The Avalanche found another way to lose a close game, this time taking a late penalty and giving up a goal on the penalty kill, losing to the Vancouver Canucks 3-2.

How did each player perform?  Let’s find out…

Tyson Barrie (C+) – Barrie was out of control awesome in the 3rd period, but was not good in the first two periods.  He was only on the ice for 3 shot attempts at even strength in the first two periods.  He finished being on the ice for 11, so that shows you what he did in the 3rd.

Francois Beauchemin (D) – A supposed leader on this team didn’t even try to get back defensively after giving it up in the offensive zone.  It led to a goal.  He then went on to play way too much.  Where’s the consistency in terms of how the coach is going to discipline players?

Rene Bourque (C) – Bourque had a decent game, where he didn’t stand out either way.  He did have a nice deflection chance on the power play in the 2nd period.

Joe Colborne (B) – I actually think that may have been Colborne’s best game since opening night.  He was actually using his body well, including throwing a few nice hits.

Blake Comeau (D) – Comeau had the chance to clear the puck about 10 seconds before the Canucks scored their 2nd goal.  With the penalty killers so tired, he has to get that out.

Matt Duchene (C) – Duchene was kind of invisible for most of the night, but when your leading goal scorer has a chance in front, all alone, to tie the game, he cannot drop the puck back to someone at a worse angle.  He needs to take that to the net, and the team needed him to do it too.

Cody Goloubef (F) – Given the way he played through the first two periods, it’s surprising he was even on the ice late in the game, and he managed to screw it all up by flipping the puck over the glass instead of taking a hit to make a play.  I doubt he plays next game.

Mikhail Grigorenko (D) – He made a poor read to leave the point man all alone on the Canucks second goal, and got burned for it.  I was hoping him playing center last game was a sign of things to come, but looks like it was one and done.

Jarome Iginla (C) – He started the game with Duchene and Rantanen, then got benched on a shift for McLeod, and then was on the ice as the extra attacker.  Very confusing.

Gabriel Landeskog (B-) – Some nice hard work on Barrie’s goal to recover the puck and get it back to the point.  He was also pretty strong on the forecheck tonight and hit the crossbar early in the game.

Nathan MacKinnon (C+) – He was skating well early in the game, taking the puck wide and trying to put the puck on net, and got away from that a bit in the second period.  He’s shooting a decent amount on the PP as well.

Cody McLeod (B) – It’s a little sad that McLeod played well enough (and other players played bad enough) to get promoted to the second line for a shift in the second period.  He had a strong game on the forecheck.

John Mitchell (C+) – He threw a huge hit on the forecheck that forced Edler to launch the puck over the glass and take a penalty.  Unfortunately, I think he was just angry after whiffing on an puck when he had an empty net about 20 seconds earlier.  He doesn’t do it enough.

Calvin Pickard (C) – His rebound control was a little all over the place out there tonight, but he did make some nice saves to make up for it.  He got beat by a few more goals high glove, which seems to happen a decent amount.

Mikko Rantanen (A) – A few of Mikko’s goals this year have been snipes, including his goal tonight, but he just doesn’t want to shoot.  Maybe he’ll start doing that more.  He was the best forward on the team tonight.

Carl Soderberg (C-) – There were a few times late in the game where I was screaming for Soderberg to take the puck to the net, but he instead just stayed out wide.  He did have a real nice screen on Rantanen’s goal.

Patrick Wiercioch (B-) – He was probably their steadiest defenseman tonight from start to finish.  He wasn’t rewarded with a ton of ice time for it though.

Fedor Tyutin (F) – A really bad game for Tyutin, with missed passes all night long.  He somehow only managed to be on the ice for 3 Avs shot attempts all night.

Nikita Zadorov (C-) – It was nice to see him get a point on the power play, as he’s been pretty strong at the top of the #1 unit, but he was struggling a bit with the puck most of the night, a lot of times just fumbling it.  He and Wiercioch were the only positive possession defensemen on the team.

The Avalanche continue their road trip when they head to Calgary on Wednesday.  The game starts at 8 PM MST.