Player grades from Colorado’s loss to the Calgary Flames.
Sven Andrighetto (D) – There hasn’t been anything with going on with this guy for a while now. Fourth line life is hard but he’s still seeing some time on the second PP unit and he’s just not getting anything done.
Tyson Barrie (C-) – You just can’t take penalties right now. The PP he quarterbacks produced zero goals again tonight. This just isn’t good enough when the team is struggling this much.
Matt Calvert (B) – There was some good PK work and a nice little play to Johnson for his assist. He was just fine tonight.
Ian Cole (B-) – A big jump forward from his problematic performance last night. Cole was much tighter in his gaps and didn’t get caught in no man’s land covering nobody in particular.
J.T. Compher (C+) – I just didn’t notice JTC too much tonight. There were moments for his linemates but I thought he was pretty close to passenger status tonight at even strength. Really good PK work though.
Sheldon Dries (C) – This is usually the grade I give to guys who I just don’t have a strong opinion on. Dries hasn’t done much of anything since his last recall but the lack of quality options for the 4C job likely provide him with ample job security for right now.
Samuel Girard (C-) – For a player who made his bones in junior as an offensive dynamo, his puck management sure can get wonky at times. I liked what he did defensively tonight but he just can’t continue to be a complete non-factor offensively. He needs to take a significant step forward in that aspect of his game.
Ryan Graves (B-) – I really didn’t have a problem with anything he did tonight. He was just fine again and his decision making continues to be what carries him. His physical abilities look a bit limited to me at the NHL level but his smarts are helping him be successful. I’m enjoying watching him play.
Erik Johnson (B+) – I loved a lot of what I saw from EJ tonight. He was moving his feet and activating offensively and that’s when he’s absolutely at his best. The goal he scored was good stuff and the Avalanche definitely need more of that from him.
Tyson Jost (C+) – The process definitely outpaced his results both tonight and last night. He was involved in some high-quality chances for the team but the lack of finish continues to be a concern.
Alexander Kerfoot (B-) – I really loved Kerfoot’s effort tonight. He was all over the place at times and I think he’s really starting to come into his own as the 2C.
Gabriel Landeskog (B) – It’s hard to ask for more from this top line but they needed just a little extra juice tonight. Of course, had they gotten some help maybe I feel differently.
Nathan MacKinnon (B) – Some flashes of greatness but not enough finish. The process was absolutely excellent though.
Patrik Nemeth (D+) – I liked some of his game but not nearly enough. He’s just so limited. When he’s the sixth D, it’s fine, but they’re using Graves as that guy right now so Nemeth slots up a bit and I just don’t like it. Bednar tends to shorten it down to heavy usage of his top four and that’s frustrating in different ways.
Matt Nieto (C) – He played, they tell me.
Logan O’Connor (C-) – There’s nothing happening with LOC on the ice right now. No good, no bad, just a lot of nothing. I’m not sure how this is an improvement over what A.J. Greer could be bringing.
Mikko Rantanen (B) – There were some moments from Mikko. His puck retrieval on Colorado’s first goal was perfection. The rest was a frustrating cavalcade of missed opportunities. Sneaky goal to make the final score a little closer. Just shoot, Mikko.
Carl Soderberg (C+) – I like when Carl puts his head down and plays hard. He’s a blast to watch when he’s going but with two offensively limited linemates it can be a struggle. Of course, it wasn’t his linemates fault he missed the net entirely on a golden scoring chance.
Semyon Varlamov (F) – Dude. Come on.
0 Comments (15 conversations)
Moli92
Trade Varly bring up Francouz. Might be an overreaction but I don’t care anymore
jbame
Not an overreaction at all Moli92. That’s exactly what needs to happen. Glad you finally ranked Nemeth worst skater on the team, he is indeed.
George in Limbo
Agreed on Varly. Just switch something up to get the goaltending, and consequently the team, moving again.
Nels
I’m not sure it’s possible to over-react about the goaltending crisis the Avs now find themselves in after the last two games. Hard to over-react about .700 performances from NHL starters. Time to trade them both and Ottawa’s first for someone that can actually stop a puck and stay healthy doing it. The last two games (and Fluery’s entire career in Vegas) have shown us why NOTHING is as important as goaltending. Coach Q and Hughes and Kakko ain’t going to save you when your goalies are putting up .700.
