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Hello there, welcome in to Hockey Mountain High,
your go-to avalanche podcast presented by
Superbook Sports JJ Dres here,
Air of Dean, checking in from Toronto.
I can see the skyline of downtown Toronto
right behind you in your hotel,
window, air of, and you know after a game like that,
two to one, overtime win in Toronto,
we have to come and break it down a little bit for you.
So, air of, from Toronto, how you doing?
How was the experience?
And yeah, tell us a little bit about your night.
Experience was good, the night was good.
The game was just a defensive battle,
but it was fun, the arena didn't have the kind of energy
you hope out of a game between Colorado and Toronto,
but the actual on ice product was a lot of fun.
Toronto's been great, I am going straight from here
to Detroit, like we talked about the other day,
the avalanche are on their way to Ottawa,
they're probably landing there right now,
it's 11 p.m. Eastern time, they play there Thursday
and then they'll meet me in Detroit for that game Saturday,
but tonight was a fun one, it was a grinded out type of victory,
and it was exactly the type of game that you want to play
when you come on the road and play one of the most skill teams
in the NHL.
Yeah, let's get into the defensive aspect
that you just brought up, I mean tonight was very much
about Georgia, in my opinion, you know,
he made some big saves there down the stretch of the game
and then of course stole the show in the shootout,
but it was very much a defensive style game
from both sides here, right?
Last podcast you and I talked about how games
are starting to pick up their intensity,
they're starting to feel a little bit more playoff-esque
and you know, not exactly from a physical standpoint,
but from that defensive, shut it down,
not really allow too many dangerous chances,
both sides really brought, I think, an A game
from the defensive side.
100%, I mean, the avalanche,
the way that they've been playing defensively,
these last three games has been just textbook.
Textbook is the best way to explain it.
The Toronto Maple Leafs also had their fair share
of defensive abilities, you know, tonight playing the game
that they played, but you want to look at it
from Colorado's standpoint, like what Toronto did
was impressive, but couldn't get that last goal.
The one in overtime or the one in the shootout to win it,
what Colorado, it was even more impressive
because it's the second game of a road trip.
You're coming to Toronto where last year
when you came here, you got whipped by the Maple Leafs,
eight goals on Jonas Johansson,
obviously not Giorgiaver Kemper.
Asterisk.
Yes, big, big asterisk.
You're playing a very strong team in the Toronto Maple Leafs
who's coming off of a loss to the Buffalo Sabre,
so they're hungry, they're one of the deepest teams
in the NHL, they've got a lot of talent
and you came into their barn and yes,
they held you to just 24 shots in regular,
25 shots in regulation and 29 overall,
but you held them to 18.
You did an exceptional job,
you surrendered the first goal
and didn't let the game get away from you
after that Morgan Riley goal
and it was textbook defensive hockey
on the second game of a road trip
where in the first game,
you lost one of your best defensive forwards
in Arturi Lekanin and the type of guy that,
when you play these types of games,
he's usually the one you are recognizing and noticing.
So without him against Toronto, 18 shots,
it's an incredible game from the F's.
Yeah, I don't know, you want to jump into an Arturi
Lekanin conversation real quick
and then we'll keep this defensive train rolling?
Yeah, let's do that, let's go to Arturi.
Okay, yeah, so obviously left the game in Montreal
after scoring a goal,
getting a standing ovation, breaks a finger.
So, you know, obviously detrimental,
do you think he makes it back in time,
healthy, ready to go and play off?
It reminds me a lot of the Nazemcadri injury almost
from last year, right?
I mean, it was a top hand, right?
Was Naz as a top hand or was his bottom hand?
I think Naz was a bottom hand.
I'm trying to remember which one is more important
because that's what it was for Naz.
And Naz was also a thumb, so a thumb injury
is a little bit more, you know,
it's a little bit tougher to recover from,
but the best way to explain what Lekanin has
is not to compare to Nazemcadri,
it's to compare to the guy in Toronto,
that's also not playing tonight.
Rhino Riley, Rhino Riley broke his finger.
I wanna say about a week and a half ago now,
maybe two weeks, if I remember correctly.
And Toronto said, I think,
right around a four or five week timeline.
So, Jared Bedner has been throwing out
the number four to six weeks.
He hasn't been saying that that's Lekanin's timeline.
He's been saying that that's what it usually takes
to get back from this type of an injury.
