Avs-Penguins Grades - Sweeping the Champs

DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche dominated the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the final two periods and came away with a huge 4-2 victory at home.

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

Sven Andrighetto (A) – Hell of a game from Ghetto, who was flying all over the ice tonight.  Picked up two assists, and very nearly had a goal of his own early in the game, but was robbed by Murray.  The goals aren’t coming but he’s playing very well.

Mark Barberio (B+) – The scratch appears to have done wonders for his game.  He still ices it a bit too much but played very well tonight, including a nice breakaway pass to Compher in the second.

Tyson Barrie (A+) – Stepping up in EJ’s absence, Barrie had 11 shot attempts total tonight, and two of them went in the net.  Even 11 seems low because he was launching it towards the net every chance he could get.  Rest those wrists tonight, Tyson.

Blake Comeau (C+) – Only MacKinnon played more for the Avs forwards than Comeau, but he was defending a lot more than Nate.  That line took it on the chin, mainly against Malkin, but at least they got a goal in their favor tonight.

J.T. Compher (A) – Of all the chances he had, it was a baseball swing out of mid-air that ends up going in for him.  He was a pest all night long, drawing a penalty while shorthanded and that line has some chemistry going.

Samuel Girard (B) – I really liked Girard’s game tonight, particularly him using his feet to get the puck out a few times.  He even had the confidence to spin away from Crosby’s forecheck multiple times in the first and lead a breakout.

Tyson Jost (D+) – If there was one low mark for the Avs, it was the 4th line, which looked disjointed and a mess defensively.  Jost got outmuscled quite a bit on the boards, leading to extended time in their own end.  Kudos to him drawing two penalties though.

Alexander Kerfoot (D) – The emergence of the Compher line puts the Avs in a weird spot with Kerfoot because he’s now in a weird position on the 4th line with a few guys who haven’t found their roles yet.  He looked rusty tonight, which isn’t surprising.

Gabriel Landeskog (A-) – Landy might have been the quietest player on that line but he was very solid and made a great play on the boards late that led to the empty netter.

Anton Lindholm (D) – Lindy stuck out like a sore thumb on a defense that played really well.  He doesn’t do anything spectacularly and got pounded in terms of possession tonight.

Nathan MacKinnon (A) – MacK got the best of his good friend Mr. Crosby again, and was clearly the better player as they matched up head to head quite a bit.  MacK was on the ice against Crosby for 9 minutes at even strength and destroyed him, controlling 85% of the shot attempts in their matchup.

Patrik Nemeth (B) – I didn’t like Nemeth’s game much the first two periods, as he was doing a lot of defending and pretty much only that, with the puck rarely leaving the Avs zone.  I thought he was great in the third period, and that pairing spent more time in the offensive zone.

Matt Nieto (C) – Nieto made a nice play to gain the zone and give it to the guy who had the most room, which was Tyson Barrie, on the opening goal of the game.

Mikko Rantanen (A) – Mikko led the Avs forwards with 5 shots on goal, which is something he doesn’t do often, so it’s great to see.  He made a nice power move to the net in the second only to be robbed by Murray.

Carl Soderberg (C-) – Soda looked better tonight, but he does some weird things out there.  His shots on goal don’t seem very dangerous, and yet, when he does have a good look in a good spot, he tends to pass them up, like he did in the second period.

Semyon Varlamov (B+) – I have no idea what the heck happened on the first goal, and he nearly let another trickler in later in the game, but he made some fantastic saves, and his quickness knocked the puck off the goal line late in the game when the Penguins were pushing.

Colin Wilson (A) – Wilson looks like a new man out there.  He was flying all over the ice, and I think that probably was his best game in an Avs jersey.

Nail Yakupov (D) – Yak was more or less invisible on the ice, and didn’t create much of a spark.  He did get some PP time, but I don’t recall him touching the puck much.

Nikita Zadorov (A) – The advanced numbers would show that Z didn’t just have a good game, but a dominant one.  He spent most of his night matched up against Crosby and Malkin and only was on the ice for 5 shot attempts against.  At the same time, he was out there for 21 attempts towards the Penguins net.  That still wasn’t good enough for any of his teammates to give him a stick after he broke his in the third and begged for one.

The Avalanche hit the road to take on the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.  The game starts at 8:30 PM MST.