DP10
Did I spot MacKinnon exchanging some not so nice words with Bednar there at the final buzzer?
JamesW402
https://streamable.com/amp_player/wbtma?__twitter_impression=true
Yep
kirks007
Sure looked like it 🙁 Thought I saw a bottle slam as well and Gabe trying to calm him down (before MacKinnon fell backwards off the bench).
Part of me likes the passion. I don’t want the team to just start accept losing like they did in the 48 pt season.
On the other hand, the other part of me doesn’t like to see the discord on the bench. Anger and frustration are certainly part of the game, but I really hope they can turn them into something positive.
DP10
The bottom line is that the Avs keep getting themselves into these holes that they then have to climb out of. How many times have they come back from 2, even 3 goals down, scoring late in the game only to lose the game in the end. Surely, it would be great if every now and then they would get rewarded for one of their come backs. But in the long run, that’s just not a recipe for success.
ThePhotoGorilla
Not the first time, either. I tweeted about heated exchange between the 2 I believe in Nov or Dec. Also asked about it here. I saw it in practice on Monday as well. Beds passed a puck to Mac’s feet to start a pp exercise and Mac threw a hand out toward Beds in the manner of “WTF?”
KCRybek
Getting Hughes and kappo gonna be badass
Nels
YEAH! Of course it’s not really going to help with a .700 SV% in net.
JDC15
To many guys riding early season success. Girard and Barrie were not good, and you have a 4th line doing nothing but taking penalties, and dueling goalies whom seem to think the bench mark for save percentage is .700. Just awful
Avsfan24
Francouz should’ve had the last 3 starts and would’ve won all 3 with average goaltending.
ahinton54
A train wreck. Losing mentality has taken this team over, and no one’s gonna do anything about it? Very strong possibility that this team goes 0-5 on this roadie.
Nels
No. Bad goaltending has taken over this team. Did you watch the last two games FFS?
Goblynkyng
Neither goalie is playing as even an acceptable back up right now. Francouz may be the best one we have and he’s with the Eagles. Right now, you could put a sumo wrestler in net and he’d be better than what we have. Grubs can’t move side to side and Varly can’t stop a volley ball. The Avs would’ve won both of these last two games with even average goal tending. You could take the back up goalies from middle of the road teams and they would’ve won both these games. The only times the Avs aren’t getting scored on is when they don’t allow the other team to get a shot on net.
pixelrebirth
Man………. this sure does suck. How can two NHL caliber goalies be so bad, so often? Is this a goalie coaching issue? — common link? I don’t get it. I cannot remember the last time I saw two consistently awful goalies like this on this team.
Hockeyhead
The avs let the good start to the season get to their heads. Maybe they thought they had already won the cup. They get complacent and self satisfied with a small amount of success. Then the bottom falls out. Its a pattern. The kiss of death was when Landeskog agreed with Lauren Gardner after the win over Pittsburg back in Denver (I think it was that game) that they were the best line in the league. The hockey gods do not take kindly to that kind of stuff. Bednar should give Francouz a chance, it might light a fire under Varly and or Grubauer. Is it possible that the players have already tuned Bednar out? If Bednar can’t make some positive in season adjustments, maybe Coach Q could be the guy. A veteran coach with a winning record for once behind the Avalanche bench would be nice. Have we ever had a real veteran coach? I can’t think of one. I don’t think Kronke would pay for Coach Q though. It looks like a rough season from here on out if they do not get back to what was working in early November and or make other adjustments. A little more fire and hunger would help the cause too.
Cerveau
Agreed. On my end I often wonder if the Avs started doing poorly because the other teams made adjustments whereas ours has not.
So many goals against us seem to happen because the other teams outsmart us – i.e. we really need to work on defense.
I think the goalies do poorly because of huge holes in the defense.
Which also means the whole team needs to play defense, not just the defensemen.
HolidayHippie
This is a little bit doomsdayish. The Avs haven’t let the other team get 30 shots since Chicago on December 29th (last 5 games) and two teams haven’t even gotten over 20 shots.