So, Lekanin, if I understand it correctly,
he flew with the team on Monday from Montreal to Toronto,
and then in Toronto on Tuesday,
he flew out to Denver,
Galchunnyuk flew in to replace him obviously,
and was expected to get surgery.
So, Lekanin may have had the procedure done today,
may have had the procedure done, you know,
today as in Wednesdays when we're recording this,
maybe Wednesday morning, Wednesday afternoon,
or he may have the procedure scheduled for some time
on Thursday, where we'll get a more clear timeline.
The regular season, I believe, ends in a month from today,
30 days.
So, that gives him ample opportunity to return to the lineup
for the playoffs right around the four and a half
to five week mark.
Maybe miss a game one, but I would suspect that he's gonna be,
and you know, the good thing about a broken finger,
is he can still train, he can still skate.
There's a lot of things he can do,
he can remain up to speed.
It seems like the type of thing where he's gonna be
ready to rock and roll,
game one of the Stanley Cup playoffs,
I don't think he'll play another regular season game,
just because of the fact that the Avalanche
end with a back to back, had it been, you know,
that Nashville game didn't exist,
the one that was rescheduled, where they had a day off,
maybe he jumps in for game 82,
but it wouldn't make a lot of sense to play at ball arena,
throw a lek in and on a plane,
fly to Nashville and play him there.
So, I think he'll be ready to go for the playoffs,
if anything, maybe he misses like one game.
Right, hopefully closer to four weeks than six,
but yeah, it's kind of that time, right?
No need to rush him.
A lot like they did last year heading to the playoffs,
even if a guy was a little bit injured,
really kind of give him that extra time
to just get ready for the playoffs,
because you know they're in it.
So, obviously a guy they're gonna miss,
but once playoff time comes,
he's gonna turn back into playoff, lek it in,
and we know that's a better version
than he's been playing already this season,
he's been playing great this season.
So, excited to see what he brings to the table
for playoff time.
Yeah, absolutely.
20 goals, 29, it says 49 points,
and I believe 62 games.
All career highs for him.
Did you happen to catch how he broke his finger,
which has not been confirmed,
but how it looks like he broke his finger
in that much of a game? I did, I can't get it.
It was the second goal that he scored,
the power play goal, he had his stick up
and he was in front of the net,
and the puck deflected off of his glove and went in,
and that looks like the play
that may have broken his finger, the goal,
the 20th goal of the season,
because if you remember the first goal
that the Avalanche scored,
it was originally given to Logan O'Connor,
and then it was later changed to Arturio Leckenin.
So nobody really knew that he had that goal.
When he scored the goal, the one that allegedly
or potentially broke his finger,
like you said, the crowd cheered for him.
Now, the reason why the crowd cheered for him
was really cool.
If you remember Arturio Leckenin,
before he was scoring big goals for the Avalanche,
sending him to the Stionica final,
and then eventually winning the Stionica with a goal,
he scored the game winning goal
in overtime against the Vegas Golden Knights
to lift them out of the,
out of the,
I don't even wanna call it the Western Conference final,
out of the Conference finals,
into the Stionica final,
but he played that entire series
and scored big goals without a crowd at Bell Center.
And then I don't think he scored in the Stionica final
against Tampa Bay.
So they never got to cheer for his goal.
It was as if they were making up for that lost time to be like,
hey, let's cheer for this guy.
We're not going anywhere, whatever,
let's just root for him.
So they were kind of remembering that.
So it was a really cool moment.
20th goal of the season, first time he's done that,
100th goal of his career in Montreal,
and the road, the away team fans,
well, the home team fans when he's on the road,
cheering for him.
And it all is on a goal that potentially broke his finger
and ends his regular season,
just a very strange turn of events for Arturi.
But I'm not too concerned about this one,
especially given the way the Avalanche played today.
I'm not too concerned about this one.
I think, I think this injury is gonna be,
you know, not a okay,
but is not the worst thing in the world.
It's frustrating for a player to injure something like that,
or the rest of your body feels game ready,
but also, you know, it could be a little period
for some much needed rest for him, right?
And I bet you, you know, with that,
he'll come play off time in tip top shape,
because he's gonna be able to skate,
he's gonna be able to continue to be on the ice,
getting in, you know, continuing his in game shape,
and even letting a few things heal along with that finger.
