Avs Game 9 Grades - Not as Bad as it Seems

The Colorado Avalanche controlled the majority of the play at even strength, but big mistakes and an inability to finish cost them again, as they lost to the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0.

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

Tyson Barrie (C-) – I know some people would like to see this be an F, but Barrie is showing signs of improvement offensively, in terms of rushing the puck, and he had some good moments offensively tonight.  I don’t blame him at all on the second goal.  That’s the system Bednar wants to play in being aggressive.  He definitely got caught sleeping on the third goal after an abysmal turnover by Iginla.

Francois Beauchemin (C+) – Beauch got unlucky on his penalty call, as he recovered rather nicely to get the puck first, but also managed to trip the Hawks forward.  Where he made a mistake was just throwing the puck up the boards on the first goal and hoping for the best.  The Hawks scored just a few moments later.

Rene Bourque (C) – Bourque had one awesome shift in the second period, where his line did a lot of good things, but he has frustrating moments too, like in the 2nd period when he failed to dump the puck in deep, and the Hawks were able to transition easily.

Joe Colborne (F) – Colborne has gone missing since the opener, for the most part, and at times, looks like a guy just floating around the ice.  His worst moment tonight came when Brian Campbell, a significantly smaller man, knocked Colborne off the puck with relative ease behind the Hawks net.  That cannot happen.

Blake Comeau (C) – Tonight was a mix of the annoying and the good from Comeau.  Had some stupid turnovers, but also made a few nice plays on the PK and did some good things cycling the puck.

Matt Duchene (B) – He was great in the faceoff circle again, and had some chances again.  He’s been the only one scoring of late, so it’s hard to be tough on him, but that breakaway would have been a real game changer if he scored on it.

Mikhail Grigorenko (B) – That was probably Grigs best game since the opener.  He did some good things tonight, and did some tremendous work early in the game in terms of puck protection.  He needs to play more like that.

Jarome Iginla (F) – Double whammy for Iginla.  He managed to take yet another offensive zone penalty, and then he had a lazy turnover at the end of his shift that led to the Hawks 3rd goal.

Erik Johnson (C) – EJ’s minus was just evidence of how stupid that statistic is, as he happened to jump onto the ice in a bad situation because most of his team made a horrible line change.  The one thing I would say is that EJ had more trouble with the puck tonight than he has had most of the year.

Gabriel Landeskog (C+) – Landy was the quietest of the Avs stars, but he still wasn’t bad, by any means.  He was the one who hit Duchene for the breakaway in the 2nd.

Nathan MacKinnon (B) – I know a lot of people are down on MacK right now, but the Avs are dominating the puck with him on the ice this year, and it’s been even better since Rantanen came up.  The problem is they can’t buy a goal.  He was on the ice for 11 Avs scoring chances tonight.  The puck luck isn’t there right now.

Andreas Martinsen (C) – The move up to the 3rd line didn’t seem to last very long, as the lines got all shuffled again in the second period.  He managed to register 7 hits in just 8 minutes.

John Mitchell (C) – Mitchell had his worst game of the year, but that’s not saying much, because he’s been real good since returning and he really wasn’t bad tonight, just invisible.

Mikko Rantanen (A-) – How in the hell has this guy not registered a point yet?  He’s been dominant possession wise since his callup, and has created numerous chances.  He was on the ice for an absurd 12 scoring chances tonight.  Rantanen is a special hockey player with ridiculously high hockey IQ.

Carl Soderberg (C+) – That was Soderberg’s best game in a few weeks.  The worrisome thing for him is that his passing just looks off, and that’s strange considering he was the best playmaker on the team last year.

Fedor Tyutin (C) – Honestly, he would be rated much higher if he wasn’t destroyed by Marian Hossa on the second goal, because he really did have a good game beyond that.  That goal was just a terrible mistake by him, considering he had the angle.  You have to be aware of who you are out there against.

Semyon Varlamov (D) – He didn’t get much help on the goals after the first one, but the first goal was the biggest problem, and it came when the Avs were controlling the play handily.  He has to control that rebound.  The team is low on confidence around the net and any bad goal is going to hurt.

Patrick Wiercioch (C) – Like Tyutin, he really didn’t play that bad, but one glaring mistake hurt the team a lot, and he got owned by Toews in front of the net on the opening goal.  He’s never been a strong guy for how big he is, and it hurt him there.

Nikita Zadorov (C+) – He had to go head to head against Patrick Kane a lot tonight, and in 7 minutes of ES time against Kane and Toews, those guys, and their linemates, didn’t have a single shot on net.  He still has his moments of immaturity, but the talent is showing, and the last few games, he’s started to skate the puck a bit more, which means he’s getting confident and comfortable.

The Avalanche return home to face the red hot Minnesota Wild on Saturday.  The game starts at 1 PM MST.