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7 Comments (2 conversations)
RockD
You know something is amiss when it’s Burns and Manson on the ice in the 6 on 5 but it worked because Nathan MacKinnon. When we talk about MVP let’s not discount that he effectively turned Necas into Miko Rantenen while leading the charge for the Avs to have the #1 seed.
We saw a few times at the end of the regular season that when the Avs decide to lock it down they can smother a team. In game 4 the Wild went 17 minutes without a SOG and got all of 7 over the 2nd and 3rd periods last night with their season on the line.
Spurgeon is one of those players you respect even on teams you dislike but watching him get worked net front reminds us why trading Sammy G was the right move.
I’ll be rooting for the Ducks to win game 6 and give Cale some extra rest and maybe even send Vegas home
MATT WOODS
I’m not sure Bednar deserves credit for being “shrewd” when he played** the clearly inferior Achan over Blankenberg and as you agree he waited too long to pull Blackwood. And he resorts to the “blendar” method when he gets desperate, not bc he is some matchup mastermind. Not a hero of this game.
**assuming 3:35 of ice time is enough to consider having played in this game? With 4.5 D men at the end of this game, Avs very lucky to have ended the series as those guys must be exhausted
AJ Haefele
AuthorThe missteps are why he wasn’t a Stud. Imperfect. But he saw it was a mess with Ahcan and cut him from the rotation. Can’t undo the decision to play him, but he didn’t stubbornly continue putting him out there. Lots of coaches don’t cut their losses and move on. It’s an underrated quality.
Mixing up lines when a team isn’t generating goals is something every coach does. Gotta land on the right ones, and Bednar did.
MATT WOODS
Fair enough. I thought Unsung Hero was for someone who was lowkey/sneaky good, not “flawed but good.” Slight difference in perspective I guess. Still think playing Achan over Blankenberg after Achan’s game 4 is a major mistake not worthy of being considered for either interpretation. They are not vastly different from each other but one is clearly an NHL player and the other is not (or not yet) and not being able to discern that is surprising and almost alarming.
Unit5
I think “unsung hero” is for who AJ wants to write (very capably) about as an unsung hero.
MATT WOODS
Thank you for your very illuminating contribution to our conversation
AJ Haefele
AuthorIt’s kind of both honestly. It really depends on the game and what part of the story spoke to me. I like to lean into “flawed but good” but plenty of times it is “this will get overlooked if I dont mention it”