So I expect a better version of Arturi,
like, and then even he left off,
which was a pretty solid version, like I said.
But back to the defensive conversation,
I think shot suppression has really been their strength, right?
And if you look back to last year and even years of past,
I feel like that's been what this defensive group tends to do.
I think they maybe got away from it
a little bit early this season,
but it feels like the defensive unit is playing the way
they're designed to play.
And I don't know if that's just simply
with the addition of Bow and Byrom,
and him getting comfortable,
getting back into the swing of things.
But I love the way, I mean, we all love the way
the defensive group is looking right now.
You know, absolutely, they look great.
And, you know, there's something to be said
about how much better this defense will get
when they're healthy.
And you know what, I'm not even gonna do the thing,
like, like Mika Renton and said today
when he was asked just real quick about the injuries
and losing luck and in and recovering from that.
He said, we're used to it.
Like, this is just what we do.
We lose guys, we play, we win games.
18, five and three in their last handful
of 20-something games.
Since long as they don't lose him.
Yeah, exactly, yes, thank you.
18, five and three since the sky was falling
in game number 40 in that regulation
loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
So the Avalanche are looking pretty dang good right now.
But who, hold up, the Blackhawks just beat the Boston Bruins
last night, mind you.
The Boston Bruins just don't care anymore.
They lost to the Red Wings and then the Blackhawks,
they're like, is it playoff time yet?
But yeah, like back then, it still mattered
a little bit more for teams like that.
And the Avalanche, that was a tough game back then.
That was also the last game Darren Helm played
because he came in for five games and the sky was falling.
Then they came out, defeated the Ottawa Senators seven,
nothing, 18, five and three since.
So the way Mico put it was like, we're used to it.
This is just what we do.
And so when you're talking about the defense,
what I was going to say was when I say when they're healthy,
I'm not even going to be greedy and say when all six
of their top six guys are healthy.
I'm just talking about their horses.
Their caves, their macar, their barum, their manson,
their Gerard.
We've talked about this many, many times.
They have five guys that can play in a top four role.
And then they have a clear cut number six in Eric Johnson.
I don't care if the number six guys, Eric Johnson.
I don't care if it's Jack Johnson.
I don't even care if it's Brad Hunt, who by the way,
love that dude.
He's such a fun guy, aside from him being a player.
If the Avalanche have their top five guys healthy,
they're going to look way better than they already do.
And I don't think we talk enough about what Josh Manson means
to this team.
You and I do, and we do it often.
But I want to use the Toronto Maple Leafs as an example.
And I'm going to do this because it's time we start to learn
a little bit about them because there is a chance they are
in the Stanley Cup final, this year,
whether it's against the Avalanche or not, this team is good.
They're locked and loaded and ready to go for a long run.
The Maple Leafs early in the season lost Jake Muzzin
to a back injury.
And it was one of those unfortunate injuries
where it just kind of seems like his career might be over.
And he was the only guy on that team that does what he does,
that plays the type of game that he plays.
So at the trade deadline, they had to address it and they did.
They brought in Jake McCabe, another Jake from the Chicago
Blackhawks to play that type of role.
Jake McCabe is the only guy on the Maple Leafs that plays
that physical edge top four type of role sound defensively
can pitch in offensively, but is that physical force
on the blue line that you can rely on to play big minutes.
Josh Manson is that to the Avalanche.
When you're missing a bow by Rum, it's not easy,
but Sam Gerard, Devontaves and Kell McCarck can pull the weight
and make up for it.
When you're missing a Kell McCarck,
the other three can pull.
Devontaves the other three.
Gerard the other three.
When you're missing Josh Manson, nobody can do what he does.
That's why the abs went out and traded for Jack Johnson
because they could rely on him at least more
than they could on Andreas Englund,
but he still can't play the type of minutes
consistently and be effective in the way Josh Manson is.
So if or when, well, I shouldn't even say if,
when Josh Manson is healthy and if the Avalanche
have all five of these guys healthy,
as in nobody else gets hurt by the time Josh is back,
their defense is only gonna get better.
And I think, like I said last episode,
this is their bread and butter now,
playing this type of defensive style game
is what's gonna lead to winning playoff games this season
as compared to last year.
And what they're doing defensively right now
without Josh Manson, again, especially given the fact
that you're playing somebody like Toronto
who has the power that they do.
Yep, Avalanche are six and one in Josh Manson's last seven games.
