Avs Game 42 Grades - Same Show, Different Night

The Colorado Avalanche blew a perfectly good lead in the third period, which is a tradition at home, and lost to the Chicago Blackhawks 6-4.

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

Tyson Barrie (A) – He enjoys playing against the Blackhawks, and he had another good night with 3 assists.  The offense is coming around for him.

Francois Beauchemin (B) – On a night when the other 4 defensemen had a few slip ups, his lack of them stood out in a good way.  The coaching staff gave him quite a bit of ice time too.

Rene Bourque (C) – It’s definitely getting to the point where the guy is just getting in the way a lot offensively.  My concern is that Bednar loves him so much that the team won’t deal him at the deadline.

Joe Colborne (D) – Bednar specifically called out all of the bottom 6 in his post game interview, and Colborne is a part of that.  No shots on goal in 8 minutes.

Blake Comeau (C) – Awesome goal, but then he completely got beat on the backcheck on the game winning goal.  This has happened to him a few times of late.

Matt Duchene (A) – Who knows if that’s the last time we see him score at the Pepsi Center, but if it was, his last goal was a thing of beauty.  We haven’t seen that move work for him yet this year.  He had a little more burst tonight.

Eric Gelinas (D) – Just when you think he’s having a pretty strong game, it all falls apart in a matter of minutes.  He got beat on the game tying goal and was floating around on the game winner.  He just can’t put a full game together.

Cody Goloubef (D) – From my seat in the crowd, it looked like the Seabrook goal went in off of him.  He was also nowhere to be found on the 3rd goal, as Zadorov was stuck defending two guys by himself in front.

Mikhail Grigorenko (D) – That 4th line was just stuck in their own end all first period, and he couldn’t stick with his guy very much.  Seabrook was his point man on the 2nd goal.

Jarome Iginla (F) – He was a -4 in only 8 minutes of ice time.  That’s not easy to do.  He also got benched for a good portion of the 3rd.  He failed to catch the pass and then was just wandering around on the third Hawks goal.

Gabriel Landeskog (A-) – That play on Nieto’s goal was a thing of beauty.  Knocking the puck out of mid air and feeding Nieto, that’s what he can bring to this team.

Nathan MacKinnon (A-) – The zone entry and pass to Comeau on his goal was perfect.  He struggled a bit to get going in the third, and looked to get banged up in one of his later shifts.

John Mitchell (F) – I don’t know how he got back into the lineup tonight, and I don’t know if it will last longer.  He lost his guy completely on the opening goal and was a mess the rest of the night.

Matt Nieto (B) – Nice to see him get on board with his first with the team.  It was a nice power move from a small guy.  He’s looked pretty good as the third wheel on the Duchene line.

Mikko Rantanen (F) – He really struggled with the puck tonight, and after his penalty in the second period, he took a long seat on the bench for about 10 minutes.

Carl Soderberg (D) – It’s starting to look more and more like the Avs are going to have to find a way to get out of this contract.  I don’t think he’s a bad player, but I think he’s a bad fit with Bednar.

Semyon Varlamov (F) – It’s hard to play confident, as a forward or especially a defenseman, when every mistake ends up in your net.  Varly needs to be better.

Fedor Tyutin (D) – He looked better for two periods, and then got exposed in the third period.

Nikita Zadorov (D-) – Tonight you saw the highs and lows of a talented young defenseman.  He whiffed on the puck early in the first just before the opener, and was on for two other Hawks goals, although he didn’t do a ton wrong.  Then you see the way he played Patrick Kane 1 on 1 in the second and you see how dominant he can be.

The Avalanche hit the road to Anaheim on Thursday to take on the Ducks.  The game starts at 8 PM MST.