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Hello, welcome in to Hockey Mountain High, your go-to avalanche podcast presented by Superbook SportsJJJJResHere.
Eryf Dean, Eryf is in Detroit, as we mentioned in our last episode. Eryf, how's it going?
How's Detroit? How was your journey, I guess, around Canada and then back into Detroit from Toronto?
How are you doing? Just how are you?
I'm doing fantastic. There is just something about this entire trip that's just been so...
Obviously being from here has just been so perfectly laid out, not just to get two games in
and to be able to visit family, but to have the ability to skip the Ottawa game
and have two days off between Toronto and Detroit. The Detroit game is a 1PM Saturday matinee,
which means it is now 5PM on a Saturday, Eastern time. You and I are recording,
and I'm not flying back to Denver until late Sunday night. I have the whole weekend to hang out with friends and family.
It's just a great time here. Weather sucks, it's kind of cold, but that was a fun game, fun atmosphere.
It's been a great road trip, and the avalanche took care of business.
The road trip ends, they clean sweep the road trip and make it even five in a row.
The home game that dated back to last week.
Just good looking stuff from the avalanche, exceeding our expectations.
We said that there would be a chance that they come back having lost one while they didn't,
and they squeaked that Ottawa game out. We'll get into that a little bit later in the podcast,
but I guess for right now, let's just focus on this Detroit game and what went right,
and what's creating this awesome wind streak that's making them climb the standings here in the central?
Yeah, if you ask Alexander Giorgi, how and why the road trip has been going as good as it's going,
he says we're scoring a lot of goals. And I mean, that is the most obvious.
Like, we don't got to sit there and dip into all the stats and all the numbers.
We're just scoring a shitload of goals, and when you score a lot of goals, you're going to win a lot of games.
Obviously, Toronto game aside where they only had one in regulation and one in the shootout,
but they got eight on Montreal, they got five on Ottawa. Here's another five on Detroit.
Tons of goals to go around. 20 goals total over this four game road trip.
19 plus the shootout winner from McKinnon.
Yeah, I guess I wanted to get into a quick conversation of something that I noticed today, right?
I mean, we had a goal from bone-by-room today, we had a goal from Devon Taves,
and that kind of got my sparks flying about last year.
And I remember you and I having the conversation of how much the defence shipped in on scoring last year
and how much that attributed to their success, right?
And so having two defensive goals today and not only that, during the five game win streak here,
you've had five defensive goals, two from a car, two from by-room and that one from Taves.
So it feels like the defensive unit chipping in offensively right now,
which is something I think we missed a little bit there for a stretch in the season,
but the fact that it's happening right now, right before playoffs,
I feel really good that the Avalanche are starting to look more like themselves
than they have all year long.
Yep, I mean, the Avalanche are the only team in the NHL with three defencemen to have 30 points,
and it's Sam Girard, it's Kael Makar, it's Devon Taves.
That doesn't even include Bow-by-room, who would be well past that number,
had it not been for his injury in the beginning of the season that kept it out for several months.
But this is what the As Defence does best.
We've seen Devon Taves, like you said, he's picked up his offensive game here recently.
We've seen Sam Girard since New Year's Day has been just on a tear.
I think he's up to 25 or 26 points in 32 games since that New Year's Eve lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs,
the game after that.
We've seen Kael Makar obviously just piling on those points.
There was a point, I forget which part of it, you know, this is terrible podcast for me to sit there
and count it up, so I'm not gonna.
But there was a point in over the last several games where Kael Makar had 10 points in his first five games back.
I actually have it in front of me right here.
In the last eight games, 16 points.
Bingo, yeah, so he had 10 in his first five games back, and then one, two, and three against Toronto,
Ottawa and Detroit, so that's your other six points.
16 points in his last eight games, three of them goals, 15 assists.
In all eight of those games too, he's got at least one point, so he's on an eight game point streak right now.
My math was incorrect, three goals and 13 assists, sorry, go ahead.
No, yeah, just saying that he's on a point streak, eight games.
Yeah, yep, he's had a point in every single game since that return.
Obviously, one goal three against Sis against the San Jose Sharks in that game, another three helpers against Montreal,
another three helpers against Detroit.
He's playing like Kael Makar, and obviously against the Red Wings, I just want to throw this out there.
Well, you know, just not that we're live, but Kael Makar did not play the last 11 minutes of that game against the Red Wings.
There was nothing wrong with him. He was on the bench.
We unfortunately didn't ask Jared about it.
Peter Bonnite, the reporters here in Detroit, because we didn't realize it until afterwards,
because obviously we're probably not watching the same feed.
You guys all watched, I'm sure Altitude mentioned it, but we did ask the Avalanche's PR,
and they said nothing's wrong with Kael.
