The Avalanche finished off a horrendous month of January with another loss, dropping one in Anaheim to the Ducks by a score of 5-1.
How did each player perform? Let’s find out…
Tyson Barrie (C) – Barrie was high event hockey, as per usual, and did some good things offensively, but he was pretty lost on the game winning goal, just kind of floating and covering no one.
Francois Beauchemin (D) – Rycroft may not like criticizing the guy, but I have no problem doing it. He iced the puck just prior to the game winning goal, then pinched and got beat back by his guy on the Ducks third goal, which blew the game open.
Rene Bourque (D) – I guess he played but he was remarkably very quiet. I guess that’s what happens when you aren’t connected at the hip to the best player on the team.
Joe Colborne (C-) – Colborne got a little more ice time tonight, as he was centering the third line. I noticed him a little more out there but he ended the night with zero shots on goal.
Blake Comeau (D) – A great moment from him in the first period when he just took the puck right off Iginla’s stick, for no apparent reason, and ended up turning the puck over half a second later.
Matt Duchene (C) – I think that line struggled a good bit tonight, but Duchene was probably the best player among the three. That’s not saying a ton.
Eric Gelinas (C) – He had a great chance in the first period to get his team a goal and get some momentum for himself, and he missed the net by about 6 feet.
Cody Goloubef (C) – He’s rounded into a not terrible player for the Avs. He’s pretty good at knocking pucks down at the blueline to avoid the opposing team getting it in deep.
Mikhail Grigorenko (B+) – Another really strong game from Grigorenko, that saw him battling for the puck a lot more, and he made a tremendous play on the only goal of the night.
Jarome Iginla (F) – Just end this right now. At one point in the first period he was just sitting out at center ice when the Avs couldn’t get out of their end. He’s cheating all the time, and that’s not a good thing for the young players on the team to see.
Gabriel Landeskog (F) – Just a brutal game for the Captain. He made several turnovers trying to take the puck out of his own end, and was getting the puck taken off his stick way too often. Another goose egg shot night for him.
Nathan MacKinnon (B+) – He put 6 on net, and directed 5 more at the net. He got robbed and just barely missed a goal just prior to the Ducks dagger goal in the third period.
Andreas Martinsen (C) – He had some good forechecking shifts early in the game and then literally disappeared the rest of the night, playing only 6:52.
Matt Nieto (D) – He followed up a fantastic game with a tough one, creating very a little and looking a lot slower out there.
Calvin Pickard (D) – He bit hard on the second Silfverberg goal, and then looked a little small in the net on the last two, but the game was long gone by then.
Mikko Rantanen (B+) – The goal was tremendous, and he was creating a lot all night, even drawing a few penalties by taking it to the net.
Carl Soderberg (D) – He’s played a lot better of late, even if the points aren’t there, but he barely got on the ice tonight. It was a little confusing.
Patrick Wiercioch (D) – He wasn’t supposed to play tonight, and it kind of looked like it, as he was off and didn’t even have the puck moving ability we usually see.
Nikita Zadorov (B-) – He had a career high 6 shots on net, and a few that came close, but luck is not on his side right now. He let Silfverberg’s stick get away from him at the last second on the opening goal, but otherwise was the teams best defenseman tonight.
The Avs continue on the road with a game against the San Jose Sharks tomorrow. It starts at 8:30 PM MST.
