. I thought his reads were kind of slow. I thought he played really well in games three to five. And that's what's so alarming about is that it just didn't matter.

Like the afts felt so inevitable. The onslaught of scoring chances from a variety of different ways just kept coming. And so the goals against look bad. But man, just against like the volume and quality of chances the abs put together, I'm not surprised at all that that goal total wound up being what it was because it was just, like I said, it was just inevitable. Yeah, I felt honestly, there were moments in the series. I honestly felt so bad for Hellabuck.

he was playing great in some of those games. Great. You look at him in game three. The Jets had a two one lead in that game going into the third period. And he had been so awesome to that point. And I thought, oh, man, he finally, this is the Connor Hallibuck that scares you. And it did not matter. The devs blew the doors off the jets the rest of that game.

And to be honest, the series was not particularly close from that moment forward. In games, there were, you know, again, last night, three, three in the third period. But as soon as, as soon as the avalanche dropped the hammer, it was, it was just done. And, you know, Helibuck, you're looking at it. There's not a ton of those goals that you look at and you say, wow, this is really, there's some real goaltending problems here. You know, it's, it's tips. It's two on ones. You know, it's nice place to guys on the back door.

What do you want, what do you want him to do? There just isn't a lot of chance there. And you look at the volume, as you mentioned, the volume and the quality. You combine the two and you just, Connor Hellibook needs a hug today, man. It just locker clean out day is going to be hard for him. And the way that it was up and down the lineup, I thought was really impressive. And I just did not, I did not see that. coming from the non-Nathan McKinnon lines.

I'm not sure if the U.S. broadcast was harping on it as much. I did want to point out, like, the sports one here in Canada, just for some reason kept making a point that Winnipeg had the best team defense in the league this season. And they were obviously very good. I think they gave up, like they won the Jennings, right? They gave up the fewest goals against. I think that's kind of what they're referencing.

Sportologic had them seventh and expected goals against, and ninth in slot shots allowed, 12 in those own time allowed. Like, they were, they were good. they were certainly elite, but I don't think it was necessarily like number one in all caps. Now, I think what was surprising was just seeing what the abs were able to do to them, and kind of how they just were in no match for it. And what do you think like tactically in watching it? Because I did a breakdown of this with Jesse Marshall after the first two games,

and it was sort of more of the same after that. I think from my eye, though, it was the Jets almost, I don't know if they had no answers, but they just had no kind of manner in applying any resistance really, right? Like the abs are just breaking out of their zone cleanly, building up a full head of steam in the neutral zone, and then just entering at will into the offensive zone. And I think by the time you allow them to do that, it's obviously easier said than done to say,

oh, you just got to cut them off before they can and slow them down because they have so many guys that can just instantly go from zero to 100 in the neutral zone. But you have to at least try to because as soon as you let them enter with speed, it's over for you, right? Like when they get moving downhill, you're just not going to be able to corral them. And then they're just so good at retrieving pucks after that initial shot.

And then it's a nightmare for you because you're chasing, you're tired, and it's over for you. And I thought the Jets, that was their one big mistake where if you're going to lose, that's fine.

Like, it's no shame in giving up a bunch of goals to this Aves team with all the firepower they have. But it was a bit shameful in my perspective, in my view, kind of like how they went down because they almost like didn't try

anything. It was just like, all right, you can do everything you want and we're not even going to stand in your way at all. And I imagine those players probably feel that way right now in inflecting on how the series unfolded it went that way. The Colorado's first goal

in game five I thought was when I was rewatching the game last night, I found it a little shocking to be honest with you. That feels like a game one goal. It feels like you watch it, the abs have the puck the entire

time. It's not the cleanest breakout in the world. They have to reload it and they have to have a little patience with it. But between Kail McCar and Sam Gerard, they have the puck the entire time. And the jets don't apply a ton of pressure.

And then it's McCar up to McKinnon, up to Rantan, through the neutral zone. They have possession the whole time. And they're skating up the with it. And that's the attacking through the neutral zone with speed that you simply cannot allow the MLNCH to do.