So it just seems like with 11 minutes left in regulation, it would be the Avalanche up five to one.
Jared said, Kael, you're done. You're just going to sit there, and then he celebrated.
He was in the locker room, so nothing about it said injury.
But yeah, like he's playing unbelievable hockey.
He's ramped up his game.
Devon Taves has ramped up his game, both offensively and defensively.
You know, since last year, like we've seen since last year's playoffs, we've seen a little bit of Devon just kind of having
like these boneheaded turnovers here and there.
We're not seeing a lot of that recently.
Sam Gerard obviously has upped his game.
Bowen Byram has gotten consistently better since getting healthy.
Jack Johnson's steady force just right there.
Like ever since that trade for England, he's played 11 games and he's just hanging out right there.
No mistakes, nothing flashy, just doing his thing.
And this is what you want from a team that has the defensive core that the F's have.
Yeah, I mean, Devon Taves his goal.
Again, just to reiterate how much it looks like the Avalanche of old, right,
Valin Tushkin planted himself right in front of the net, taking the goalies eyes away,
the shot coming from the blue line, the way the Avalanche love to generate that offense.
And then of course, Bowen Byram's goal coming in on the four on three.
I mean, the Avalanche with a little bit of space and, you know, having four on three, right?
So three guys that would normally be on the ice taking up space, not there.
The Avalanche just take advantage and they do so well with space.
The talent on this team with McCar, McKinnon across to Byram on the one timer.
I mean, it's fun to watch this team with a man advantage, even more fun when it's a four on three like that.
Yeah, the funny thing about that four on three goal, obviously, the Avalanche went with McKinnon and JT.
And then like you said, it was Kael and Bo were both on the ice and me and Peter right away noticed that.
It's a four on three power plates, not four on four.
So like right away, we noticed that we like we made a couple of comments about like,
wow, they're going with Bo Barman.
Bo was on the wing because Kael's a guy up top and it's, you know, a one three setup.
And Bo's on the wing and it's Bo and JT with Nathan McKinnon also on the other wing.
And we're like, wow, like, you know, with Miko Renton in the box, they're going to Bo.
And I'm like, and I made a joke and a comment about like, yeah, they're running out of wingers and, you know, with Lecken and injured.
And Peter's like, yeah, but you have Val and the Chushkin.
We're sitting here talking like questioning.
Why is Bo Barman on the wing on the top unit?
Not questioning it as if it was a poor decision, but just like having this conversation about it and then just cuts us off with a goal.
Like, I'm here and I'm going to score. We're like, okay, I guess we're done talking about that because he scored.
He did the thing and complete Miko Renton in fashion too, right?
He looked just like him dropped a knee one timer and just beat the goalie.
No problem.
So it was a beautiful goal.
Yeah, like it looked like he played on the wing before, which obviously the avalanche like to do that 3d second power play unit every once in a while,
but he just looked so natural there playing one wing with McKinnon on the other.
JT taking a face off and Kelm Akar at the point. It just fits so well.
And to nobody's surprise, Nathan McKinnon chips in a goal.
Miko Renton and chips in a goal as well.
Nathan McKinnon's goal. If you remember that first podcast from my paternity leave, I pointed out, you know, a couple goals that stood out to me over the previous month.
And one of them was a Nathan McKinnon goal where it was off the breakout just north.
North North North North. That's all it was fast and efficient.
That goal today reminded me of that same goal, just a quick through the neutral zone and just McKinnon's off to the races.
It's wild. McKinnon used to score goals by beating players to the outside.
And we see Conor McDavid score goals by beating players to the outside, but you said the word efficient.
The quickest way to get from point A to point B is a straight line.
And Nathan McKinnon has been scoring goals with that straight line lately.
It's just right through the defense. I'm not going to waste my time going around the outside and beating you with my speed.
I'm just going to bull rush through center rice, stick handle through your D and take a shot.
And he's been doing it from like beyond the hash marks.
He's not even going in and kind of deeking around the goal. You're going to his backhand.
He's just firing it from the hash marks and scoring.
So just an efficient play from Nathan once again.
You know, we've seen him do that over and over and over again.
And suddenly here he is. 30 goals. 88 points. He's played 57 games.
Second in the NHL, creating separation from the rest of the guys in points per game.
And now even with the amount of games that he's missed, he's now sixth in the NHL in points, which is just unbelievable for a guy that has played 10, 11, 12 fewer games than everybody else in the top.
20 top 30.
30th goal of the year too. Good to see McKinnon reach that milestone.
You know, he's got plenty left in the tank too.
Like if he could play a full season, I wish I knew where he would be.
I mean, over a point per game this year, I wish I knew, you know, what he could have put together had he, you know, stayed healthy there back in the hole.