So obviously a great piece to put in the lineup,
but the Avalanche have been playing so well,
obviously you missed Josh Manson,
but during games, honestly,
I haven't really been thinking about it.
I've never been like, oh man,
they really miss Josh Manson in this scenario.
So adding a piece like Josh Manson to a defense
that's already playing the way they are.
I mean, you're just, you know,
it's gravy on top of the mashed potatoes.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I just can't wait to see it.
We've said it before.
We'll say it again.
November 4th was the last time all five of those
the men played in the same game at the same time in Finland.
And they creamed the Columbus Blue Jackets that night.
So, or that day, whatever, in Finland.
So having him back is going to be huge
because the difference now compared to in October is Sam Gerard
has found his game.
Devon Taves had an inconsistent start to the season.
He's playing well,
Kaelma Carr's playing at the top of his game,
Bo Byron's playing at the top of his game.
Everybody looks great from the top four right now.
If you add Josh Manson to that mix
and he plays the type of game he did
if you remember his last return,
the game against Minnesota,
how effective he was in that game
and how noticeable he was.
If he comes back and plays that type of game,
while the other four guys are all playing how they're playing,
it's game over for the opposition, like the Avalanche,
they're built on defense this year.
They have since the beginning,
they are not a middle of the pack,
but they're closer to a middle of the pack team offensively,
but defensively, safe percentage wise,
things like that.
Now, shot suppression these last three, four, five games.
If you include the LA and San Jose games,
they've surrendered 101 shots over five games.
That's 20 shots per game.
It's pretty damn good.
So they're looking really well on that front
and when they have Manson back,
it's assuming everybody else is healthy, it's game over.
I really feel like Bo and Byron,
he makes his impact felt for sure,
but he still needs to clean up some things here and there.
So once he's full swing and getting into playoff mode,
he's gonna have a whole nother level to him too,
but he just throws a different element into the game
just the way he plays his aggressive style.
And he just is something for the opponent to watch always.
Yeah, and right now you have Bo and Byron playing
with Sam Gerard.
When you have Bo playing with Josh,
a player that's more capable of covering for him,
not that Gerard doesn't a good two-way defense,
but he does have good defensive abilities too,
but Gerard also likes to jump up in the play.
So does Josh, but not to that level.
So once he's playing with Manson,
it'll help him even more.
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Eric, let's get to Alexander Gorgiv.
Gets his 30th win of the season.
And as I mentioned at the top of the show,
really kind of grabbed the reins during the shootout
and said, you know, I got this, boys, just score one for me
and we'll be on our way to Ottawa with a victory.
So a couple big saves, not the most spectacular night,
but that made the saves necessary
and a couple big ones in the second and third period
that really kept Toronto at bay.
Toronto had 11 shots in the second and third period.
One of them was a two-on-one where Mitch Marner
set up, yeah, Kaly, Aaron Crock, you guys,
I'll remember that save.
And he was incredible and spectacular on that save.
Then there was another play off the rush
where William Neelander went to his backhand wide open,
shot it, and he made a pad kick save.
11 shots in two periods and he was sharp enough
to make two stops like that
and I'm probably missing some other ones.
He was incredible.
And when I asked him today about, you know,
how it is to stay sharp in games like that,
I mean, look, this is the same guy
that faced 19 shots in Montreal and four went past him
because he was just kind of sitting there
hanging around the avalanche or making it five nothing,
six one and, you know, four nothing, four one, five one,
six one, seven two, and then he'd like two of them
just get by him.
It's hard to stay sharp in games like that,
but tonight was different.
He was able to keep his, keep his composure
and really be ready for any opportunity.
And, you know, he kind of mentioned that
it is a little bit different because of that
when I asked him about a post game,
which by the way, you guys will listen to it after this.
I'll throw in a clip of Alexander Giyorgiev
after the game and after the victory.
And he kind of mentioned how it is a little bit different,
but all you have to do is just kind of stay composed,
stay in your, stay in your game and really just
kind of like the usual, just be ready for anything
that comes out when he was.
And he did a good job at it.
So, I think this is, there's, sorry to interrupt you,
but there's a big difference between, you know,
when you're not seeing shots
and when you're not seeing the puck down in your zone.
And Toronto still was able to get the puck down in your zone.
Alexander Giyorgiev can get set.