And it going back, I was like, how do you do this in game five? How are you letting them still do this to you in the fifth game of a best of seven series? You are down 3-1. Your season is on the line here. And

to see that, to see them still attack and you watch what happens. Rantanin'in enters the McKinnon enters his own, drops it to Rantanin, who finds Taves across the ice. You know, there's nobody there covering him, and he finds Ntushkin on the back door. And it's a solid 10, 12 seconds of the avalanche just possessing the puck. And the Jets providing no meaningful resistance along the way. And that kind of felt like a microcosm of the series as a whole, because they were allowed to,

as you said, they were allowed to play with speed. were allowed to play with possession. What I think probably caught Winnipeg off guard is that when Colorado wanted to dump it in and wanted to activate that forecheck, they did it. And there wasn't a lot that, again, not very much resistance was provided by the Winnipeg Jets. And I thought that it really put a big bright spotlight on the Jets' defense just not. possessing very much puck skill you know Brendan Dylan Dylan de mellow Dylan Stanberg a lot of Dylan's there um those like they're all I think they're all

solid NHL players right but there's a reason that Josh Morrissey was the one that looked like he belonged in this series and it's because he can he had the puck skill to do what he needed to do against the avalanche and I think when you're projecting the abs moving forward you look at Dallas, they are, they have a couple of guys with that skill, but it's not as much. You look at Vegas. I really like that defense. And I think there's a lot of guys that, you know, there's, there's a lot of size, but

there is a lot of puck skill there. And the Jets lacked that throughout their defense. The decision, they purposely play Logan Stanley in multiple games. And he gets torched. After the Dylan injury, they felt like, okay, we have to do this. Torched. to the point where he had become unplayable. Nate Schmidt should have been in the lineup from day one.

Nate Schmidt is not the guy he was a handful of years ago, but still, the puck skill played. He scores their only goal in game four for, you know, it's not that it's not a surprise that that's what he was able to bring to that lineup. And it was Colorado's four check that really got on top of them. And they had no meaningful answer for it. And I think that was, that was the part of it.

You know, the jet's all big and tough and they can grind it out and abs are small and fast and, you know, if you take away that speed, they'll be fine. They didn't take away that speed and the big and tough thing just got exposed as not simply just not being skilled enough.

It was just not a good enough group. And Rick Bonas got his doors blown off in the series. And I, this is, I think he's going to go through a rough exit interview this week. He certainly will. I, you know, Andy Rodick said about Djokovic, like first he takes your legs and then he

takes your soul and that's what I was thinking of in this series because you mentioned kind of not taking the body or not kind of cutting them all with the past. And I think in particular to like the one instance of just absolute individual brilliance we saw from their star players was that kill McCargo in game four, right? And a lot was made out kind of how Adam Lowry had a chance in the neutral zone. either lay a hit on him or kind of provide some sort of obstruction, and he didn't. And I do wonder if there was kind of like an accumulation of what had happened earlier in the series of like, man, if I take a penalty here, they're scoring immediately.

And that's why like just having such a dominant and lethal power play is such a good to turn in so many ways. And I think you sort of see that here where I do think that kind of guided maybe some of their choices as the series went along. Not that at the start, the Jets were very aggressive by any means, but it felt like as the the series went along, they almost became so much more passive when you'd think it would be the opposite, right? It's like, all right, we're going to lose, but we're going to go down swinging. And there was really none of that. There was no resistance. All of their weaknesses got exposed.

And I think that's what was kind of most stunning to me in seeing it play out not the Colorado one, but the manner in which they did and how the jets went down. And you know, you mentioned our old pal Rick bonus. I think my thoughts on this are already very well established and documented here. So I don't necessarily need to relitigate all that. But I just thought he was so asleep. at the wheel in this series in so many ways, right? From personal perspective, you mentioned Logan Stanley. Well, sure, he couldn't move the puck, but at least he was also taking a bunch of penalties.