He's on pace right now for 126 points had in an, he's on an 82 game pace of 126 points.
He's not going to hit that because he's only, you know, going to play 71 games.
But if Nathan McKinnon, you know, the last time he played 82 games in a season was 2018-19, if you remember, he had 99 points and couldn't get that 100.
If Nathan McKinnon plays an 82 game season here in his prime over the next several seasons, 130 is not out of the question.
Like he can get there.
Yeah.
So we talked about the goals from guys we expected McKinnon, Renton, and the defensive group.
Let's talk about Lars Eller chipping in not only today, but also on the Ottawa game, right?
Two goals and two games and not the prettiest of goals.
But what they look like to me, Eric, are playoff style goals.
Attack the net, stop in front of the net, look for a rebound, look for a loose puck.
Even if the whistle hasn't blown and the goalie thinks it has, you're there ready to bury the puck home.
Sticking with the play.
That's what he does.
He's a pesky kind of guy.
These are the types of plays he makes.
And, you know, I asked Jared about that.
I said, you know, this was a completely different kind of goal than the one we saw in Ottawa.
But they're both examples of a player sticking with it.
Just going, going, going and creating something out of nothing.
You know, is that what you guys envisioned when you traded for Eller?
And he said, this is part of it.
This is part of what we knew we were going to get with this guy.
The Ottawa game was a player that, you know, you saw Logan O'Connor stop.
You saw Jake Sanderson stop.
What's the similarities between those two players?
Logan O'Connor, while yes, he's a veteran, has been in the NHL for, you know, a half a decade.
If even that, I think it's been a half a decade now.
And it's kind of newer to the NHL.
Jake Sanderson, highly touted, top five draft pick, still very young in his rookie season.
Lars Eller, I've been around for 12, 13, 14 years.
I know to play until the whistle sounds, the whistle didn't sound regardless of what you think happened.
I'm going to poke this guy home and he did.
And obviously a young goalie in the net as well.
So just a veteran play, a play of sticking with it and just making something out of nothing.
And then in Detroit, he does it again.
You know, he comes in on that rush on the PK, which is a hardworking play because you're in your own zone.
And then you're getting past the center, or you're getting into the red wing zone.
You know, he could have cleared it halfway through that breakout, but he was fighting and was so stubborn about letting the red wings get the puck back at that center right spot that he continued to fight.
And then I think he fell over the puck and then he gets back up and he did everything he can to say this puck is going to end up in the red wing zone.
And it did.
And then it ended up on Val and the Tushkin stick with a wide open look.
I thought a Tushkin was going to go right back to Ellar, but obviously he took the first shot.
Ellar got the rebound and scored.
And that entire thing was a player sticking with the play, not giving up on the play and making something out of seemingly nothing because there would have been nothing wrong with Lars Ellar at center ice battling, trying to get into the red wing zone and then turning left and taking a B line for the bench to change it up to continue the PK.
But he did what he had to do to suddenly generate this golden opportunity that ended up with a goal.
Yeah, I think found the Tushkin's reaction kind of says it all about that goal, right?
You don't see Val express emotion too much and he was super pumped for that goal.
It's nodding his head like hell yeah, because there's a hard work in play and you know, when you really earn it and you fight that hard, I mean, it just feels that much better.
And you know, with a play like that and with how much Jared Bednar seemingly loves penalty kills, you know, he earned a couple points and Jared Bednar's eyes.
And Barry in that pocket and picking up the short handed goal.
So yeah, good to see maybe Lars Ellar getting a little bit of momentum here in an avalanche sweater and awesome work on the penalty kill and I can't wait to see what he actually does and playoff style hockey because like you've mentioned, that's his game.
And you can tell you can see it already that that's where he's going to thrive and that's where he's really going to shine.
You have to remember, you know, I've made this comparison before and I'll use the Darren Helm one this time, not the Kogliana one.
I usually bunch them together, but Darren Helm hadn't played playoff hockey in a long time when the avalanche signed him.
And then the regular season last year, like Darren Helm was just, he was just a guy.
He was just a depth piece, nothing special.
He was the replacement for Pierre Edward Belmar and he was just whatever played on the wing, sometimes center.
But you saw him as the regular season kept going ramp up toward the playoffs kind of like, oh my God, I'm ready to go.
I'm I can't, I'm excited for the playoffs. And then he did something he hadn't done his entire career was he led the NHL playoffs in hits as a guy that's not very big, but plays likes to play a physical game in the playoffs led the NHL and hits in his 14th or 15th NHL season.
And it's part of the reason why he's played only five games this year, but the excitement of him getting back to the playoffs as a veteran that's been there before that knows what it's like to.
