Avs notebook: Mikhail Maltsev sent back to Eagles

I speculated that Jared Bednar probably wasn’t too happy with the play of Mikhail Maltsev last night. It would seem there is some meat to those speculative bones, as Maltsev has been sent back to the Colorado Eagles.

Maltsev played only a little more than six minutes last night in Tampa, but was a minus-2, with a couple of bad turnovers that led to Lightning goals.

This was one of them:

Byram and Makar were going off for a line change, but the TO by Malts forced them to scramble back https://t.co/3ukNY6HUS4

— Adrian Dater (@adater) October 24, 2021

Maltsev got a lot of attention on social media for that between-the-legs goal he scored with the Eagles, but in three games with the Avs, he posted no points and a minus-3. No word yet on any new callup from the Eagles.

Also no word yet on the condition of Sam Girard, who was hurt on this hit by the Lightning’s Steven Stamkos toward the end of the game last night.

Looks like almost exact same hit Landeskog did on Dach to me. Replay doesn’t show Stamkos sucker punch on Girard when he was down and hurt after either https://t.co/6KdE9ytlIA

— Adrian Dater (@adater) October 24, 2021

Also, no word from NHL Department of Player Safety about any possible hearing.

Avs didn’t practice today, so information on Girard likely won’t come until tomorrow.

Some other impressions of Eagles players from being at the game the other night, not just Alex Newhook, who I wrote about:

I like the play around the net of Alex Beaucage. He has a good shot, has good size and just seems to have a knack as a natural goal-scorer. The issue, I see, is his footspeed. Has to keep working on his skating.

Justin Barron looked good. He scored a goal and was pretty smooth with the puck. I think he’ll be a regular with the Avs by next year at the latest.

Justus Annunen still has much more work to do. He allowed five goals in the loss to San Jose and was caught sliding around a bit too much on a couple of goals.

Dennis Gilbert took a beating in the game. He was hit hard a few times, finished a minus-3. He’s a tough guy though. He kept playing.

Newhook centered a line with Beaucage and Andreas Wingerli, and they were buzzin’ most of the night.

The building was sold out and very loud. They do a great job at the Eagles entertaining their fans.

I chatted some with Craig Billington after the game too. He’s the GM of the Eagles now, with his own office. Always been a class act. The Biller never ages, either. Still looks like a 20-something it seems.