He can follow the puck across the crease
and follow it around the zone,
even if that no shot actually gets to the net, you know,
he might even face a shot attempt.
Well, it might not reach him.
It, he's still getting action, right?
He's still staying in the game.
So, I think against a team like Toronto, where, yeah,
you may not be seeing that many shots,
but you're still seeing action.
It's a lot different than say, you know,
San Jose, for example.
Yeah. You ever seen that picture?
I forget which goalie it is,
where they're sitting on top of their net
and they're just kind of like hanging out,
sitting on top and their pads are just kind of,
their legs are just hanging out the front of the net.
I forget which goalie it was.
It's a famous picture.
Maybe it was Tim Thomas, I don't remember.
Or actually it was Mark Andre Flurry, I'm pretty sure.
So that picture is what it was like to play the San Jose Sharks.
You're just kind of hanging out, just chilling.
The pucks in the other zone.
You're not really engaged.
You're not doing much with it.
That's what it looked like for most of the Montreal game
before the Avalanche took their foot off the pedal,
understandably so, up by four or five, six goals.
But against Toronto, like you said, it was different.
Just because the shots weren't coming at him,
it doesn't mean he wasn't engaged.
Every time Toronto's got a rush, he's locked in,
he's getting in that butterfly position,
he's tracking pucks, he's trying to see where things are.
And then his team makes an incredible defensive play,
he goes the other way, gets a second arrest, recharge, reset.
Here comes Toronto again, time to get back in.
So it was a little bit different from that point of view.
So he was locked in and engaged the entire way, I would say.
I mean, in overtime, did you see how many opportunities
Toronto had to score in overtime?
And how it looked like they had a couple of good chances?
Mm-hmm.
You want to know how many shots Toronto had in overtime?
How many?
Zero.
Bingo.
So that's just the, I mean, one of them hit the crossbar,
obviously, or the post or whatever.
But that's just an example.
No matter how many times Toronto had opportunities
in the offensive zone in overtime,
he didn't really face a shot.
But it doesn't mean he wasn't engaged and locked in.
He was ready to go and he was in the game.
So a little bit of a different feel for him.
But the Avalanche are doing that good job of when
the puck gets down to their end, they're making sure
that the other team, they're locking in on the other team.
They're doing Jared Beddner's favorite thing,
their commitment to checking as he says over and over and over
again.
They're doing a great job at that.
And when the other team does get a shot,
Georgiev is tracking pucks really well.
Like Morgan Riley, if you remember early in the game,
Riley had a shot, it hit the crossbar.
Then he came back from that circle.
He had the exact same shot and scored.
After that, every shot was a good,
Georgiev had a good look at every shot.
Even in the shootout, you know, he
made the very confident poke check on Mitch Marner,
where he was with him the entire way and then just
poked it, it looked easy.
Austin Matthews, same thing.
One of the best shots in the NHL came in, came in,
came in and just ran out of real estate because he was
right there and held him, same with William Kneelander.
He was so confident in tracking pucks,
where he never looked at a position.
Yeah, that Kneelander save was the one that did it for me.
I loved it the way he followed that across and didn't let
himself flop onto his side, just kept shuffling his knees
and stayed up and just put his glove right where he needed to.
But the save that really stood out to me was during a power
play, I think in the second period, you know,
the puck was in the corner, gets passed across and Georgiev
follows it immediately.
I don't even think he knew the shooter was there,
but he followed the puck, tracked it right across,
and a beautiful pad save made it look elementary.
And it's a way tougher save than he made it look.
And that's where I want to go with this is the penalty kill,
right?
On nights where the Avalanche are having a really strong penalty
kill, Alexander Georgiev has been one of the best
penalty killers.
I mean, when he brings it, he shuts that penalty kill down.
So I think that's going to be a huge asset moving forward,
just the way he can shut down a penalty kill and the confidence
he has and just that extra little weapon that you have on top
of an already pretty effective penalty kill unit.
Yeah, I mean, there was against the Montreal Canadiens,
I believe it was of Guinea Daddonov that scored on the power
play.
That ended a stretch of 17 straight kills for the abs on the PK.
And then they killed off three more today.
So with him back there and with them playing the way they are
on the PK, and now finally starting to score some power play
goals, they only had one today and it was kind of a gift.
But one is more than more than necessary to win again.
That's 20% on five opportunities that they had.
