ANAHEIM, Calif. – It was a painful one tonight here at the Honda Center, no doubt about it. The agony of defeat in this one all right.
But, as Jared Bednar said: “A point’s a point.” But it should have been two points. Here’s a look at the Avs individually in this one:
Mikko Rantanen (D-) – Just a bad game for the Finn. Minus-3 on the sheet, turnovers, overpassing, lots of time he fell down on the ice, etc., etc. I thought he looked slow and tired as the game went along. I thought he competed hard, but the results were just really lacking.
Nathan MacKinnon (C) – Might be a bit generous here with this grade. His analytics certainly weren’t great – 17 Corsi events for, 28 against. He just never could get that extra step on anyone to really free himself for high-end chances. But he played hard and chipped in a power-play assist. He needs to find the back of the net if the Avs want to have any chance of beating L.A. tomorrow I think.
Gabe Landeskog (F) – Terrible, his worst game of the season I think. His silly back pass in the offensive zone led to Andrew Cogliano’s breakaway goal to tie it in the first. Then he misses a seeming sure-fire tip that would have won it in OT, and follows that up with a soft poke check that was basically the primary assist on Ondrej Kase’s game-winner.
Nikita Zadorov (C) – He was credited with five hits, but not much went his way otherwise. He seemed jittery with the puck a lot of the time, making blind clearouts that sometimes went for icings and helped exhaust himself and teammates. He took separate minors in the first period too. Not an awful night, but not a great one either.
Tyson Barrie (C-) – He played nearly 26 minutes, to lead the team, but it wasn’t a great night for him either. He got outworked by Andrew Cogliano on the tying goal of the game, by Ryan Kesler, and was too tentative for my taste with the puck on the power play. His Corsi numbers: 22 for, 31 against. That’s a lot against.
Alexander Kerfoot (B+) – A goal and assist for the rookie, though he lost 5-of-7 faceoffs and was guilty of a careless icing in the third period that further tired the team. His goal was a fluky one – he barely touched the puck on a faceoff that wound up in Anaheim’s net. But whatever, still a good night for the kid from Hah-vahd.
Tyson Jost (A-) – Two goals, including a beauty of a wrist shot past Ryan Miller in the third period that made it 3-1. That, unfortunately for the Avs, was their last great moment of the night. He outworked Kesler to score on rebound to give the Avs a 2-1 lead too.
J.T. Compher (D) – He lost 12-of-14 faceoffs. That’s a success rate of 14 percent. The Avs, as a team, won only 38 percent in the dots. He was quiet offensively too – no points, no shots. Avs need him to step up in these last three games.
Patrik Nemeth (D) – Sloppy and jittery with the puck much of the night and out of position a few times in his own end. He had 24 Corsi events against, 15 for. Not good.
Sam Girard (D) – One of his poorer games in a while. Nothing offensively, a minus-2. He did have a couple nifty spin-o-ramas, of course, but when will this produce any offense? He was beaten pretty bad down the wing by Kase on the game-winner too.
Carl Soderberg (C-) – Didn’t love his game tonight. He was late covering Adam Henrique on the backdoor goal that made it a 3-2 game, and he did next to nothing offensively. He was decent on the PK, though and won 44-percent of his faceoffs, which for this team was good tonight.
Sven Andrighetto (C-) – He failed to convert on a great chance later in the game, and played just 13:29. He did have three shots on net and skated hard, but he’s another forward who didn’t execute in the final analysis.
Blake Comeau (C) – I thought he over-handled the puck at times, trying to be too fancy. He’s not Wayne Gretzky, he’s Blake Comeau. Sometimes I think he forgets that. He went 0-for-4 on faceoffs, with no points. The analytics weren’t terrible though: 15 Corsi for, 17 against.
Mark Alt (B-) – I thought he was fine overall. He played 12 minutes of even hockey. His Corsi for-against was 11-10. He had a couple of nervous moments, but overall he’s been a nice fill-in of late.
David Warsofsky (C) – Some really shaky moments out there. Some bad passes, a couple icings, a couple turnovers. But he had three shots on net and skated with the puck into the Ducks’ zone a few times. This might be a generous grade, but he’s a No. 6 D-man right now. This is graded on a bit of a curve.
Gabriel Bourque (C) – Graded on a curve again here. Only played 7:24. Barely noticeable out there, but didn’t do anything to embarrass himself either.
Nail Yakupov (C) – Only played 8:06, and his offensive game has completely, 100-percent disappeared. This guy was a No. 1 pick in the NHL draft once. But was he terrible? No. Just…never mind.
