Offside by a Mile

First off, this is recorded on Tuesday, Feb. 18, so it is prior to Islanders’ game.

We recap the loss in OT against the Tampa Bay Lightning. What a crazy game it was. It was a super intense, and playoff-like atmosphere. There wasn’t much missing from this game when it comes to the events that transpired. Two goalie-interference calls against the Avs get us talking about the ruling.

McElhinney would get an Oscar from us on the second one.

The Avs must stop the bleeding.

#GoAvsGo

@offsidebyamile

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In this episode we break down the two losses in a row. The first was a loss against the Capitals; a game the Avalanche had under control, and were clearly winning. However, a bunch of bad penalties killed their momentum, and let the Caps back in the game. Both goaltenders played outstanding, and the Avs fell 3-2.

Then it was time for the big NHL Stadium Series matchup. To put it simply, this game was a complete dud. Again, the Avs seem to shoot themselves in the foot in a game that looked to be heading into overtime. The Kings scored a goal with just under a minute, and then secured the victory with an empty net goal. Toffoli ended up scoring all three goals for the Kings, giving him the first ever hat trick in an outdoor game. Kings win 3-1.

We wrap up the episode talking about the issues fans had with everything surrounding this outdoor game. It sounds like it was more of a headache than a good experience, which is a hard pill to swallow.

Depressing episode to say the least, not to mention that Grubauer and Calvert both left this game with lower-body injuries. Welcome back Colorado Ambulance.

#GoAvsGo

We start the episode off with our heartfelt prayers going out to Jay Bouwmeester after his scary incident last night in the Blues and Ducks game. No one ever wants to see a crazy health episode happen in a hockey game. That was a shocking and emotional moment, and everyone involved should feel proud of how they handled the situation.

Then, we get into the spicy 3-2 win over the Wild. It was a prototypical rivalry game, with lots of physicality and grinding battles. Francouz had a good showing in his first start since before the big break.

Then we get into the 3-0 win over the Sens. The Avs keep the streak alive when they finally come back into the Pepsi Centre after a while away from the home arena. Another good performance for the Avs overall, and Grubauer was perfect for his second shutout of the year. Unfortunately, Kadri had to leave the game, and is out for roughly 4-6 weeks.

We wrap up with a short look at the Caps in town on Thursday, and the big Stadium Series game on Saturday. Lot’s of good stuff coming up, and the Avs are hot! Five-straight victories.

#GoAvsGo

We recap the road wins against the Senators and the Blue Jackets. Both games were another good example of how the Avalanche needs to play in this back half of the season. The boys have strung together some better performances as of late.

The Sens game was another dominating outing, and a very similar outcome to the game before that, against the Sabres. It was complete dominance over two teams that are simply not as good as the Avs. That’s how it’s done.

The game against the Blue Jackets was an intense competition. The Jackets have settled into playing a hard defensive, collapsing Torts-style game. Their record since early December reiterates that. The Avs hit lots of posts, but were finally able to make good of some chances late in the game to take the win. Grubauer played well in both games.

Next up is Minnesota on Sunday night, and we’ll get to that game on next episode, because we didn’t have time to record post-game. Then we have the rematch against the Sens back at home to start our home stand.

#GoAvsGo

The offensive outburst, and the Avs newly forged second line fuelled the team to a 6-1 beat down over the Sabres.

We recap that game, and highlight the excellent play by the entire team. It’s definitely something that we needed out of the Avs, and that controlling performance is exactly what they needed on this road trip.

We have an #AcrosstheRink segment in this episode. This time we chat with Shane from @frozenbiscuit92, our @hockeypodnet Ottawa Senators affiliate podcast. The Avs play the Sens twice within a week (including Thursday night’s affair). It seemed fitting to check in with Shane on his thoughts this season.

#GoAvsGo

The Avalanche finally resumed their season after the long break.

The first game back was against the Flyers, in Philadelphia, to start the five-game road trip with lots of travel. It wasn’t the best effort, especially with some annoyingly common defensive blunders. The top line struggled, along with the Makar and Graves pairing. Overall, the Avs outplayed the Flyers for the majority of the outing, but the breakdowns and giveaways are a common villain when it comes to the Avs losing games. Also, they didn’t quite have the execution that we’re used to. Could have used some saves from Grubauer in the third, but the blame can’t only fall on his shoulders as he made some brilliant saves earlier to keep it tight.

Avs continue the trip against Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.

This is the last episode before the Avalanche return to game-action.

We start the episode off having a conversation about Ian Cole’s crazy summer regarding his hip surgeries and recovery. He went through hell, and we admire his dedication and commitment.

We take the bulk of this episode to review the roster and discuss how each player has played during the first “half” of the season. We grade their performances and give our thoughts on what they did well, and what, if anything, they can improve on. Overall, the team has performed well.

We wrap up with a short look ahead to the Flyers on Saturday. That game starts a five-game road trip for the Avs. We’ll see if the boys can keep the momentum they gathered before the break, and build off the three-game win-streak.

In this NHL All Star weekend episode, we discuss the skills competition and what we thought of it. The new event - the Shooting Stars – was an interesting addition to the competition, and we share what we thought of it. The actual ASG was actually a decently exciting showing, in our opinion.

We then get into some trade-deadline talk and skim over some of our thoughts as the date pulls within a month. We go over some of our targets for the Avalanche. We also get to chatting briefly about some Colorado Eagles, including T.J. Tynan making the AHL ASG, and catch up on some other prospects for the Avs.

Season gets ramped back up on Saturday when the Avs start their five-game road trip in Philadelphia – a team which has played great hockey lately.

The long break begins. The Avs close out the unofficial first half of the NHL season with a great five-game road trip in which they attained eight out of ten points, and no regulation losses.

We begin the episode with some general analysis of the standings in the Western Conference, and some other general thoughts around the league.

We then recap the 6-3 win over the Red Wings, and go in-depth with some overall thoughts of the play of some Avs, as of late, influenced by play in the most recent games.

The NHL Allstar Game and events are this weekend. Have a great time watching the spectacle, and cheer on Nathan MacKinnon as he represents Colorado.

In this episode: we breakdown the 4-0 Avalanche victory against the Sharks. It was a dominating outing for the Avs, and Grubauer got rewarded with his first shutout of the season, and he had a terrific performance.

Next, in the #AcrossTheRink segment, we catch up with Tom Franklin from the Bluenotes podcast, our THPN St. Louis affiliate, after the afternoon affair between the Blues and Avs. The good guys came out on top for the second time in-a-row against our divisional rivals, and ended up chasing Jordan Binnington in the process. We chat to Tom about that game and all things leading up to both the Blues and Avs extended breaks, including the NHL All Star Game taking place in St. Louis. Tom will be there with media.

We close the episode with a short preview of the Monday afternoon game against the Red Wings, the last game before the 11-day break.