So with the PK playing the way they are and with the power play
starting to get a little bit of a charge here,
that's huge for the abs because now both your special teams
are kicking it and your goalie always has to be your best penalty
killer and he looks like it right now.
Other conversation I wanted to get to was just the simple
conversation of Mico Ranton and Nathan McKinnon,
one with a goal, one with an assist tonight.
Good to see them do it on the big stage in Toronto.
But I mean, those guys have been doing it every single night.
Those two, I mean, obviously not much else can be said about them.
We already know we've seen these games.
We've seen what they're producing,
but just amazing stuff coming out of both those guys and just
fun to watch and good for them.
And I like seeing just their overall demeanor.
They just both seem really happy and having a lot of fun doing it.
Do you know where Mico Ranton in ranks in goals?
I think he's tied for third right now with dry title.
That's correct.
44 goals tied with dry title.
The only two guys that had him.
Conor McDavid, David Posternach.
Dang, look at me go.
Look at that, rocking it.
Even with a month off, paternity leave, I'm still sharp.
You can't touch this.
In point production, because Nathan McKinnon,
you got to remember missed 11 games.
And I often wonder where he would be
had he not missed those 11 games.
But in point production, Nathan McKinnon has 1.49 points
per game.
He is third in the NHL.
So had it not been for him missing the 11 games,
he would be third in the NHL in total points.
You know who the two guys are ahead of him in points per game?
No.
I mean, take a guess.
Same too.
Mico Ranton, Posternach.
Conor McDavid and Leon dry title.
McDavid and dry title, one is at 129 points, obviously,
Conor.
And then Leon dry settles at 100 points.
They are the second set of teammates in NHL history,
only the second time ever that the first two players
in a single season to 100 points are teammates.
So McDavid's at 1.9 points per game.
Leon dry settle, 1.52.
So not even that much of a big stretch.
Or not mean that much of a big jump from McKinnon.
McKinnon 1.49.
He has been spectacular.
He is the only player.
This is a cool stat that I read today.
The only player in the NHL at a point per game pace
at even strength.
He's got 56 even strength points in 55 games.
He's the only guy.
So he's doing it on the power play like he did today.
He's doing it on the panel at even strength.
He's scoring goals.
He's setting up goals.
He's doing it all right now, just in time for the playoffs.
He's going to hit the net a little more, at least tonight
to run a good enough time hitting the net, didn't he?
He had a couple of those ones where he would come in
and then kind of turn around and do that no look backhander.
And it would just breeze by the net.
There was two that I could remember that he did that.
Yeah, a couple over the crossbar two
and typical Nathan McKinnon fashion,
just trying to go high glove, right?
Yeah.
Nathan McKinnon either scores or shoots high.
So I've been saying that for like eight years.
Yeah, it's a little shame.
He only ended up with two shots.
I know that one hurt you a little bit.
Yep, killed by Parlay.
But hey, he left to fight another day.
Still trying to make this 20, 23 of the year.
I beat Vegas, not off to a hot start.
But I'll get there.
Long, a lot of year left.
Alexia Altenek steps up, gets the call in.
I feel like this guy, kind of a roller coaster season for him,
I'm sure.
I think we had more expectations when we first
heard of the PTO at training camp.
And then of course got sent to the Eagles,
had to take some time off to injury,
then get sent to the Eagles.
And I guess I didn't expect it to be this long
until we saw him again.
I'm not sure he really made the biggest impact tonight.
Got a couple of shot on goals himself.
But was there anything that stood out to you watching the game
live from Alex Galchenya?
He had one shot.
He took two face offs.
He had five shifts.
Three minutes, 22 seconds out of 65.
So not a good look.
Yeah.
So this is a guy that clearly is, you know,
think back to the early parts of the season.
Think back to when the Avalanche had guys playing
the 9, 10, 11, and 12 forward roll
that Jared Bettner couldn't trust
and was playing them three, four minutes a night.
Galchenya reaches that mark.
Obviously, it's only one game.
Maybe he starts to build a little bit of trust
because Dennis Malgin used to be in that, you know,
in that category.
And now he's kind of built his way up to the second line,
player 11, 28, 11, 28 today against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
More out of desperation than anything,
not that he, you know, really earned his way up the lineup.
Well, he also has six goals in his last 14 games.
Sure, sure.
He's also providing depth scoring.
