Dater: Observations From Game 4

Wild on brink

Michael McCarron embarrassed himself twice last night. Once, for embellishing the now-infamous “butt end” from Josh Manson, acting like he’d just been shot from a little love tap from the Manimal.

Second, for going on national TV and calling Manson a “dirty player” and that “he’s always been that way” in a between-periods interview with P.K. Subban of ESPN. Oh, and I forgot a third: saying “I’m happy he’s staying in the game.”

That’s my overall takeaway from last night’s 5-2 Avs victory over the Wild in Game 4, which gives them a 3-1 series lead. Namely, that the Wild are a whiny, mouthy, overrated team, best exemplified by a guy like McCarron.

When they’re not crying to the refs over every single little thing, they are diving and play-acting all over the place. Remember how Matt Boldy went down like he’d just been taken a Marvin Hagler left to the head, in Game 1, from another love tap from Parker Kelly? Even the refs didn’t fall for that bit. No penalty called.

I would have given Manson a two-minute minor for roughing, sure, but the way the whole thing unfolded, it was as if we were awaiting sentence on Ted Bundy or something. It’s playoff hockey. Shit like that happens, and real hockey players and fans and GMs don’t immediately run to the rulebook and start nitpicking every little thing.

McCarron laid a big hit on Manson, into the boards. Fine, good. He landed on top of Manson. OK, that’s fair too. But then McCarron started trying to pile-drive Manson into the ice, pushing, shoving, throwing little mini-punches himself.

So, don’t expect to not get anything back when you’re pile-driving a guy and won’t let him up. Manson was doing what he had to, to get the guy off him. That included a little jab with his stick. Yeah, that’s a penalty. But it got blown way out of proportion by McCarron’s acting job, his embellishment.

Tree-hugger media types, who mostly hate that hockey can get a little down and dirty once in a while, were aghast at how incredibly shocking the little butt-end was. Oh, think of the children!

This is an example of what’s taken some of the joy I always used to have covering this sport. Every rough hit, every little thing grown, strong men competing for a Stanley Cup will do to each other once in a while, immediately gets jumped by the “Twitter Court”, where men and women “covering” the sport, most of whom never have played a second of actual hockey in their lives, start clutching their pearls and decry such dastardly, offensive behavior. Oh, the humanity!

Anyway, Avs win, will close out the Wild soon enough and here are some other observations from last night:

• Score one for Jared Bednar. He knew he’d face a cavalcade of criticism if MacKenzie Blackwood laid an egg, but other than that, what I thought, was a soft first goal, Blackie played a strong, solid game. He outplayed his competitor at the other end and deserves huge kudos for dusting off any rust, going into a hostile building against a still-desperate opponent and emerging victorious.

• So, does Blackie get the Game 5 start? Hmmm. I actually think this will be a 50/50 thing with Bednar. One can argue that Scott Wedgewood is more deserving of the start, because he had been the de facto No. 1 for a while now. Does one good game by his teammate automatically make him the new No. 1?

• While I suspect Blackie will get the call, I won’t at all be surprised if Wedgie is the one who actually starts.

• Avs pinned a -3 on Boldy last night. They’ve done a great job, so far, of making him a non-factor in this series. Boldy had zero points and one shot.

• Devon Toews a plus-3, another superb performance. He is such a smooth player.

• Brett Kulak continues to quietly put one solid game after another together.

• Avs outshot Wild 34-21. They kept them more than 19 minutes without a shot at one point.

• Nice to see Nazem Kadri bury that first goal for the Avs. He looked intense and fired up all night.

• I could barely hear the crowd last night watching on ESPN. Reports have said they are doing that on purpose, I guess, so the announcers can be heard better? If so, what a mistake that is. I want to hear the crowd in a big playoff game, not a play-by-play guy.

• I thought the second line, centered by Brock Nelson, was better than it’s been in a while.

• Although, Valeri Nichushkin keeps putting up goose eggs on the score sheet.

• The Columbus Blue Jackets just gave 34-year-old, former Av Charlie Coyle a six-year, big-money contract. Good for him, but….really????

• I said Avs in five before the series, and I’ll stick with that - even though the Avs have a long, dubious history of blowing Game 5s at home when leading in a series.

• I tweeted last night that I don’t think Quinn Hughes is a “great” player. Of course, every unemployed jabroni from Minny attacked me for it. I stand by it. A very, very good skater and offensive player? Yes. But I don’t think he’s a very good defensive player. Last I checked, you have to be excellent in both ends before you get to be called “great.”

• Stop being negative Dater!

• Hey, I worked the DaterJinx pretty hard last night, declaring the game lost after the first Wild goal and putting a bet on the Wild when it was a 2-2 game. That’s always a good jinx, because Lady Luck rarely smiles at me at the gambling table. My $50 lost is your gain! I do it for you, dear reader.