Av-merican
Un-Tenured Professor of Hockey
Joined: 17 Oct 2007
Posts: 1458
Location: Denver
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 Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:37 pm Post subject: Postgame thoughts: Kings/Avs |
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Saw this afternoon match at the Pepsi Center over some brats and some nachos con carne. My digestive tract is still trying to sort out the damage. Avs lose a game they really should have won 3-1, the final goal being an empty-netter from Kopitar.
1. Kyle Cumiskey is going to be a star. As I've said before, the kid has amazing speed and puckhandling skills, and you get a real appreciation for that speed and savvy watching in person, he was all over the ice and gelled well on a pairing with the blink-and-you'll-miss-him-healthy Jordan Leopold. He does need to make better decisions, as he pinched too often and got burned for it, doesn't hold the zone as well as he should, and has a tendency to turn the puck over at the blue line. If we had a real go-to guy on defense to mentor him I could see him realizing his potential in 1-2 years.
2. Jack Johnson wasn't quite as visible as Cumiskey to me, but he too has some great wheels and offensive aptitude. Nearly threaded right through the Avs' D singlehandedly. Unlike Cumiskey he at least has a good mentor in Rob Blake...note carefully how badly Blake's old protege, John-Michael Liles, has regressed since Blake left. Despite the fact that Blake is clearly done, it makes the case that you simply can't go without veteran leadership on the back end.
3. For once it wasn't Brett Clark's defense that made me mad, surprisingly both he and Skrastins played solid. Jeff Finger however looked shaky and made a bad play in his own end that put the puck right on Armstrong's stick for LA's first goal.
4. The Smyth-Stastny-Hejduk line was easily the best out there today. They made a ton of scoring chances, just couldn't put it in the net.
5. Not at all impressed with the top line of O'Sullivan-Kopitar-Brown on the opposite side, they just didn't seem to click at all. The line of Nagy-Armstrong-Frolov was much more effective. It's clear the Kings miss Cammalleri.
6. Lombardi's emphasis on getting puckmovers and only puckmovers on the blueline has backfired insofar that defenders like Visnovsky, Preissing, and Stuart have been marginalized.
7. Crawford should be fired post-haste. For a team with so much talent on both sides they play a very dull and uncreative game. You can argue the team personnel-wise has some serious issues but they should be better than this.
8. Don't know what the hell is wrong with Handzus and Calder, both were non-factors. I really like both those players too.
9. Quenneville is starting to really piss me off. In an attempt to jumpstart a sputtering power play he puts Wolski on the point with Liles, both of whom don't have a shot that could hit a fat girl on the ass and neither of whom are playing well at this point, when he has much better options in Cumiskey and Leopold. In fact it was Leopold who scored the only goal of the game for the Avs. Needless to say, the Avs have failed miserably on the power play reaching back to the other night's game against the Wings. He also blundered by putting Theo in net after Budaj loses a close one instead of sticking with the goalie who has carried the team during this hot streak and any other hot streak the team has had in the last 2 seasons. Sure enough Theo made some decent saves, but fought the puck repeatedly and displayed even worse rebound control than usual. It's like he's just not seeing anything anymore and his puck awareness is just awful. I can't wait until he's gone. And if Q continues this lose-and-I'll-switch bullshit I'll be asking for the Avs to axe him as well. |
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