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 (!!!!).
0 Comments (11 conversations)
Johnny M
That 4 point McDavid night sure sucks when we wanna see our boy MacK hit the scoring title and the Hart.
Flashdurb
We just wanna see our team make the playoffs. Individual awards are cool and all but they do nothing for us.
SparkleTindi
Z did all right on the fancy stats, but I’ll take your word for it on his grade since I turned it off in the second. Looking at the matchup numbers, all LA had to do was a) use their tough pair against our first line and b) send their first line out against everyone else. The Kopitar line just flattened EVERYONE else at 5v5.
I already admitted I turned it off early so it may not have been as bad moving forward (given the score and your grades I REALLY DOUBT IT), but what WERE those d-pairings? Girard with Siemens? Really? I mean I know LA is a big, tough team, but pair Girard with EJ and it’d probably have helped them both. I will cop to some fondness for mixing smaller, more offensive d-men with bigger guys, though. And up until this game, it was working pretty well for Barrie and Zadorov.
Anyway, this happens to everyone and hopefully it’ll make the guys mad enough to carry them through Vegas and the rest of the season beyond them.
Runarmyhre
My first game in Pepsi Center and avs lost 7-1. Just my luck….
JDC15
Remember the feeling. Don’t forget. Move on to the next game. They squandered a home game in the stretch.
StormSlab
Varly maybe should’ve saved one of the five goals he let in tonight. Would be great to get him some rest, but he’s still playing great hockey. Bernier got hung out to dry by TB4 on the Kopitar goal…forget the awful turnover, why play the pass on a 1 on 2 break?! Whatever though – forget this game ever happened and go earn a playoff spot. 7-1 and 2-1 losses count just the same.
Patrick Olsen
I am in shock.Did this game really happen?
mkleinholz
Nope, twas an illusion.
Flashdurb
Can’t win them all. No need to be dramatic.
hockeyhacker5
MacKinnon hit the crossbar, not the post, but either way, that seemed like a turning point once LA quickly scored. The craziest thing yesterday was Jeff Marek on Hockey Central at noon. Those Toronto broadcasters really pay attention to Colorado. They mentioned the impressive playoff run and the play of MacKinnon’s line. Then someone, I think Doug MacLean, mentioned the Duchene trade and the impact of Girard, and Marek pipes up, “And Kamenev!” Yes, the Kamenev with 14:09 played all season to that point. Yes, quite an impact on the Avs turnaround, Jeff.
Johnny M
I’ll admit it. Once they went down two one super quick on two unanswered, I was done. Game off.
H_M_DENVER
Reminds me of the Vegas blowout early in the season … this team needs to be pissed off with its lackluster effort and respond appropriately. Saturday is a HUGE game!
Flashdurb
Kerfoot needs to be scratched for the remainder of these games. He’s the weak link lately. Dunno wtf happened. Yak is better than him at this point.
bjjones05
Games like this are painful, but with a young team, they are building blocks. I feel like they needed a “grounding” game after riding the Mile High Express for as long as they did. They need to remember what these feel like and how much they don’t want to experience them going forward. Let’s see if they’re truly a playoff team by seeing if they can be pissed off enough about this game to really thump the Knights this weekend. GO AVS!!!!