Sunday CHN Puck Links and Leftover Avs Thoughts from Saturday

Happy Sunday to all. 75 degrees and sunny in Denver today. And that’s the way it OUGHT to be this time of year. I’m hopping a plane for Vegas later today. There was supposed to be an Avs-Vegas game for Monday, but of course the DaterJinx pushed it to May 10. Ticket and Airbnb was already paid for, though, so I’m still going. I’ll just spend Monday reading my Bible in the room instead I guess, and be there for Wednesday’s game.

Some quick thoughts from Saturday’s loss in St. Louis:

• Um, don’t look now, but the Minnesota Damn Wild is just one point back of the Avs in the division. Yeah, the Avs have two games in hand still, but this is getting a little too close for comfort. Suddenly, Monday’s game in St. Louis is looking very big, not just in the fight to catch the Vegas Golden Knights – winners of eight straight – but stay ahead of the damn Wild.
• Liam O’Brien has done some good things for the Avs since being called up, truly. But let’s hope Logan O’Connor is ready to return for this club, because LOC would be a more suitable fourth-liner right now than Big Tuna. That offensive zone penalty he took in the third period yesterday really hurt the club.
• Avs are not practicing today. With Philipp Grubauer off the Covid list, we’ll see if he joins the team either in St. Louis or Vegas this week. Obviously, the Avs want to get him a practice or two before playing again. Maybe that could happen Tuesday in Vegas, we’ll see.
• Nathan MacKinnon is turning into the John Tortorella of NHL players when it comes to postgame interviews after a loss. His Zoom presser was all of two questions yesterday, and he had a one-word answer when asked if he and/or the team had given “much thought” to having to play four straight games in St. Louis: “No.”
• Nate just doesn’t take losing well, which I can respect. Hell, if I was a player, I’m sure I’d be one of the most sarcastic guys ever to the media.
• Can the Avs just ever kill off a 5-on-3? Just once? I mean, I’m sure I’m missing one that they actually have at some point this year maybe, but honestly I can’t recall the last time they actually did it. Sure, it’s a tough thing to do, but the Avs just NEVER do it, it seems.
• Nazem Kadri, no points in his last seven games, no goals in his last 15. It’s getting a bit serious suddenly. I have faith he’ll break out of it, but there’s no question but that the Avs need some points from him.
• The Avs were in the top-2 in PK percentage in the league not too long ago, but have dropped to ninth (82.4).
• I think Brandon Saad should go back to playing on the second line with Kadri, and that Jared Bednar should do away with putting Carl and Compher with him. It hasn’t worked in the two games they’ve skated together.
• Vegas goalie Robin Lehner is not happy with the NHL’s Covid policy, but Larry Brooks thinks Lehner is off-base (NY Post)
• The top 30 NHL unrestricted free agents for 2021 (Hockey News)
• Sportsnet: The NHL presented two schedule options to GMs last week. One is a return to conference playoffs. The other would keep the divisional playoffs. What do you think of the potential schedules?
• Patrice Bergeron is “day-to-day” with a lower-body injury for the Boston Bruins after taking a puck off his left foot. (Boston Hockey Now)
• Netflix recommendation: the new multi-episode series on the 1990 Gardner Museum heist in Boston, in which Rembrandts and Vermeer paintings were stolen – and still haven’t been recovered to this day. You’ll get hooked.
• Florida Panthers to increase seating capacity for playoffs. That’s right, I said “playoffs” and “Florida.” (Florida Hockey Now)