The Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens played a sloppy game, but someone had to win, and a late goal by the Avs gave them a 3-2 victory.
How did each player perform? Let’s find out…
Tyson Barrie (F) – Barrie managed to pick up another point, but he was really bad tonight. When he struggles, he tries to do too much in the defensive zone, in terms of breaking the puck out, and it leads to turnovers. It happened on more than one occasion tonight.
Francois Beauchemin (B-) – Beauchemin had a quietly solid night. He made a really strong play to break up a play just prior to the Avs first goal on the night.
Chris Bigras (F) – I think it’s safe to say that was Bigras worst game in the NHL. He made one great breakout pass to hit Mitchell for a breakway, but I counted at least 5 turnovers by him in the neutral zone and defensive zone. He looked flustered a lot tonight.
Andrew Bodnarchuk (D) – Part of the problem with for Bigras is his partner is really unstable. Whether it’s Bodnarchuk or Redmond, he doesn’t have much help in his defensive partner. Bodnarchuk has looked overwhelmed in the NHL for the majority of his games in Colorado, in my opinion.
Blake Comeau (C) – Comeau tied the Avs team lead in shots on goal tonight, and had the big faceoff win right before Iginla’s first goal.
Matt Duchene (B) – Duchene’s first game back at center was a success, for the most part. He had another good night in the faceoff circle, and picked up two more assists. He was a bit lost on the 2nd Montreal goal, like most of the Avs players on the ice, but made a great, patient play on the game winner.
Mikhail Grigorenko (B) – Grigorenko had a few solid backchecks tonight where he used his long reach to smack the puck away from the opposing player, but his play at both ends of the ice on the game winning goal won him even more love from Coach Roy after the game. He looks confident of late.
Nick Holden (D) – Nick Holden, beat to the outside by an opposing forward. That’s something we’ve seen far too much lately, and it happened early in tonight’s game. His game has really fallen off, and it’s no surprise the team has slipped in that same time span.
Jarome Iginla (A) – Two more goals for the veteran. He’s become mainly a power play specialist at this point in his career, but it was nice to see him contribute a goal at even strength, and it turned out to be the game winner.
Erik Johnson (B-) – EJ was a disaster again in the first period, but his game turned around significantly in the last two periods. His skating looked much better, and he used that speed to join the rush for his goal tonight.
Gabriel Landeskog (C) – Landy has looked much better after the All Star Break, but he had some issues with the puck tonight. Still, he made a great pass to hit EJ for his goal, and I still liked his work defensively.
Nathan MacKinnon (C-) – I was very happy to see MacKinnon and Landeskog re-united in the second period, even if they didn’t do much offensively. The team really needs him to get going, but I thought he had a bit more jump tonight.
Andreas Martinsen (D) – Martinsen had another brutal turnover at the defensive blueline in the first period, and was more or less useless most of the night, but at least he was willing to get under the skin of the opposing players late in the night. That’s what he needs to do consistently and it hasn’t been happening of late.
Cody McLeod (D) – McLeod had a very quiet night, to the point where I don’t even remember him being out there.
John Mitchell (D) – A small improvement tonight on what has been an awful stretch for Mitchell lately. He was caught doing nothing on the Habs 2nd goal, and had a brutal turnover on an odd man rush on the penalty kill. He did have a nice net drive on EJ’s goal though.
Jack Skille (D) – Very happy to have Skille back, and also very happy that he didn’t even last a period on MacKinnon’s wing, as that’s not a match at all.
Carl Soderberg (C-) – That was one of the sloppier games in a long time for Soderberg, as he couldn’t get the puck to sit on his stick all night. He did have a strong game in the faceoff circle, though.
Alex Tanguay (C) – Another night where Tanguay had a chance alone in front and couldn’t do anything with it. I do think he had a decent game tonight, as he was able to hit MacKinnon with speed a few times.
Semyon Varlamov (B+) – Varly provided solid goaltending tonight, but his terrible play with the puck was exposed on the Habs 2nd goal. He shut the door after that went in, including a huge leg save late in the game.
The Avs hit the road and head to Edmonton to take on the Oilers Saturday night. The game starts at 8 PM MST.