Them not playing Colin Miller till game five, not getting Nate Schmidt in there till game three. You watch what Cole Perfetti did in game five and like the juice he had offensively and taking the puck to the internet and creating some stuff. For them to be playing David Gustafson and Axelianz and Fialbi ahead of him in the first four games is wild. Like if I was Kevin Shevoldeob,

I would be absolutely furious at that. You go on down the line, like, offensively, they didn't challenge the abs really after game one down low. And part of that is credit to the abs for playing much better themselves in front of Gurgaiv. Defensively, we mentioned all the stuff they did wrong so far. But I thought what also stuck out to me was in their lack of game planning and solutions for the problems Colorado poses, they, like, weren't pressuring them all at all high in the zone offensively, right?

So, like, the abs were just basically, once they got set up, they would just be running all of their preferred and favorite set plays and actions with McKinnon high in the zone, moving guys around, creating mismatches. And instead of realizing that that was happening and pre-scouting and then being like, listen, we might get burned for it, but we have to at least try to stop that and apply pressure high in the zone and maybe we'll create some turnovers and some rush chances for ourselves in a series where we're struggling offensively. They didn't even do that.

They kind of just sat back and let Colorado do everything they want. completely untested. And so I don't know, you put that all together, and it's a really tough series to justify for my perspective. Yeah, you know, one of our, one of hockey's favorite adages is that safe is death. And I thought that that was, that's, that's why the jet season is over in part, because they were afraid to make that mistake. They were afraid to get put on a poster by Kail McCar.

They didn't want to try to take the body on any of those guys, because if, if those are. guys fight through it, they have numbers. There's, there's an odd man rush there. There's, you know, they could get embarrassed there and, uh, they did anyway. And at some point, I, at some point, you just have to say, we can't, we can't continue to try and defend them like this. They are just, they're cycling and they're doing whatever they want to do. They're doing everything that they want to do. And watching them be so passive at, high in the zone was something that I did.

I did not understand it. I did not understand a lot of Winnipeg's approach to this series, honestly. Especially last night, game five, you look at it, and through 40 minutes, you have played arguably your best game of the series. You've actually dominated a period, not dominate. I mean, you outplayed Colorado in the second period pretty handily. but you immediately going into the third period, you're down by one, you tie it up so early, and then you go away from all the things that had gotten you to that point,

that had gotten you, you go away from all the line combinations that had built that into that success, go back to the same old line combinations that were like his security blanket, but the security blanket was on fire. Like, I just, I did not understand their approach to it. It did not make any sense to me. They just, it felt like there were so many questionable things along the way. I mean, Jansid Fialvi coming into the series, in part to help with your PK and then not playing on the PK is one of those things where you're just like, I don't. Okay.

Yeah. We're all looking for the guy. They're giving me the gift. Yeah. Rick Wohannis is like, we're all looking for the guy who did this. And it's, it's. Yeah, exactly. I think.

you know, what was tragically poetic about that game five that you mentioned is that finally they gave in and they're like, we're going to, we're going to play the right players that we can that are healthy, right, because domestic of and Dylan were out, and we're going to put Perfetti in, we're going to put Miller in, we're going to mix up the lines, we're finally going to go with this stuff that worked for us during the regular season when we were at our best during that run kind of around Christmas into winter break. And they finally do that. The first 40 minutes, even though they're down one, as you said, it was their best performance in the series, I thought from like a controlling play perspective. I thought they spent more time in the offensive zone with their top players than they

had in like the previous two or three games combined in those first two periods. And then in the third period, it's almost like Rick Bonas was like, listen, I see all that. I have all this information and evidence to suggest that we're on the right track. And yet I just can't help myself. And true to form, he delivered one final blow to them by just going back to old reliable. And, I don't think it would have ultimately made a difference, right? Because the ads just had so much more talent as you saw throughout these games, so many more ways to beat them. And that was very clear in watching these games play out.