He's playing the same amount of minutes,
pretty much every night as someone like Matt Nieto
or even Alex Newhug.
Alex Newhug played only 8.45 today.
Obviously, you got to put your best foot forward
and play your best forwards on any given night.
Newhug clearly wasn't one today.
Matt Nieto was at 8.14, so he was right around there as well.
But basically, you know, the Avalanche had that issue
in the beginning of the season,
but then they added depth in Malgin.
They got Lars Ehler, they got Matt Nieto.
Obviously, Darren Helm is looking like he's in chin
closer to a return.
It looks like with the injuries to Landeskog
to Leckenin and to Helm,
it looks like once you go past the three,
once you go past the two forward injuries,
the Avalanche enter that territory of,
we can no longer trust this guy.
So in the playoffs, if they ever have three forwards,
deep of injury, and again,
this is assuming Landeskog's even healthy,
but if they ever have three forwards, deep of injury,
and that could include Landeskog,
then if they're healthy on defense,
I could see a scenario where they play six,
seven D and 11 forwards.
Instead of playing Galchenyuk for three minutes,
let Jack Johnson and Eric Johnson both dress
with the five horses on the blue line
and go seven D with the 11 forwards
because once you hit past two injuries,
you've officially run out of forwards.
That's what it says to me with Galchenyuk's ice time tonight.
Yeah, no, I agree, and even a couple other ones, right?
It's hit or miss,
it feels like for Jared Bednar
with a lot of his depth guys on who he could trust
and who he can't,
it doesn't seem like there's much consistency there
on any given night.
When it's a tough game like this,
when you got to play third minutes with guys
that you know are gonna go in there and make an impact,
sometimes it feels like Jared Bednar's a little limited
on who he can use.
Yeah.
Well, right on, I guess looking ahead at tomorrow in Ottawa,
another five o'clock game,
and then Saturday against Detroit and 11 o'clock game.
So two early games,
already a pretty good start for the Avalanche on the road trip,
I guess what do you wanna see to ensure
that the road trip ends on a good note?
You know, I predicted going into the road trip,
you're gonna win three of four
with the one loss being in Ottawa
because of the back to back.
I still kind of feel that way, granted,
the sense have lost three games in a row,
they've lost a little bit of that luster that they had,
they got blown out by the Edmonton
or they're six to three in their last showing.
But I'm just really curious what Jared does
with the goaltending because there's two ways
you can go about this.
You can play the goalie on a back to back in Gui Orgiev
who has faced only 58 shots in three games,
57 shots in three games, not even 20 per.
You can play him on a back to back in Ottawa,
hope he locks it and gets a victory,
and then rest him from Thursday all the way to Monday
because you have that game in Detroit Saturday
where you can just throw your backup at the Red Wings,
who are not playing too well right now.
Or you don't play him in the back to back,
you play the backup, potentially lose,
put Gui Orgi back against the Red Wings,
play him then, send him to Colorado,
play him Monday at home as well.
So I'm really curious how they go about this.
The goaltending thing is unfortunate,
not having Frankie because with a healthy Frankie,
the lost to New Jersey probably doesn't happen,
there's a couple other games there
where you feel a little more confident in your goaltending,
and we might see some games here where they miss out on points
because they have to play Johansson or Anon or Kincaid.
So we'll see what happens.
I still think they win three or four
because of the goaltending scenario that's playing out,
but if Fransos was healthy
and you were giving him one of these games
and Georgie the other, they probably win all four,
and they still can,
it's just gonna be a little bit more tough
with the backup goalie.
Indeed, yeah, I mean,
it kind of, there's a balance you kind of have to play here,
kind of the same with the artillery like in this situation, right?
I mean, yes, you still wanna keep packing on wins
and keep climbing the standings if you can,
but at this point, you know you're in the playoffs.
Do you really wanna go with more risky plays
just to try to pick up two points here or there
when you're already kind of on a decent little road trip
winding down the season?
Yeah.
It's a tough line to walk, right?
I mean, which one would you play,
Georgie and the back-to-back or Detroit?
I think, do you value him not playing it back-to-back
or do you value rest from Thursday all the way to Monday?
That's kind of what I'm saying is,
I think I value the rest here, you know,
throw a concade at Ottawa if you lose, you lose, so what?
Go on, you'll hunt since on the road trip, not concade.
Oh, really? That's the route they went?