Matt Nieto (C-) – Just didn’t get much accomplished out there offensively. He is a pretty good fundamental hockey player, sealing the wall on the forecheck, getting pucks deep, etc. But you need some scoring too, and he only had one shot in nearly 18 minutes of hockey.
Jonathan Bernier (B+) – I thought he was real good. Sure, that third goal he’d love to have back probably, but he made 38 saves. He’s gonna have to keep it up if this team is to play any hockey beyond Saturday.

0 Comments (7 conversations)
hockeyhacker5
I agree with those grades. I think the loss of Johnson was evident after the 3-1 lead. We needed him to eat some of those remaining minutes and keep the momentum, especially after that second goal. Disappointing loss when victory was so close. MacKinnon looks tired, and caught Rantanenitis, falling down when he passed it to Anaheim for the possession that led to the tying goal.
gasharp1
Bernier was not a B+ IMHO. He cheated and pulled of the short side post WAY too early on the OT goal. In general I agree that this team looks very tired and worn out. They’re hanging on…but I think they can pull it together to win 2 out of the last 3. Go AVS!!
daishi777
The defenseman takes the shot or the pass on a 2-1. Girard chose the shot. Bernier cheated because he knew he was responsible for the pass… Girard cant commit and let the shot get thru.
jpwheels
I think you nailed exactly what happened.
But both Girard and Bernier made mistakes on that play.
First, you’re right — Girard absolutely cannot let the guy get off a shot when he decides to take the puck carrier. But he let himself get beat.
Second, Bernier should not have cheated. His responsibility is to stop a shot. And the only guy that can shoot is the guy with the puck. He has to stay on the puck.
Those types of mistakes are why I think it’s almost always best for the defender to try to take away the pass and give the shooter to the goalie in 2-on-1 situations. It clarifies responsibilities — goalie gets immediate danger guy…defender tries to eliminate secondary danger guy.
daishi777
100%. I remember Roy going nuts if the D-man didnt leave him the shot. The easiest way to beat a goalie is to get him moving side-to-side. Girard will learn. 19yr old he makes far fewer mistakes than zadorov does with 3 + more years of XP. Just growing pains…
gtq
This faceoff problem that has been there all year is really taking its toll. I have been thrilled overall with the team’s improvement this year in most areas. However this is something that has to be targeted going into next year as a must improve area. I am not a Corsi expert, but if you don’t win faceoffs in either zone it can’t help your numbers.
Steve Cañon
The top line has been disappointing, as of late.
SparkleTindi
I would like it if you guys would go back to grading Bednar, too. The ice time you mention is up to him and it seems inexplicable at times from home. Jost was by far the best player in the second, but he and Kerfoot somehow didn’t earn more ice time? The Soderberg line wasn’t getting anything going offensively, so I would have given the Kerfoot line more time and maybe bumped Compher up earlier to see if they could spark something.
At the end of the night, it is up to whoever is on the ice to play the game to the end. This is really when it shows how young this team is because that’s how Anaheim wins games: they grind you down with rough stuff early and then take advantage of tired mistakes later. Really missing EJ right now, but they’ve won without him before and they can do it again.
Apollo
Good analysis.
Adrian Dater
AuthorI just feel uncomfortable grading coaches, because so much of what they do is behind the scenes. I can see what every player does on the ice. I can’t see what coaches do as much.
Rich
I had the opportunity to attend the game last night. The game was in hand through the first two periods. I could sense a bit of frustration by the Ducks. The two Ducks who appeared the most frustrated were Kesler and Getzlof. In the 3rd, I thought the Avs wore down to a more physical Ducks team. The Avs apeared to have no response and somewhat intimidated to by physicality allowing the Ducks to dominate play and subsequently win the game. The Avs have a great nucleus I just don’t see them making the playoffs this year. I certainly hope I am wrong. This off season they need to get physically stronger i.e., (Girard & Jost) and comeback back mentality stronger. It truly has been fun to watch this team development and place their stamp on the NHL. Go Avs!
Chris DeMott
AD, I think your instincts were correct when you indicated that MacKinnion’s grade may be generous. Although, Landy’s sloppy back pass ended up in the net, he actually had Mack next to him but a step behind. Mack also made a couple ugly passes, they just didn’t end up in the net. The dog was just that last night. I’m not sure when the Hart voting actually occurs, but in my oppinion this road trip and the last game against St. Louis should weigh heavily. There is no doubt that this team would not be where it is without Mack, but he has to do something in these critical games in my oppinion to be truly Hart worthy.