I do think, though, under different circumstances, these games could have been much more competitive, much like they were in Game 5. I thought this series probably could have been extended if some of this stuff was optimized. And I think that's what's kind of disappointing because it could have been different very easily if their coach had decided to just do that. stuff. And what stood out to me, I was messaging with this with you last night, what stood out to me over the course of this series was sort of the stark contrast and coaching styles, right?

Like I would argue that while people are going to say that Jared Bednar has such an easy job because he has so many great players and it's like, all right, just let them do their thing. He clearly has such a good feel for the team he has. And part of that is like how long he's been there. I think his approach and his like just style. And it allows him to kind of know where his team is that and then push the right buttons and also be willing, I think, to try new stuff. We've seen him experiment the regular season with different combinations and be willing to adjust. Rick Bonas, sort of his arrogance and going down with the ship, and there's this quote in

the athletic, which I just thought was amazing. And it says, Rick Bonas has said many times that he coaches by feel, trusting his gut, and that he's happier to lose coaching his weight than changing his approach at a game. I just, that is such a baffling thing to say about a coach, right? It's like, I'm going to lose my way as opposed to trying to win in a different way. And trying to justify that as a perk is mind-blowing to me. And I think that's what you saw in this series, right? It was like, it was his way and they lost his way.

Yeah, and you contrast that to Jared Bedner, who opened game one with Zach Parizzi on his top line. And it went poorly. So he had to make a start of game two. Zach Perez is on, Kesey Middle Stats line. That line takes off. Plays great and Valenichikin catches fire

for the rest of the series. Just that one switch alone, you can look at it and point directly to Colorado's top six, completely transforming for the rest of the series and producing,

I mean, God, an enormous amount of goals and points. And to watch to watch Mark Sheifley and Kyle Conner, like really good players, just they were okay in the series. You know, Kyle Conner, he's a goal score.

And his goals were, it was the sixth or seventh goal in game one. I don't remember. At the time that he scored the goal, it did not look like it was going to matter. But then the Eves made that late push and, you know, kind of change the complexion of it. And his other goal was the Josh Manson Arturi-Lecan an own goal last night.

That's it. That's it from Kyle Connor. And instead of trying to find ways to spark him, Rick Bonas just was like, all right, cool. Just figure it out. Play better. That was his coaching. Play better.

And that's, you're not going to win a playoff series that way. Well, same with Nikola Eilers, right? Like, listen, I love him. I can acknowledge that he was not good in the series.

He made a lot of turnovers. And I think he was clearly trying to force the issue. But as I've said, I think this was a, a very dump and chase series for the Jets. Like they were going to win. It was going to be by grinding down low, below the dots and below the goal line and trying to get scoring chances that way against Colorado's defense as opposed to trying

to skate with them. And they put, for the majority of it, he's playing on this line with Sean Monaghan and Tyler Tofoli, who simply just do not possess the foot speed to do that, right? Like they are not going to play like Arturio Lekinen and Valachushkin. You can't just dump it in and then have them go. and cause havoc and retrieve Pucks, they just aren't physically capable of doing that. And so, of course,

Elers is going to keep trying to do everything himself because he has no other real options. And so that's, I think, what you saw in this, whereas the idea of potentially putting up with Shifley and Valardi and kind of experimenting that way or just trying different stuff was like so far out of reach for them. And when you compare it to what the Aves did, I think that's really well said by you.

So, yeah, there's certainly a lot to unpack there. Let's go to break here. I'm going to try to gather myself a little bit. We're going to talk about the aves more and sort of the positive stuff they did as opposed to lamenting all of this stuff. But I do think in like telling the story of this series, all of this is very relevant.