To taste exciting physical playoff hockey, you saw Darren Helm make a difference in the playoffs.
And that's the kind of thing you're seeing from Lars Eller. Lars Eller hasn't gone for five years without playing in a playoffs like helm did when he came, but he's been on this team that's been a little bit of a snoozer with the Washington Capitals where it started so it started slow, then it got really good.
And then they've just fallen off from December to January to February to March until that trade to the avalanche where you kind of got the sense that he was just coasting, you know, in his last season.
And now you're starting to see him pick it up the last three, four games before the goal against Ottawa. He was starting to play better. He looked more comfortable.
Now you're starting to see, like you said, exactly what the avalanche thought they were going to get from this guy. Exactly the type of playoff hockey that makes him who he is.
I have yet to be in the locker room since Lars Ellers acquisition.
Of course that'll end on Monday at the Chicago Blackhawks game. But again, I want to look back at Val Nachushkin's reaction because I just find that extra ordinary right it wasn't his goal. He's still super pumped.
So I just get the impression that already in his short time Lars Ellers making an impression within the dressing room right maybe not so much in the favor of avalanche fans just yet.
But it seems like he's already a guy that the avalanche have embraced.
Yeah, I mean, this team does a really good job of integrating players into their locker room pretty much as quick as they as soon as they acquire them.
And my favorite thing about the abs and the guys in that room, you know, we make we make comments about this all the time about Nathan McKinnon is they're so aware of who players are that are coming into their locker room.
They're so aware. They know the hockey DB and the elite prospects page the NHL stats page the ESPN stats page of your choice, whatever page you like to look at.
They know what players do in the playoffs like they traded for a guy in Kogliano that had very minimal points.
But Nathan McKinnon knew him from summers that they used to that they would train together.
And it was kind of like we're getting a veteran presence that we know can win that was so integrated into the locker room that after McKinnon or sorry after Eric Johnson.
He was the first guy to get the Stanley Cup right there and then.
So now with Lars Ellers, a similar thing they don't care that they're acquiring a player that had I think one point in his last 24 25 games with the Washington Capitals. He had a very, like a very bad ending to that season.
Before the trade this year I should say.
But they looked at Lars Ellers as a guy that we're bringing in that we know is a proven playoff commodity. We've played him twice already this year. He still got his legs. He still got an opportunity.
So like they're very aware and educated about these guys coming in. So they do a good job of integrating them into the lineup right away.
Cynthia with Jack Johnson. Yeah, you played like ass in Chicago. We don't care. We know who you are. We know what you can bring to the team and you did it last year and you're going to do it again this year.
So I think that helps because when they bring in a guy of value, a guy that helps.
You know they're going to care more for him and bring him into the room right away.
Yeah, and obviously they probably do you know a lot of homework on who the guy is and if he is a good fit in that dressing room. That's why you see them.
Liking to bring guys back like Matt, Nieto, Jack Johnson because they know what those guys do and how they how they kind of assimilate into that lineup. And I feel like Jack Johnson hasn't stopped smiling since he was reacquired.
Oh my God. I don't think you've been in the locker room since he came back right. He's just he's so happy all the time now. Like, I mean, you and I weren't even in a locker room last year because we didn't have the access to the dressing room last year.
But like he's just so happy all the time. Like he's literally like just always got a smile on his face.
That like basically everything I just explained is my way of saying like and this is no disrespect to them.
But when the avalanche are hurting and they're struggling and they go out and trade for someone or sorry they claim someone like dried and hunt off waivers.
Yeah, they integrate him into the locker room but they don't look at him the same way as someone like Ella or Cogliano because they're like, yeah, is this guy really going to help us? Is he going to be in the for the long haul?
Do we got to build a lot of rapport with this guy is even going to be a player?
And they obviously didn't and he wasn't a player and they traded him for Dennis Malgin who's slowly developing into a player.
So like they just they do their homework on these guys. They know who they are.
And I always I often think to the McKinnon comment when I made that fun video about when Nazem Caudry or sorry when Nicholas Abbe Kubel came back and we made that video of what was what were your thoughts when Abbe Kubel dropped the Stanley Cup or what were you thinking when he dropped the Stanley Cup?
And Nathan McKinnon said I was thinking, why does this guy have the cup and why is he dropping it kind of to say like, you're just Nicholas Obbe Kubel.
You're just the fourth liner that had a couple points like they do their homework on these guys so well as as cutthroat as it sounds.
So they knew when they got Lars Eller, this guy was going to be a player for us. Let's get him in this room and let's get him involved.
Get him comfortable because if he's comfortable, he'll play his game.
I mean, a part of that has to be a testament to just the preparation that goes into every NHL game and the scouting and the video watching and the planning for every opponent, right?
