One: McMann Impresses, ‘Best Player’ Since Trade
As a disappointing end to the season winds down, one of the bright spots since the Winter Olympics break has been the goals production from trade acquisition Bobby McMann. The ex-Toronto winger has scored 10 goals in 17 games for the Kraken and is sitting on 29 for the year, going into Thursday.
During this final road trip, Seattle head coach Lane Lambert pointed out that there are many elements to McMann’s game that have impressed.
“He makes us a faster team,” said Lambert. “He's hard on pucks. He gets in on the forecheck. There are certain situations that Bobby gets to that we weren't getting to before the trade. in certain areas [on the ice]. In my opinion, he's been arguably our best player since he got here. I'll say it one more time, and this is for the last time. It's disappointing he couldn't play those first three games [after the trade due to visa processing]. We needed him. He's had a great finish here to the season.”
Two: Dunn’s Candor a Constant
From scoring the first-ever goal at Climate Pledge Arena to sitting in the Vegas visitors' locker room Wednesday night, Kraken D-man Vince Dunn has always been adroit at assessing his team’s wins and losses. His take on taking an early lead but then losing in Nevada is another example. It’s also a battle cry for securing a season-ending win in Denver on Thursday.
“I think it kind of leaked from the second period,” said Dunn when asked about the Vegas three-goal final period, but reaching back to the game slipping away when the Golden Knights scored before the second intermission to tie the game at 1-1. “I thought we were pretty competitive, making some plays and forechecking, then halfway through the second, it all fell apart. We're making things just way too hard on ourselves. We're over-complicating passes and not putting ourselves in good areas to succeed with the puck.
“I thought from this second half of the game, we were just chasing. We were playing the D-zone one far too much. That's not a good recipe to help a goalie out or to have good energy for us to go out and score goals.”
Three: Know the Foe: Colorado Wins Presidents' Trophy
The Avalanche are sitting on 117 standings points going into Thursday’s matchup. That’s good enough to win the NHL’s Presidents' Trophy for overall best record across 32 teams. Speaking of points, Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon has 127 points (53 goals, 74 assists) in 80 games, and Martin Necas (a Ron Francis pick as Carolina GM) rang up his 100th point of the season (38 G, 62 A) recently while Cale Makar looks practically ordinary (he’s not) with 20 goals and 58 assists. Since the Avs are readying for a first playoff round versus Los Angeles, don’t expect anywhere near a full lineup Thursday night. Brock Nelson, the long-time New York Islander now producing for the Avalanche, will celebrate his 1,000th NHL career game in a six-minute pre-game ceremony in Denver.
Projected Lineup (not official):
McMann - Beniers - Eberle
Catton - Stephenson - Tolvanen
Kakko - Wright - Nyman
Meyers - Gaudreau - Winterton
Dunn - Larsson
Mahura - Montour
Evans - Oleksiak
Kokko