AJ, we'll be back here in a second. You're listening to the Hockey P.D.O.cast streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network. Miss any part of Halford and Bruff in the morning? Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcast and don't miss an episode. All right. We're back here on the HockeyOcast.

joined today by AJ Hayfully, AJ. What I want to talk about with you here off the top to start a blog to is the Aves team building approach that I think you saw pay dividends in this series. It's something you and I have spoken about like at the deadline when we were sort of highlighting their approach and what they chose to do. But I do think you see the value of it in this series of how this team just time and time again sort of like deliberately in when they're acquiring players and trying to improve their team is trying to sort of bring in guys who strengthen an already existing strength.

right. It might be in a different way, but ultimately they have a player type they like and it kind of needs to fit in. And when we've seen when they tried to bring in someone like Ryan Johansson, how that kind of fell apart because he wasn't able to play within that team concept and that scheme. And that's what I was thinking on watching just someone like Yakov-Trennan, who I referenced earlier, where he's low on the list of contributors here and kind of guys that you point to as a difference maker. But just think about the fact that he was their top penalty killer in this series. He was on the ice for 10 short-handed minutes, zero goals against. his sort of motor and puck pursuit and forechecking.

And you saw, like, in game two, he creates that big turnover with Hellebuck misplaying it when he comes out. In part, you rewatch it. And I don't even think he got a point on the play. But the reason it happens beyond a careless mistake by Hellebuck is his closing speed, right? Like, you can almost see Hellebuck, see how far away he is and think he has time. And then the next time he shoulder checks, Trenton's just already there.

And there's that. There's the goal he scored where he just like single-handedly overpowers Neil Pionk with multiple efforts in game five that made a big difference, these huge moments where he was able to chip in that way. And that's what I just kept coming back to. It's like this team that operates kind of, I think, counter to convention because most teams generally look at their team what they have. And then when they're trying to supplement it, it's with like very different players who almost try to like paper over kind of like holes in the lineup, whereas this team just tries to fill it with guys who can just do what they're already doing to an even greater extent.

And I think that's really cool. Yeah, I think the lessons learned from last season's roster building fiasco, where they were just patching so many holes on the fly. And then nothing went there, nothing went right for them last year. And then obviously the Ryan Johansson fiasco earlier this year is that, you know, even if even if a guy isn't exactly what you need

get a guy that plays your style of hockey and I think more than anything that's what Sean Walker was. Is that what you really needed as another sub six foot puck moving defenseman who isn't maybe you know

gonna be known for his physicality in a playoff series? No no but he's a he's a he's a he's a dragon drop player into your system and you see he's he dumps the puck in on what ultimately becomes the game winning goal last night he skates up to that the gates skates up to the center line dumps it in and uh that aggression during a bad change by the jets helps create the conditions in order to uh create that the what became the game winning goal

and you see it with Josh Manson and why it's been such an interesting experiment with him in Colorado is you see so much like Josh Manson unleashed where the guy's just dangling guys in the neutral zone and you're just like, what is going on here? This is not what we were expecting when this guy got here and he just has games like that.

And it's that abyss. you know, it's not having, it's not just being, okay, you're a one-way guy, you're this, you're this very limited guy who can just do this one thing. You look at, you look at, Yakov-Trennan's a great example. He's not a super great. You know, he's not a big offensive dynamo or anything. But he skates the way that the abs skate. And then he brings that physicality.

He brings that extra edge. So he plays abs hockey, but he adds a dimension to it. And that just makes them, that makes them multiple. That makes them harder to handle and be able to be effective in different styles of games. As you mentioned, the forecheck on Halibuck. But really, last night, game five was Yakov-Trennan's big shiny, his agent is going to be throwing that game out there when he hits free agency. It's like, see what my guy can do? because Colorado's lineup was struggling

and Yakov-Trennan was centering a fourth line that was eating up the Jets last night. And it was their best line in the second period. They could have produced a couple more points because they were in the offensive zone. Trennan is the one that kickstarted the two-on-one-one with Andrew Cogliano and Kail McCar, where McCar hits the post.

