Avs Game 77 Grades - Final Nail in the Coffin?

The Avalanche were outclassed early in the game, and several mistakes in the second period cost them on their way to a 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues, which may have been the final nail in the coffin for their playoff hopes.

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

Andrew Agozzino (C) – Not nearly as good a performance tonight, but his ice time was pretty limited as the game went on.  He’s done surprisingly well in the faceoff circle for someone who isn’t a center.

Tyson Barrie (B) – It seemed like the only way the Avs could get out of their zone in the first was if Barrie did it all.  The only goal was all Barrie, with a terrific move and feed to Grigorenko.  He spent a lot of time in his own end in the second period, but when he and EJ were together in the third, it was fun to watch.

Francois Beauchemin (B) – He’s really been solid next to Zadorov, giving him an outlet and talking to him.  That pairing didn’t give up much of anything defensively.  They only were out for 7 shot attempts against, and two of them were with the empty net by the Blues.

Chris Bigras (D) – He looked a bit more flustered tonight, as the Blues are a big, heavy team.  His turnover looked more like bad luck to me, as the puck rolled right as he went to pass it, but he could have probably been harder on the puck.

Mikkel Boedker (C+) – I think he’s disappeared a lot without MacKinnon, but he’s still racking up secondary assists.  He’s really soft defensively and it has hurt the team at times the last few games.

Blake Comeau (D) – You can’t expect great Comeau every night, especially if he’s in a first line role, which he’s clearly not fit for.  He didn’t do much of anything tonight.

Mikhail Grigorenko (C-) – Grigo scored on a gift from Barrie, and other than that, had a pretty quiet night.  Like most of the Avs centers, he got crushed in the faceoff circle.

Nick Holden (F) – What do you know?  Add more talent to the blueline, and the least talented guy gets exposed more.  Holden is terrible with the puck, as evidenced by two terrible icings in the first period, with little pressure on him.  The Blues managed to have 23 shot attempts at even strength in only 16 minutes of ice for Holden.  He was far and away the worst defenseman out there.

Jarome Iginla (F) – No shot attempts for Iggy, and more poor defensive play.  It’s hard to expect more from him at this point in his career, though.

Erik Johnson (B-) – EJ had a decent night for the team, and, along with Barrie, led the team with 4 shots on goal.  It’s sad when the teams offense has to come from their blueline, but that’s what has to happen with the Avs right now.

Gabriel Landeskog (D) – The Captain had a quiet night just one day after leading the team to a victory.  Teams really only have to focus on Landy with Duchene and MacKinnon out.

Andreas Martinsen (C-) – I think he was a little bit better tonight, and he was pretty good on the cycle, but if he wants to carve out a consistent role in the NHL, he really needs help defensively.

Shawn Matthias (C) – Matthias did some strong work on the only goal of the game, starting the breakout, but he was out of position on the Blues game winner, as he failed to get back into the Avs PK structure.

Cody McLeod (C) – McLeod does what he can in his limited ice time.  He tried to get the team going at the end of the second period by starting a little something in front of the Blues net.

John Mitchell (F) – Mitchell should have been benched after he took an offensive zone penalty (killing a great shift) that ultimately led to the game winner.  Instead, he got a bunch more ice time, despite his line not being very good.

Jack Skille (D) – Quiet night for Skille, which hasn’t been the case of late.  Honestly not sure I noticed him once.

Carl Soderberg (F) – Soderberg’s night got off to an awful start, shooting it into the crowd with no pressure on him, and the Blues scored right away.  He fumbled the puck all night and was not able to get it going.

Semyon Varlamov (C) – Deflection goal, 2 on 1, and a defensive zone turnover to one of the best shooters in the league.  Varly didn’t get a ton of help in the first two periods tonight.

Nikita Zadorov (B) – It’s nice to have a defenseman who makes the other team think twice about carrying it down his side.  Some more big hits for Z tonight, including one on Fabbri and another on Pietrangelo.  He was strong in his own end tonight, breaking up a lot of plays with his size and reach.  Not a whole lot happened for the Blues with Z and Beauchemin out there.

The Avs return home to face the best team in the league, the Washington Capitals, on Friday.  The game starts at 7 PM MST.