They are very familiar with each other, at least from a hockey X is a no standpoint.
Yeah, they very much are. And this is this is a new age NHL where you got video on every single player.
The scouting is, you know, scouting is still very much a thing where you send scouting staff to different cities, but also you can go on YouTube and watch five minutes of a guy and be like, oh, I know who he is now.
Not only that, if the NHL teams, you know, they pay for a service where you can literally type in, you know, kale macar and watch every single shift that kale macar has in a particular game.
So yeah, they are, they are videoed. Big brother is watching the NHL. What a difference that is to 15, 20 years ago. What a difference that is.
I often think back to and I remember this trade deadline in my head so well because of, you know, what had unraveled what had unraveled the day before the trade deadline, but 2004, the year the avalanche had Korean salani.
I don't know if many people remember this, but the day of the Bertuzzi Moore hit was the night before the trade deadline. During that game before Bertuzzi hit more, the avalanche had made a trade for Matthew Barnaby.
It was announced during that game. And during that trade deadline, they went out and traded for Tommy Salah, Lagole, they traded for Chris Grett and they traded for Aussie Vanen and they brought in so many guys that at that time, and this isn't a long time ago.
This is, you know, 1920 years ago for me. It's not a long time ago for some people. They're like, we're 18, 19 years old. We weren't even alive.
At that time, you didn't have the same, you know, connection to players that you do now. You didn't have the same video. You didn't have the same things where a lot of players, you know, you could be Joe Sakic acquiring someone like Aussie Vanen in a depth defenseman and you're like, I know nothing about this guy.
And that just doesn't happen anymore. Everybody that was in that locker room, that's an NHL lifer, that's a veteran of this league, when Lars Eller came in knew exactly what they were getting.
It's not the same as it was before.
Cool, cool. Well, yeah, a lot of scouting, a lot of homework done, homework that we could all be doing to learn how to make better bets, right?
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Eriff, let's look into that Ottawa game now. We talked about the Lars Eller goal. Good stuff.
Let's just talk at the game as a whole before we get into the Jonas Johansson save because it was, you know, another one of those, I guess, wild finishes for the Avalanche, right?
And I think it kind of had control early in the second period. It trickled away from him in the third, but it felt like it was a challenging win, right?
It was tough for them to get that win. Second night of a back-to-back, play in your third, fourth string goalie, however you want to look at it and still finding a way to get it done.
I think it was a special win. I know it was just Ottawa. Nothing too amazing to look at and they kind of controlled the game early, but that was almost a scheduled loss and they came out on top.
Yeah, I don't remember if I said it on this podcast, but I said it on the mile high sports AMA segment that I did last Wednesday when I was asked what my prediction for the road trip was.
And I said, I think the Avalanche are going to win three of four and...
Yeah, you tend to repeat yourself. So you said that here too.
I did. Okay. Yes. And when I did it on the AMA, I just forget where I say things.
When I did it on the AMA, Kim Becker had asked me, is the one lost Toronto? They're the strong team. And I said, no, the one lost is Ottawa because of the back-to-back, because of the goalie question of the first year.
I said, I said, no, the goal, the goal, the question of who's going to play? Who's the backup goalie? Who's going to go against the Ottawa Senators?
But as soon as the abs jumped out to that early two, they're nothing lead against the sense, I said two things to myself when I saw that.
I said, number one, this game is not going to be a route. It's still going to be a close one. Number two, this helps give the Avalanche the edge because you get those quick goals in like the way that the Red Wings play today.
If that was the Senators, I should say the way the Red Wings played in the first period today, if that was the Ottawa Senators, the Avalanche maybe don't win that game because it was the second of the back-to-back because it was with the O'Honsett and Net.
But they got a two to nothing cushion and basically said, at this point, it's like betting. All we have to do is win minus one and a half or not lose minus one and a half, not lose by more than two goals by two goals or more in regulation.
And we got this game and they didn't. They gave up four, but they scored three. So, you know, the rest of the way. So getting that early two to nothing lead really, really helped.
And that was always going to be, like you said, the scheduled loss, the toughest part of the road trip. The Avalanche, you know, for people that are wondering, this is only the first time since 2011 and the third time in team history that they win a road trip of four or more games and win out completely.
Like, you're not supposed to do what they just did.
That Ottawa game got a little chippy at times. And I feel like the Red Wings game did too. And, you know, kind of all the games in recent memory are starting to really amp up as far as chippiness.
How do you feel like the Avalanche are handling it, especially versus years past? You know, I always am going to look back to that Las Vegas, not Las Vegas.
The Vegas series a couple of years ago with the Ryan Reeves and Ryan Graves incident.