Like, it was already a good night for Trennan. It could have been an even better. night for the guy, uh, statistic on the box score. And I think that the team building lessons that Chris McFarland weren't learned were, yeah, I need I need the guys that can do this, but they have to be able to skate with us. We just can't have these misfits. You know, they got away with it in the cup year with Nico Stern because Darren Helm and Andrew Cogliano could still get up and motor around the ice.

And it was fine. They don't have that this year. So they had to go and get it. Brandon Duhame, Yakov-Trennan, that's what they do. And I think that was the roster building lesson that got learned. And boy, does that KC. Middlestad deal feel good right now. I'm so glad you mentioned Josh Manson because his performance in this series was like if Tyler Myers had 47 cups of coffee before the game and then cranked everything up to 11.

Like it was, you saw the good, like you saw like on the offensive zone. He's making like kill him, a car moves. where he's like opening up 10 and 2, dangling around someone getting into the slot, ripping it. He scores two goals, including a breakaway goal out of the box. He has three primary assists.

He also shoots a puck off of Arturialaiccad into his own net because Arturiccena can not stop scoring goals, regardless of whose net it's in. I think in game one, he was like really sort of, a little brainless, for lack of a better term, in his own zone. Like he just lost his assignment a couple times,

and I think part of it is because he's just pushing so much at all times all around the ice. And so it was just such a chaotic high-of-end series for him. It was a massive net positive, certainly by the end. But it was just really fun to watch. So I'm glad you highlighted that. Let's talk a little bit of the middle stat because this was his first exposure to the NHL postseason. The result was five assists, four of which were primary.

And I think all of them were full value where like he made a play to essentially get a tap in for someone. he led the team with 15 scoring chances set up with him on the ice of 515 the abs are up 6.3 and at a 66% expected goal share. And as you noted off the top, that line of him or two are like in and Zach Parizea was probably their most consistent and dominant line for the aggregate for the series. And so what a debut performance from him and just seeing the playmaking, his work along the wall. I mean, it's just a beautiful thing.

It was like, it was a little bit of something for everyone. and it was just really fun to watch. Yeah, I was really excited about Casey Middlestad and that deal. The way that it has worked out so far, like, I expect the Casey Milestat to be a good player. You never know what a guy is going to be like when you get him into the playoffs. Everybody that cares about analytics loves Nicolai-E dealers. He's a good example of sometimes you get this guy in the postseason and there are struggles. had no idea what Casey Middlestat was going to be in this series.

And the way he was successful, you look at, I mean, the way that he abused poor Logan Stanley, that's not something that's supposed to happen to him. Logan Stanley's supposed to be able to just say, okay, I can't, I can't hang with this guy. I'm just going to push him into the boards and let somebody else come and help. And Middlestat was just dancing him. And head to head, he, eight Mark Shifley up until Rick Bonas finally was like, all right, get them away from each other. Just get them away from each other.

And it was the playmaking, but it was the work along the wall. And the hockey IQ, very quietly, he started to take over Colorado's, like, defensive center job. where if the abs needed to win a face off in the D zone, he was the guy they called upon. And again, not something that you would really associate with Casey Middlestat, a top 10 pick who the puck skill and the vision and playmaking, those are all his attributes, right? Those are all the things that make him pop.

But his all around work, his defensive game, that I think is really what brought him to full value in the series. and I was really, really surprised at just how good the all-around game was. And what a weapon he was in the series for Jared Bednar because he played a lot of different roles and he took on a bunch of different assignments. Rick Bonas tried moving him around. It didn't work. Game five was the game that they had the most success against him. Great.

Took you long enough. And it was, it was really encouraging and just from an avalanche perspective. I am curious to see what happens against, I hate to say a better team, but I guess a more well-coached team that will have a more cohesive plan of attack in the next series, be at Dallas or Vegas,

but he's kind of their X factor. Goalies are always the X factor, but in terms of skaters, he's kind of their X factor. in terms of being able to elevate that ceiling and get Colorado skating downhill consistently, just rolling lines over the bench. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned the sort of the variety of matchups. His primary primary had to head matchup this series was against Mark Shafley's line.

