Breaking Down: Avs/Sens, Game #47

Where do we go from here?

Projectile Lineup

Patrik Nemeth joined the team in Ottawa but didn’t dress. No changes to the lineup from the Toronto game.

Scratch: Bourque, Graves, Nemeth (sick)
Injured: Kamenev (shoulder)

Team Stats

The Avs came out lethargically then really started tanking halfway through the 1st. As we looked on in horror the next 20 minutes unfolded with error after error until the Sens built a 3-0 lead. That apparently was sufficient for them so they decided to take the rest of the game off. Some more things happened and the Avs lost.

Tale of the tape was +56/-44 but +39/-11 of that was after they were down 3-zip. Shots in all situations were 32-31. Sens won high danger shots handily 11-5 so the lack of quality issue persists. Shot pace at 5v5 was a solid 125 per hour.

PP was gently used tonight with one chance early with no glory and a score late with the goalie pulled, 1-3 in all. PK stopped all 3 chances they faced.

TOI

Top 6 forwards were Mack, Landy, Mikko, then a huge gap down to Carl, Compher and Nieto, both at just 11 minutes each 5v5. Very top-heavy. Sheldon Dries was low man at just under 8 minutes and neither he nor Jost had any special teams time.

The defensive regime went Barrie, Z, EJ, Girard, Cole and Barberio at 5v5. In all situations it was Barrie (25+), EJ (22), Z (20), Sam (17), Cole (16), and Barbs (14+). I would describe this deployment as top-heavy and desperate. Add to that ineffective.

Individual

– There’s a lot of fan angst after this loss, deservedly so, and questions pile up without many answers. Are these broad issues with no simple solutions? Can a few changes begin the process back to being a confident and coherent team again? How much of these problems are on the players and how much are on the staff?

It’s easy to pick out anecdotal examples of this player turning the puck over 3 times on one shift or that player losing his man before an opponent scores. Taking the broad view there are a myriad of different issues that pop up inconsistently. When that happens to a team that’s underachieving I look at coaching. I don’t think Jared Bednar is doing a poor job or needs to be fired. What he does need to do is make sure what the players are being coached to do is possible to do consistently and instinctively. Right now that’s not the case, especially in the defensive zone, and it’s killing the team every single night. No team will have success if they give up the first two goals every game. That has to stop immediately or there’s little point in waiting to wait until next year.

Burgundy Narrative Metric

– “Best guys being your best guys” gets a (-) nah
– Quality vs Quantity gets a (-) as usual, plenty of quantity and little quality
– Power Play Watchability gets a (-) 1 late in garbage time…
– The Dreaded Turtle gets a (+) the Sens was magnificent
– Starting Goalie Battle% gets a (-) not his fault but 4 goals is 4 goals
– Referee Oppression Index gets a (-) The Avs had their 10th goal of the season called back on a play that I had no idea was reviewable. Hope we don’t get another “sorry, my bad” from the NHL on this one.

Total: -4¾

Next up

Pain. Afternoon game vs LA on Saturday.

Thanks as always to the NHL and Natural Stat Trick for numbers and visuals