Avs-Flames Player Grades: Meltdown versus Calgary

The Avalanche came out absolutely flying in the first period, then they decided to call it a night and they had to lean on Semyon Varlamov just to stay in it. Grades from their 3-2 OT loss are below.

Tyson Barrie (C) – A pretty average night for Barrie. Nothing show-stopping on offense, but no real glaring errors in his own end.

Gabriel Bourque (D) – You love his hustle, but that’s pretty much where it ends for Bourque.

Matt Calvert (C) – You have to love the way this guy plays on the penalty kill. Very busy stick, always active on the perimeter.

Ian Cole (C+) –  Cole has been extremely reliable for the Avs in the early-going for Colorado, more of the same tonight.

J.T. Compher (A) – I have really liked JT here in the first five games. He gets the ‘A’ tonight for finally converting on a breakaway chance. The kid looks determined to be an impact player at this level.

Samuel Girard (C+) – I think this was Girard most pedestrian game so far this year. That being said, he still had a couple of plays where he used his skating to get the puck out of danger in a way nobody else can for Colorado.

Erik Johnson (D+) – I’ll be honest, I did not like EJ tonight. He looks like he is scrambling to me. Needs to get his game back under control.

Tyson Jost (D) – I have liked this line in all four of the previous games, but they just disappeared tonight. They got stuck in their own zone for way too long, way too much.

Vladislav Kamenev (C+) – I didn’t mind Kamenev tonight. Not a ton of minutes, again. But he was decent on the faceoff and generated some chances. Would like to see a little more consistent effort shift to shift.

Alexander Kerfoot (D) – Jared Bednar said after the game that his team got too fancy, I think Kerfoot was a big part of that. Tried to make everything “pretty”

Gabriel Landeskog (B) – I actually thought the top line was pretty good all night. They got stuck in their own zone a few times but were relatively dangerous all night in the offensive zone.

Nathan MacKinnon (B+) – Again, I liked this line tonight. MacKinnon gets the plus for breaking a franchise mark in the first 11 seconds of the game.

Patrik Nemeth (C-) – He gets a bump in grade since the PK was four for four and he’s a big part of that, but I just never really saw him.

Matt Nieto (D-) – Matt Nieto was really good for the Avs last year in his role. Haven’t seen that at all early on.

Mikko Rantanen (C+) – I liked his line, but he was definitely one of the players Jared Bednar was talking about when he referred to players trying to do too much.

Carl Soderberg (D) – Again, his line was pretty ineffective tonight.

Semyon Varlamov (A+) – Easily the best player on the ice. Without Varlamov, the Avs are run out of the building. He was great tonight.

Colin Wilson (C-) – He looks considerably better than last year, but it was far too much of nothing tonight. He’s going to be leaned on a lot this year for the Avs, can’t have nights like this.

Nikita Zadorov (B) – I liked Z tonight. I thought he was engaged and worked hard down low. Sam Bennett tried to take a run at him well after a whistle and he quickly let him know that doesn’t fly.