And he won that convincingly, really took advantage of all the minutes they got against Neil Pionk. I can't believe he got 110 minutes in this series. And so all of that's good. I love the combination of him with Lekanin, right? Because with that playmaking and his ability to keep Bucks alive, and then all of a sudden you put Lekhinen, just go to the net, retrieve the puck, use that good stick to tap Bucks in. I just love it.

Like the fact that Middlestat led the series in chances set up, and then Lekinen finished with 12 chances taken and one setup himself is so good. It's such a nice Siyang line that really perfectly encapsulates. Obviously he does so much stuff. It's not to diminish his. contributions, but just offensively in terms of like what the bread and butter and formula is there. I just love how neat that is.

And those guys were awesome. And that's huge here because it's amazing to think, what, three, four months ago to have thought that coming out of this round one series, you and I have done 40 plus minutes here on how the abs just sort of picked Winnipeg apart. And we haven't really even talked about McKinnon and Randinen because there was just so much to deal with and part of that is that second line that was really kind of featured here. Yeah, that was their best line. Just beginning to end in terms of controlling play and in turn.

Also, head to head against Shifley, that's their best offensive line. That's Winnipeg's best offensive line. So for Colorado to convincingly win that matchup, twofold. They're scoring goals, but they're not giving any up against their best offensive guys. that's a huge win. And to get that out of your second line, I think that's a major reason why we're sitting here today after five games and talking about the abs ripping apart the Winnipeg Jets.

Yeah. Let's look ahead a little bit here because we got a bit more time. I, in trying to kind of think about what this round two matchups going to look like as we're speaking, Winnipeg and Dallas, or Vegas and Dallas are tied to two. We'll see.

I imagine that series is probably going to go seven because of how tight it's been so far. So that's great for Colorado that they have kind of time to rest up and get ready for that and kind of prepare, I think, both matchups accordingly, depending on who comes out. What are you thinking, though, in terms of like how this team stacks up against those two respectively in terms of like potential areas they could exploit them, maybe potential areas where one of those teams could do something to Colorado, the Winnipeg was unable to? I think both certainly present their own sort of unique challenges. And so I think either one would be really fascinating just from like a tactical exes and host perspective. Yeah, so for me with Vegas,

it's about William Carlson. Because he has taken on Nathan McKinnon a lot over the last handful of years, been pretty darn successful at it. So when you're talking about trying to neutralize the guy that might be the NHL's MVP this year, having a guy who's had that kind of success against him in the past is a really good starting point. With Dallas, I think a lot of it is Mero Haskinen because if the abs want to, if the abs get out and skate and they run and gun and they play that fast game,

Mero Haskin is the guy that you look at on that Star's blue line and say, yeah, all right, that guy can do that. He's got that in the bag. if you want to grind it out and forecheck him and try to force him into mistakes, he's got that in the back. He's awesome. And I think he's a little underrated around the league right now.

And I'm looking at him as like a guy that has had really good postseason performances in his career. And with all the different things that the avalanche, present with the speed and the forechecking that they that they just showed in this disjet series. He can handle whatever game he ends up in. And that's where Hayskin and makes me a little nervous, a little jumpy. Obviously, Dallas's forward depth. You talk about Colorado's depth and how the entire lineup contributed and did all these things.

That's Dallas's calling card this year. Their whole lineup is productive. their whole lineup can hang and they all present different problems. It's not four lines of speed and skill. It's not four lines of big guys that want to come in and hit you and create turnovers and then have to have to win in a certain way. There are a lot of avenues of success for the Dallas stars. And that's, I think matchup-wise, I really don't know if there's a good one here for Colorado.

