Girard earns praise in debut
The young defenseman earned praise from both his teammates and his coach.“I want to be part of the team and play. I’ll do everything possible to stick with the Avs,” said Samuel Girard to Eurolanche on Thursday morning. The young defenseman kept his promise and showed a lot of promise in his Avalanche debut, assisting on Alex Kerfoot’s second-period for his very first point for Colorado. The goal was all Girard, as the 19-year-old showed off his nimble feet and brilliant edgework, skating along the blue line to get Blake Comeau enough space to get into shooting position. His shot was then deflected by Kerfoot and ended up behind former Avs goalie Craig Anderson. Overall, the young rearguard logged a TOI of 21:55, the third-highest ice-time on the team. After the game, Nathan MacKinnon said that he saw Girard make plays only a handful of other NHLers could do. Captain Gabriel Landeskog went even as far as calling Girard the Avalanche’s best player of the night. “To be honest with you, I thought he was the best player on the ice. He was solid. It was a good start for him and I’m looking forward to playing with him,” said Landeskog during a post-game interview.
(Photo by Nils Petter Nilsson/Ombrello/Getty Images)
Coach Bednar also lauded the team’s newest defensive addition during his press conference after the game. “I thought he was outstanding to be honest with you. Just watching him play, he’s constantly moving his feet, he’s hard to hit. He’s got good skating ability. I thought his decision-making was great, despite the one that he turned over in the third [period]. He wanted to do the right thing there,” said Bednar. “He’s got a shot-first mentality, but I didn’t notice any problems defensively. It’s pretty impressive considering he just got here.” The former Nashville second-rounder played in just his sixth NHL game of his young career yesterday, making his performance even more impressive. With the assist, the Roberval native brings his point total on the season up to four (one goal and three assists). Girard’s performance showed that Avalanche fans have a lot to look forward to with him becoming a prominent fixture on the team’s blueline.
Michal Hezely, the author of this article, was given media accreditation for the entire NHL Global Series and is reporting directly from Stockholm, Sweden.
Michal Hezely, Slovakia, hezely@eurolanche.com
11/11/2017 - 13:00