This is not a team that is playing badly. This is a team that is getting shit goaltending and it’s losing them games. They thoroughly outplayed both Calgary and Winnipeg, while giving it only 37 shots in the two games combined, but their goaltending is having games like tonight where Varly faced 16 shots and gave up 4 goals. A .750 save percentage tonight and .700 last night just doesn’t cut it.
Wesley
Yeaaaa I don’t disagree completely but since Decemeber 1, the Avs goalies average a .865 Save % (and that’s not including the last two games).
So. It’s mostly been just horrifyingly bad goaltending.
Nels
What are you talking about “more fire and hunger”? Did you watch the last two games where they outshot the best two teams in the conference 2 to 1? Goalie SV% of .714 over those two games is why they lost. Duh. I mean, seriously?
Jose
Let’s face it. The D has not been good in front of the goalies either. It should help to get some injured D back-especially Varly. So frustrating for the team and the fans.
Jose
I mean Zodorov, not Varly. I need more coffee.
Definitely time to give him a start and see what he is in the NHL. Could be terrific, could be same as the other two but no way to know until they give him a shot.
Nels
What are you talking about “the D hasn’t been good”? What games were you watching? They gave up 15 shots to the Flames and 20 to the Jets! Probably about the two best teams in the league right now. Are you joking Jose? I wonder who the last teams to give up that low of shot totals to the Flames and Jets were? It probably hasn’t been done this season. Effing ridiculous comment.
HansBrix
Look, I think a breath needs to be taken… Just because you possess the puck more, does not excuse you from making big defensive mistakes. At the same time, playing a high tempo game – and possessing the puck on a consistent level – with defensemen that attack in the offensive zone, unfortunately generates opportunities for the opponent to counter (when you are unable to capitalize).
They are clearly exiting their zone better, transitioning through the neutral zone in a fluid manner and entering the offensive zone with more poise. On the defensive end: you want to minimize the high danger chances that your opponent can take advantage of (in our case, due to terribly missed assignments). THIS is how they lost these last 2 games, aside from awful goaltending and terrible luck. When you play without giving other teams these types of glaring opportunities, you can win, more often than not, when your goaltender has an off night. Now I’m certainly not excusing the goaltenders’ play. I understand the frustration with the goalies, as we’re used to seeing Varly stand on his head fairly regularly. But, this is sh!t that works itself out over time (statistically speaking on behalf of Varly, at least), and these are also things that can be addressed by watching video and realizing how these mistakes are made, at both ends of the ice.
Audioveins
hahaha, Varly Grade. Good Stuff AJ
Rich
I am utterly shocked with the number of Defensive Breakdowns and Key Turnovers during this losing streak which ultimately end up in the back of the net! If the Breakdowns and Turnovers along with the poor play in net don’t change this team has NO chance of making the playoffs this year.
The experiments with Dries and O’Connor on the 4th line is NOT working. Call-up Greer let him development along with his size he offers so much more to his game than the previous two, three or four call-ups.
Nemeth is absolutely kill the 3rd line D. His positioning on the ice and inability to clear the puck from the Offense Zone continues to be an issue. He was waived once it is definitely time to be waived a second time this time by the Avs.
Beetlezhuks
I think the goalie thing is overblown and it takes attention away from real problems. Cmon, what are the chances that two goalies with career SAA at or above 9.17 all of the sudden start playing like total crap at the same time. What makes you assume that you put another goalie in and things will be different? If I was Bednar, I would start looking at team D before anything else.
Nels
Wrong. Are you seriously talking about excusing these clowns (Varly and Grub) and blaming it on the team when they give up the first shot of the game and 3 or 4 out of the first 10 two nights in a row??? What games were you watching?
Nels
Dries took a penalty behind the Flames net, naughty, naughty, F- stuff. Greer needs to play ahead of anyone on the fourth line right now, and possibly Jost. We just don’t know because he’s never been given an opportunity. I really liked how Bednar had Landy-Sodo-JTC out there as a line together at one point. Wish we’d see something like that as our 2nd a bit more. And also try Greer as RW2 because we just don’t know.
Pucklehead
Coincidence that the losing streak has occurred when Big Z is out?