They present different problems. I think if I had to pick one, that would be an advantage for the abs, it's Dallas, because I like Vegas's defense better. But Dallas is obviously really, really good. The only other thing that I am curious about is the uncertainty of what's going on in in Vegas. As we're recording this, Aidan Hill is going to start game five of the series. and Logan Thompson's been great in this series,

and now has lost his net at least for one game. And so that kind of uncertainty in net, I think, opens the door for neither guy is going to get into a rhythm. And if they're able to advance Colorado's high-powered offense could just make both of them feel bad about themselves. And Jake Ottinger has, on the other side, Jake O'Donter hasn't really been very good this year. has had, and it's even been an uneven playoff series for him too.

So I just, I really don't feel like there's, I think the abs are really good. And I just don't know that there's between those two teams, a truly good matchup for them. It's going to be hard, no matter which iteration of a second round series we get, it's going to be hard for that team to handle Colorado. It's going to be hard for Colorado to match up with them.

Oh, certainly. It's going to be a heavyweight battle. I'm excited either way. But yeah, both present kind of unique challenges in that sense. On the goalie front, shout out. We haven't really mentioned it much and kind of been passing off the top. But shout out to Alexander Georgiev, who after the seven goals against on 23 shots in game one, stopped 110 of 118 shots faced in the final four games.

And I'd say most of those, like there was the one kind of bad to Foley one where it snuck through short side and a few others. but a lot of it was like the Josh Morrissey shots were like, all right, there's like six massive humans that are just completely taking away his eyes and it's a perfectly play shot. Josh Manson scores on him. Like a lot of them were really not his fault at all

in these final games. I thought he was really solid. And in particular at the risk of kind of being a cliche talking head, like made saves and key points where it was like Winnipeg was finally starting to get going where the game maybe could have gone differently. And then he would just make a big save. and it felt like that really deflated Winnipeg. So shout out to him because his bounce pack,

I think everyone, maybe not people in Winnipeg, but I think everyone could have sort of appreciated and cheered for him right after seeing game one and kind of how that unfolded, the fact that he was able, just from a human perspective, bounce back and play as well as he did. It was pretty awesome. Any kind of parting shots here or final notes you have on either the series or the abs before we get out of here?

Yeah, I mean, with Georgieva, I just thought it was such a great human story. I probably devolved into more hysterics than I needed to after the game one fiasco. Because Georgiev's season was just not very good. And his end to the season was horrible. He was horrible. The last, I think his last eight starts, he was, he was horrible. I don't know another word for it.

He was horrible. And for him to come out and give up seven goals on 23 shots was, I've said it could end up being one of the great sliding doors moments. in Avalanche history because if Eustace Annen isn't sick and they don't have their third string AHA goaltender backing up Georgiev that night, if Onaden is available, I think Georgiev gets pulled and Onondon starts game two. And instead, the abs had no choice really. They had to, they had to let Georgiev wear it. They had to let him kind of face the music afterwards. And I want to give him full credit.

He went and talked to the media and he owned up, he owned it. He did not hide from it. And I thought that was an interesting contrast to Connor Hellebuck, who did not speak with the media in games, after games two through five. So for me, that's a very, just an interesting tidbit. And Georgiev, to come back and perform the way that he did. he was great. And you're talking about timely saves.

Game three, the Jets are up 2-1, late in the second period. Tower to Foley gets a clean breakaway. If he scores that goal and they go up 3-1, maybe they win that game. Maybe they win that game and we're in such a different world right now. He makes that stop. The Aves kind of just drop the hammer on him the rest of the series. And that, I find it a fascinating story as a person who likes to actively consider,

well, what does the other timeline maybe look like in the universe where Georgiev gets pulled and on and in is healthy here. So for him to respond the way that he did and I don't know how just on a human level, you can't just be happy for the guy. His career in Colorado was probably on the line in game two. And he he stepped up in game two, game three, game four, game five. I mean, it's a fantastic response. It really was. AJ, we got to get out of here.

This was a blast. I'm sure we're going to have you on again soon during this postseason. I'm glad we got to break this series down together. Keep up the great work. Everyone follow your coverage at DNVR. And we'll have you back on again soon. My only plug is join the Discord. The invite lake is in the show notes, pop in there and join us every night chatting about the playoffs

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