I guess paternity relief doesn't have me as sharp as I thought.
It's all right, I made this joke last game
and it wasn't even a joke, I was dead serious.
I've been so disconnected from the backup Goldie Carousel
that every time I show up to ball arena for a home game
because they had those four in a row before the road trip,
I don't even remember who was at Morning's Gate.
I look at the game sheet when I get it
or I look down at the bench and figure out is it
in and in Johansen or concade,
I kind of find out in that moment.
So it is what it is.
Cool.
Well, we'll be back Saturday post game,
you'll be in Detroit, so another live,
given us a little clout.
Congratulations to you also, by the way,
for joining the radio show you joined today on SportsNet.
I know that's a major accolade for you in your career,
so shout out era for that one.
Yeah, Nick Kiprios and Justin Bourne, thank you.
The Real Kipper and Bourne show,
it's five days a week, two hour radio show in Toronto here.
They obviously talk all hockey,
but it's very maple leaf centric because we are in Toronto.
The first, and you know obviously how many podcasts
and radio shows that listen to that are hockey related.
This is my first time appearing on a show
that I am subscribed to and is part of my daily,
slash weekly cadence of what I listened to.
So that was pretty cool, it was a lot of fun.
Did they call you a reef?
They actually had my name right, Nick Kiprios,
former any killer, look him up, I love Nick Kiprios.
He said he's a G, he won the Stanley Cup in 94
with the Rangers and he played for the Maple Leafs
among other teams.
I turned on their show about five minutes,
they have a live YouTube feed
and then they're live on the radio.
I turned on their live YouTube feed
about five minutes before I was scheduled to go on
and right before the commercial break, he said,
when we come back, we got air of Dean of Mile High Sports
and I was like, whoa, that was impressive.
He said it right, had it right from the first get.
I don't know if they did a little bit of digging
and found a podcast to hear me say my name
or if they just got it on the go, but it was great.
Did you plug this?
More important?
I sure did not.
Well, no, they plugged us, that's why I did it
because right when I jumped on Nick Kiprios
said it's air of Dean of Mile High Sports,
he's a host of the Hockey Mountain High Podcast
and then he went right into it.
So he did the plugging for me.
Right on, right on, I love it.
It's pretty crazy when you jump on a show that big,
as the show was going on, I was gaining followers
and I had two people tweet me during the show saying,
great insight on Kipri and board.
Like I've never had that before.
So it's just really great to see how big,
it's just really cool, not great,
but cool to see how big these shows are in Canada
and how many people are listening live,
not just later, like I usually do.
Yeah, especially down the stretch that ramps up
around the Colorado level inch too, right?
So strapping, here we go, it's go time.
One month left like Air have said.
So yeah, we'll see you guys on Saturday,
live from Detroit and live from my basement.
We'll be doing another podcast.
So thanks for hanging out with us.
If you made it this far on the podcast,
bless you, bring me a little heart.
Let's make hockey for everyone.
And we out you, enjoy Alexander Jorkey.
♪♪
That marner shot is such a pub check
that just what did you see him going?
What was kind of your soft process on that play?
Just trying to do vacation.
You want to go out there and kind of smell the sea heat.
He's short distance to me and give him nothing.
What can you say about the way this thing is playing
defensively? I think it's 58 total shots
into the past three games.
Just what's impressed you about that?
Yeah, it's really, really great defense.
It replaced so much when the defense was on them.
Definitely it helps a lot.
You know, and it keeps going like that.
It's, it works for us.
Yeah. Is it tough to stay sharp for games like this
where you face seven or eight shots in the last two periods
but you have to make big stops, one on Neil Ender,
the two on one on Young Crog?
Is it?
You know, it's a little different.
I want to say harder or anything.
I just try to be in the moment and whatever comes
if we get to play the part where I anticipate the place
that's the same as you go.
What can you say about the heater that needs someone?
Really?
I mean, he's a well-class player.
I'm not really following what kind of points
do you think he has or knows?
Nine.
Nine.
Yeah, he's a well-class player in the world.
I mean, he's definitely prepared.
What's your team's really come together
a second half of the season?
Even though you saw a lot of interest.
Yeah.
Just finding ways to win, like, thanks for talking.
I've been playing really good with it.
Like I said, I've been playing with myself.
So much time with all kinds of things.
I'm winning a little bit chances at all.
So I've got to keep it like that.
Thank you.