Just how it felt like the Avalanche kind of got bullied out of that series. I feel a little bit better about the way they handle the chippiness right now.
They're so smart about it. It's such a hard way to, it's such a hard thing to really gauge. Like, I love what Miko Rhetton said about it today. When asked about it, he said, or post game, when he was asked about it, he said that, you know, we're a team fighting to make the playoffs and fighting to be in the playoffs and have that playoff atmosphere.
He said teams like Detroit have players on their team fighting for their jobs. Basically what he's saying is, this part of the regular season, it's not the playoff teams that amp it up. It's everybody amps it up.
You know, this is why you're seeing teams like Anaheim and Arizona. They're suddenly going on these winning streaks, Philadelphia, Vancouver.
Like the teams at the bottom that should be losing as much as they can for Condor Baddard are starting to win a lot of games because it involves a lot of players fighting for their futures, fighting for another contract, fighting for their jobs for, for another time.
So, this part of the year, it's when it happens. I think, I just think the Avalanche are doing a much better job of balancing it, knowing when to jump in and when not to.
You know, we saw Miko Rhetton in the last several weeks. We've seen him go at the refs. We've seen him kind of get involved in rough stuff.
Today, there was many, many times where Jake Wollman, who was number 96 on the Red Wings after Rhetton and hit him early in the game, Miko explained it as he was rattled and wouldn't let it go.
It's ultimately what happened. Jake Wollman got pissed off and kept going at Miko and you saw Miko sometimes would kind of clap back.
Other times would just let it be like, fuck it, I'm not going to waste all my energy on this. I will sometimes, but I'm going to stay out of it.
You saw the same thing with Nachushkin. He's on the bench or going to the bench trying to go for a line change and Adam Ernie gives him a shove.
So, Val gives him a little shove back. Adam Ernie takes it to the next level. Val doesn't try to go overboard. He just defends himself.
Stops it in his tracks. The one penalty of that went to Adam Ernie. Val didn't get an offsetting minor. The avalanche went on the power play.
So, they're just being very smart about the way they handle those.
Yeah, and just playing with a chip on their shoulder, right? I mean, I know Miko Ranton feels like he's up against every opponent and the refs in each game, but I think it's doing a good thing for his style of play right now, as long as he's keeping his head
and not getting in the refs face too much and not saying anything he shouldn't, he scored that goal today and had a very kind of frick celebration to it and gave Evan Rodriguez some knuckles for the great pass.
I think he even told him great pass trying to read his lips on altitude, which brings me to the other point. I'm really starting to love Nathan McKinnon, Miko Ranton, and Evan Rodriguez together out there.
Evan Rodriguez is just such a smart player that he just knows how to find two guys who know how to bury that box.
And he plays such a distinct and unique style of play where it works. Like, you know, we just played the Toronto Maple Leafs. We saw them play the Avalanche several days ago.
Their top line is Mitch Marner, Austin Matthews, big name, big name, and Michael Bunting, because it fits. It works. That guy just fits in.
It's the same reason why, you know, Pascal Dupuy used to fit with Sydney Crosby. They play such a distinct style of game where it works with the stars like that.
Rodriguez can pitch, can find you and set you up for shots. If there's no shots to be had or no setups to be had, Rodriguez will shoot it on goal.
And, you know, Miko and Nate are both balls. They're going to go toward the crease and they're going to fight for that rebound.
So he just fits so well with those guys. And I love that they have that combination because it gives JT Comfor the ability, even without gay, bland, ascog healthy, it gives JT Comfor the ability to have two excellent top line wingers in Valna, Tushkin and Arturia, liking it.
So it really balances it in that way. Miko and Nate are the superstars. They can have the guy who's more of a French second, third liner give JT Comfor the two great wingers because he probably needs a little more than Nate does.
Quite the little point streak for Miko as well. I just was thinking, man, he scored a goal in each of the last four games, but I feel like it goes even further back.
He's got a point in each of the last seven. So we were talking about Kayla McCar's eight game point streak. Miko Ranton is on a seven.
He's I wonder what so what's Nathan McKinnon. You have that on top of your mind.
Miko, McKinnon, I want to say is 11 games now. I could be wrong. We'll take a look at that here in just a second. But yeah, I mean Nathan McKinnon, he was scoring pretty much every night. He went two games without a goal, but he still had points in both those games.
He has had a point in every single game since the loss to Dallas. So that's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. And before the Dallas game, he was on a one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.
So he went nine games, bad game in Dallas and now eight games since. So he's crushing it. Dallas stars. They got him again on April 1st. You know they're going to want a better game then.
Two games since the new year has he gone pointless to two games. That's unbelievable.
Let's get to the safe, right? What a lot of people are already deeming perhaps the three of the year. Three games. Yeah, sorry, go ahead.
