Avs-Kings Grades: Yikes

The Colorado Avalanche got blown out at home by the Los Angeles Kings in a 7-1 embarrassment. Below are player grades!

Sven Andrighetto (F) – He was a mess tonight. Falling down all over the place and losing the puck at every turn. Just a mess. He was pretty indicative of the Avalanche as a whole tonight.

Tyson Barrie (F) – It’s a shame he didn’t get an assist on Kopitar’s fourth goal because he made a great pass to him to set up the rush.

Jonathan Bernier (C+) – I hate grading goalies who are relieving the other guy because it’s such a rhythm-based job and they don’t have any. Bernier looked a touch rusty but I guess we’ll think of this as a tune-up

Gabriel Bourque (C) – …I didn’t really notice Bourque tonight except for the time Girard hit him in the back with a puck that he was trying to dump into the offensive zone.

Blake Comeau (C-) – I…really didn’t have a huge problem with his game tonight. It’s possible I could have just missed something in the sea of misery that was this game.

J.T. Compher (F) – Not a great night for JTC. He is badly struggling to hold up in anything resembling a defensive role.

Samuel Girard (D+) – He moved the puck out of his own zone pretty well. It’s what happens after he gets to center ice that becomes a problem but he’ll get there.

Erik Johnson (F) – He was pretty high-event tonight and that’s not what you want from your top defenseman in a game like this. He was on the ice for three of LA’s goals and got lost on the Rieder breakaway. Bad news bears.

Tyson Jost (F) – This line got waxed when it mattered. Jost isn’t ready to carry his own line and the young guy combination hasn’t done anything.

Vladislav Kamenev (D) – For all the fanfare about him sliding into the lineup, he sure hasn’t shown much on NHL ice yet. Still a young guy finding his legs and all the standards caveats apply but these are game grades and he simply didn’t play very well.

Alexander Kerfoot (F) – One step forward, two steps back. Discouraging, disappointing, disheartening. Pick one. Pick all of them.

Gabriel Landeskog (C+) – Awesome assist kicking the puck over to Rantanen. This line really kept doing its thing tonight despite the lopsided score.

Nathan MacKinnon (C+) – Stayed dangerous and was scary with the puck throughout. His post on the first shift of the second period would have changed the game had it been a goal. Cruel game.

Patrik Nemeth (F) – What. Are. You. Doing. With. The. Puck.

Matt Nieto (F) – He was awful tonight. Just awful. He regularly lost possession of the puck and wasn’t competitive on puck battles. This was true of a lot of Avs tonight.

Mikko Rantanen (C) – Cool goal.

Duncan Siemens (D) – I’ve said previously that it doesn’t really matter if it’s Siemens, Warsofsky, Alt, or Lindholm in the lineup. They’re all the same basic guy in terms of overall talent and tonight proved that nicely.

Semyon Varlamov (F) – After a fantastic month, it all came crashing down tonight for Varly. I don’t think he played as poorly as five goals against suggests but it doesn’t really matter. Five goals is five goals. 

Colin Wilson (D-) – Made absolutely no difference again tonight. For a guy whose reputation is built on being a power forward, he was bathroom tissue soft tonight. Dater is making me acknowledge his shots on goal, which is a fair point.

Nikita Zadorov (F+) – The ‘F’ is for ‘fiasco’ after the night this guy had. I’m still trying to figure out what he was doing on the first Los Angeles goal as his turnover was just…what in the world? He only gets the plus because he registered a ridiculous 15 hits (!!!!).