Just out of curiosity, any impressions of AJ Gale so far? I know he's not likely to ever end up with an Avs contract, but saw him a few times with the Cutthroats, and thought he might work on the Monsters. Do you know which line he's been playing with?
In a straight line, Gale might be the fastest skater on the team. He drew a penalty in the Thursday night game against Milwaukee a week ago where he was a step away from being in all alone. I believe he's playing with Matt McNeely and Harrison Reed. McNeely for sure.
Fast as hell, but man, does he get pushed off the puck easily.
Ha, I can't tell what to think on that. On one hand it looked like Sgarbossa kind of flew in there and coldcocked him. On the other hand there was a big hit right before that, and Liambas kind of saw him and should have known it was coming and protected himself better.
Can't tell if Liambas dropped his gloves or not, but especially if he did, I don't see anything wrong with that. He just got decked. No rules saying you have to square off for a fight.
Sgarbossa is suspended for Saturday's game.
There may have been some BS between Sgarbossa and Liambas on an earlier shift. There was a lot of that going on early in the game, so maybe that factored in.
Ironically, getting to see the replay, Liambas's attempted hit was in a similar spot to the one Beaupre connected on earlier in the game. Same place on the ice, too, right at the blue line. Sgarbossa saw Liambas coming and was able to avoid the brunt of it. The kid for Milwaukee didn't see Beaupre at all.
I can't wait until Sgar's on the Avs for realsies. Put him on the ice with Olver and Downie and we'd have the pestiest third line in the history of pests.
I can't wait until Sgar's on the Avs for realsies. Put him on the ice with Olver and Downie and we'd have the pestiest third line in the history of pests.
Yet have no one with size to protect them. If we still had manbearpig....
Taking a 1 game suspension for getting a small reputation of going crazy if you try to run him is probably not the worst investment for the future for a skill guy.
Taking a 1 game suspension for getting a small reputation of going crazy if you try to run him is probably not the worst investment for the future for a skill guy.
Just out of curiosity, any impressions of AJ Gale so far? I know he's not likely to ever end up with an Avs contract, but saw him a few times with the Cutthroats, and thought he might work on the Monsters. Do you know which line he's been playing with?
Yet have no one with size to protect them. If we still had manbearpig....
Downie-Sgarbossa-Stewart
Fair enough, but Downie can go with most players and we'd still have highlander or Bordy on the 4th line in case anyways taking liberties despite Downie and the Dmen.
Atrocious effort tonight. The puck pursuit was shameful. A lot of dump and very little chase. Monsters lost lots of offensive zone puck battles. Had about five or six shifts of sustained pressure and some good chances, probably two in each period. A lot of icing whistles. They got killed in the faceoff circle. No secondary help when the puck was actually carried in. A really bad effort in front of a pretty decent crowd.
As for some observations...
Major props to Gabriel Beaupre. Zack Stortini threw a slightly late hit on Gaunce following a faceoff in the defensive zone. Beaupre stalked Stortini into the neutral zone and fought him. He actually held his own too. Was also the most physical Monster in the defensive zone. One of the few who seemed to care tonight.
The other Monster who really came to play was van der Gulik. A yeoman-like effort from him. He was the only good forward tonight. Tried to lead by example but nobody followed.
Markus Lauridsen continues to show great instincts.
Calvin Pickard played well, but his rebound control was not as good as it has been in recent games I've seen. He made two outstanding saves after it was already 2-0. One with the glove on Stortini after a rebound and one on a two on one. Guy shot it into his chest, but his positioning was spot on. The first goal was a screen shot that I believe was tipped in front. Either way, it was a bit of a knuckler on the way to the net. The second one was an easy rebound finish with no Monster watching the back post. Neither one was his fault.
Gotta ***** about Chynoweth here. The dump and chase very obviously wasn't working. The Bulldogs defensemen were starting their pivot before the puck was even dumped. Yet the Monsters never made an adjustment. Guys like Thomas and VDG picked up on it in the third and started carrying it in, but for the most part, it was dump, somewhat chase, one pass, and out of the zone. The shot totals are a little exaggerated thanks to the powerplays, especially the last one, which became a 6 on 4.
Agozzino was on a line with Sutherby and Geoff Walker. Why? With Sgarbossa out, you've gotta generate offense from somewhere. Agozzino should have been with VDG and Thomas.
Some credit here definitely belongs to Tokarski. The Monsters had a couple of good shifts after killing a Stollery penalty in the first minute of the game. Most of the chances went wide, but Tokarski was excellent down on the ice in the butterfly.
Luke Walker looks like he's handling a grenade when the puck is on his stick. It's kind of painful to watch. He looks lost.
Sad effort. Tomorrow's definitely a game they need since Rochester has four games in hand and is only two points back.
i think we might have a gem in Markus Lauridsen good speed shot don't look like hes to out of position. what do you guys think about him i'd love if he could be a top 4 and hes a lefty?
i think we might have a gem in Markus Lauridsen good speed shot don't look like hes to out of position. what do you guys think about him i'd love if he could be a top 4 and hes a lefty?
I don't think he will ever really be a top 4, but he has NHL talent if given another year or two to develop.
Oh i hope ur wrong looks pretty damn good but i mostly seen him on larger rinks so that may be whyy
Breaking the top 4 on the Avs just might be a real difficult thing to do in a few years. As it is looking like there will be one open spot when Hejda's contract ends and that is on the top pairing (Lauridsen doesn't have that sort of talent).
____-EJ
Seimens-Barrie
I agree that Lauridsen looks pretty good though. He has enough talent to make it as a bottom pairing guy in the NHL. He will compete with Beaupre for a few years to get that spot.