Just trying to get it on the fly there. Sorry. Yeah, Jonas Johansson safe. I mean, it was it was a great save, great timely save. I would say I wouldn't say it was too beautiful stylistically.
But hey, it got the job done and literally won the game for the so I was going to make a comment about that. But I would rather ask you because you're the goalie guy and you played goalie and you grew up playing that position.
The way that I see it and I want you to tell me if I'm wrong or not, the way that I see it is, you know, there's been a lot of chatter of like, Oh, Johansson made a sick save because he was out of position.
But I kind of see it as like his momentum carried him out of position when he had to make that initial save. So I don't see it because like oftentimes in the NHL, a beautiful save is because a goalie was so out of position that he had to kind of like make up for that.
I didn't see it as that. I saw Johansson make a really nice save and kind of slide to the left of the crease. And then when that rebound and chance was happening, he pushed off so unbelievably well to get there.
Where like, I want to give him credit for the save. Is that the way you see or did you see it as a guy was out of position?
You know me, I like to pick things apart and you rain on everybody's goalie parade. I think he was fine in position and what made the save great was his ability to get across the net.
He got a little bit lucky with the shooter's placement of the puck, right? I think the shooter kind of put it a little bit more to the middle than he could have towards the poster up in the air.
So he got his leg there. Yeah, he got his leg there. He got his leg there. But had it been placed better, I think he would have definitely gotten beat. And what really, I guess, irked me about the whole thing was he lost the puck after that, right?
He was suddenly on his back, almost all Darcy Kemper just looking for wherever it went. His defense there were there to cover him, but he lost it.
So had there been somebody there for rebound, it was an easy goal. And I think your second, your third sequence saves, say a lot about who you are as a goalie. A lot of people can stand there and make the first one.
And again, I'm not taking away. It was a great slide. Great way to follow the puck. Just could have been done a lot prettier and maybe a lot more square in terms of technique.
Yeah, well, you know what, in the end, it worked. Exactly. And that's my point. It made the save. It won the game. So we don't need to sit here and they can. I just don't think it's the save of the year.
Yeah, we've seen how tough it can get when the Avalanche have to play their backup goalie without Frankie there. We've seen it over the last several months.
What we saw there was a goalie that did enough to get you the win. And that's what you want. And it came down to the wire because while he was trying to do enough, the Avalanche did kind of get outplayed in that third period.
How to five to two lead that turned into five to four. They needed their goalie to make a big save. And if you remember, it was a two man advantage because it was a four on three power play with the goalie poll. So five on three for Ottawa.
So, you know, I'm giving him the credit for the circumstances of the moment. But that is a good point that you made. I remember when I was writing about it, I said that he made this glorious save with four seconds left.
And then I went on a watch to replay and I realized that he made the save with seven seconds left. But there was still a scramble for several seconds, two and a half to three and a half seconds in the crease before the puck and the play were blown dead.
And he had no idea where it was. Yeah, neither did the ref and that's why he blew it dead.
Cool. Well, I guess last thing I wanted to get to for today's episode was just another look at the standings. You know, last podcast we did just a couple of days ago.
I sat here and said, I feel like the avalanche are probably going to lock up that third spot. Well, now with Dallas sliding.
And if the avalanche take care of their next game, which they have in hand, they now are the leaders of the central division. So, of course, they're currently in second.
Dallas has lost their last two games and four of their last seven. So they're not playing the best hockey. Very doable for the avalanche here to take the central.
Yeah, I mean, one thing that you have to do that you do have to remember is the Dallas stars play the Calgary Flames tonight. Hockey Night in Canada and Calgary.
So if the stars win, the standings will be similar. I mean, Minnesota will be different, but the avalanche star standings will be similar to what it was entering the day where the abs have two games in hand with the three points back in Dallas is three points ahead and has a better points percentage.
But if the avalanche or sorry, if Dallas loses, whether in regulation or overtime, the avalanche will have the best points percentage and an opportunity on Monday to pass them into standings with a victory over the black box.
So tonight's game against the Calgary Flames, you know, if you're ever pushing for Calgary to get a friggin victory for once in their damn life, even if it's an overtime or the shootout, this is the game where you want it to happen for the avalanche's sake.
What I'm looking at is not just Dallas. I look at Vegas and I see a team that's four points ahead of the abs with the avalanche having a game in hand. Obviously Vegas has the tiebreakers.
We can all agree. Maybe that the avalanche are going to win that game in hand. You know, the next one against Chicago. And if that's the case, like, you're two points back of Vegas. You're one point back of Dallas, or sorry, you're ahead of Dallas, you know, before Dallas plays game number 70.
You're looking pretty good there because, you know, the Western Conference is very much up for grabs as much as the Central Division is. As long as you play the way the abs have been playing 25 and 3 in their last 28 games, there's a very big possibility.
You can not only get out of the 2-3 seed and in the Central and get the top seed in the Central, but there's a possibility you can get the top seed in the West.
Yeah, so teams to keep an eye on right now, I guess, as far as potential opponents for the avalanche are the wild, the Kraken and the Jets. A Kraken Avalanche playoff series would be so fun and a little sad for the Kraken.
Hey, welcome to the NHL playoffs. You have to face the Colorado Avalanche first round, but we saw this year, you know, the Kraken kind of made it tough for Colorado. So, yeah, it could be a better series than we anticipate, but I kind of am rooting for that one.
Yeah, I mean, whether it's Seattle, whether it's Winnipeg, I mean, there's also an alternate universe where Minnesota wins the division in Colorado, Dallas, or 2-3. Like, that's very much in play.
Minnesota's one point back of Dallas and tied with the Avalanche, with the Avalanche having a game in hand. There's still a play, a position, or a possibility of Minnesota being won Colorado, Dallas, 2-3.
Not to mention, the Avalanche have a game with both Dallas and Minnesota still to go this year, as well as Winnipeg. So, yeah, still a lot of things can happen. A lot of chairs to be shuffled.
Both the wild game and the Stars game are on not consecutive nights, but consecutive games, both at ball arena.
It's going to be a fun one.
Those are going to be two really fun games.
Six home games to go. So, if you haven't caught a game in ball arena yet, you better hurry up because time's a ticking and then you got playoff prices to compete with.
So, yeah, heading down the stretch here. We're all almost there. Play-offs right around the corner about a month away.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Arizona. We're going to have JJ back. You know what I'm excited for? I'm excited for that Wednesday game.
It's a 6 p.m. Mountain Time Puck drop. We love those.
Yeah, we do.
Here at Hockey Mountain High, we love those games that start before 7.
We love early starts. We love them. So, yeah, paternity leave is over. So, I'll be back in the building. Excited to be there.
Yeah, it'll be a challenge, but it'll be, I guess, fun to be back.
That being said, I think we're wrapping up the show with, I think at this point, we have to give him co-host title with how often we use soundbites from him.
Alexander Georgiev to take us out in his comments after the win in Detroit.
Yep, we'll get Georgiev here to end the show once again. It's been a great road trip. It's been a lot of fun.
Can't wait for Monday at Vol arena. Can't wait to be back. Can't wait to see it all in person again.
Alright, well thanks for hanging out with us today. If you made it this far in the process, of course you've left.
That's pretty little part of yours. Let's go packing for everyone. We got you.
♪♪♪
What's your story, Jay?
What are you guys doing?
It's a great trip.
Umm, I'm scoring a lot of goals.
That's all I've done.
Trying to play the right way and knowing that every game is important for us.
Maybe opponents, not all of them are at the top of the standings, but they're also fighting for their jobs.
We have to play sharp and get those wins.
Yeah, what tonight you saw a bit more in terms of shot?
How big was that first period for you to manage and keep the puck out and keep the game tight going in the mission?
Yeah, big start, you know. It might be a little bit of work maybe after the day off in an early game.
Guys, I don't have too much time to skate and get the argument.
So, a couple of good news here. We managed to score a big win as well.
From that moment on, we started building the game and spent so much more time in the offense.
I have played my part.
I've got to ask you about last game, you know, Hanson made that save right at the end.
Just hope it's your view of that and what did you think of the play for me?
Yeah, huge, huge save.
It was almost time to manage to make a big split save.
That's what you need. Awesome for him to get that together win.
How do you kind of just stop the goalie partnerships you've had and whether it's a frank year,
or just the kind of relationships you've felt with the goal.
Yeah, really easy to talk to guys and get along and find a couple of things.
Great goal is and great people. So it's been a lot of fun working with them.
What do you think is working for you guys on the road this season? Up to 22 wins now.
Don't forget to say, I guess we got to spend maybe more time together.
And build a comradery. That's why maybe that's a secret.
I don't know. I don't follow the road to work for home game records.
For us, it's every game is important right now.
Do you check the standings often or do you like to have some separation from it?
When you win, you try to check.
When you lose a game, you don't really want to get in there.
But you sort of know where everybody is at.
Try to have a fine right now.
You've been checking it a lot lately.
Yeah, lately. A couple of times.
It's fun to see how the teams are doing.
You guys have won five in a row each month this year.
Do you feel like this team is like clicking and prime for another role?
Yeah, definitely. One thing is working with confidence and find ways to win no matter what.
So we have to bring that to longer runs as well than five.
Thank you.
You're up.