The Avs’ backend really struggled tonight, which led to a second straight blowout. This is a game where the offense did mostly what they needed to do, but every time they turned around the puck was in their net.
Sven Andrighetto (D+) – He reminds me of Nail Yakupov, absolutely dripping with speed and skill, but for some reason can’t seem to generate much of anything right now. His positive Corsi numbers kept him from getting an F tonight.
Tyson Barrie (D) – A great example of why the “eye test” is still important. If you just looked at fancies, Barrie had a great night! But he really really struggled with turnovers tonight; one led directly to a goal against.
Gabriel Bourque (C+) –I liked what this line brought in the limited ice time they got.
Matt Calvert (C) – This guy keeps making really nice plays that go nowhere. He gets the grade bump for straight beating up Benning.
Ian Cole (F) – Cole desperately needs to figure his game out. He is really struggling, bad turnovers, and just looks generally lost in his own zone.
J.T. Compher (C) – I mean, he was out there. No glaring errors, nothing special either. Pretty much dead even from a Corsi perspective as well.
Samuel Girard (D) – I just can’t justify giving anyone on the backend anything higher than a D tonight. The whole unit is just discombobulated right now.
Erik Johnson (D) – See above.
Tyson Jost (C+) – I liked the effort from 17 tonight. I noticed him moving his feet for a lot of the game. He was absolutely robbed on the doorstep with just a couple minutes left.
Gabriel Landeskog (B+) –I thought the top line was pretty good all night, honestly. And the numbers would support that. Landeskog ended up with two goals and four points on the night.
Nathan MacKinnon (B) – Just a couple assists for MacKinnon tonight in garbage time, but holy smokes did he absolutely eat the Oilers up all night. 20 scoring chances for the Avs versus just five for Edmonton while MacKinnon was on the ice tonight.
Patrik Nemeth (D-) – Just 12 minutes for Nemeth tonight, and I barely remember seeing him outside of getting burned by McDavid early on.
Matt Nieto (C) – Pretty much the exact same thing as Calvert. Creating good chances, but nothing is really coming from them if Soderberg isn’t involved.
Mikko Rantanen (A) – I thought he was the best Av all night. This is the only guy who I thought was good all night long. Four more points for Rantanen as he extended his point streak to 12 games.
Carl Soderberg (C) –Also just kind of a guy out there, the PK needs to be better and he’s a big part of that.
Semyon Varlamov (F) – Needed a bounce-back game after getting the hook against Tampa Bay; instead, he gets yanked again. When he’s cold, he is cooooold.
Colin Wilson (C) – Scored a goal on the power play, so that was nice.
Nikita Zadorov (C) – Making an exception to what I said about not being able to give a higher grade than a D for any of the Avs D corps. He got beat on the first goal in front, but he looked engaged and physical all night.
AJ Greer (C) – Very limited minutes again in his first game since being recalled, can’t make too many judgments based on that.
Philipp Grubauer (D) – Came in for Varlamov in the second and couldn’t stop the bleeding. Judging by Bednar’s comments after the game I would guess Grubauer gets the next crack at getting Colorado’s goaltending back on track.

0 Comments (5 conversations)
Rich
What is going on with Varly? He is definitely cold and is playing with zero confidence. I can’t say much for Grubi. He gave up a couple of softy’s. He zero to change the momentum if anything he was the final nail in the coffin tonight. Something needs to change and change ASAP!
Nels
Take a few deep breaths friend. The Avs have good times and bad, just like everyone.
Raz
Lol two games and the sky is falling. I was there through the entire painful Sacco fiasco. People need to get some perspective. Yes they were bad games, but 6-3-1 over the last 10 and they don’t erase all the awesome that this year has been so far. The boys will rebound.
Markk
Yeah, seriously, no need to lose our heads like Broncos fans. Obviously adjustments need to be made, but there’s gonna be bumps in the road back to being a contender.
gtq
I thought both Avs goaltenders were below average. Goaltending was the difference in this game. Not sure what the fancy stats said, but I thought Girard moved the puck exceptionally well tonight. If he could find a way to get his shot through traffic his scoring would take off. Barrie was so bad last night. The PK is definitely trending badly.
RadoYeti
This game made me dry heave
Pucklehead
Love Calvert’s gritty game but like the other 3rd-4th line Avs forwards cannot finish…would like to see Jost progress faster…Avs small forwards get pushed around…hopefully they will bulk up in the next couple years (e.g. Kerfoot)
Sean
The team is definitely in a slump. Is it time to break up the top line and spread the scoring around? Also: Free Soderberg from those two anchors.A line of Soderberg/Jost/Compher would at least give them another line that can score consistently. I know that kinda messes up the center for the bottom two lines but it’s worth it.
Nels
Definitely Sodo/Jost/Compher and just let the 3rd & 4th play shut down. Great idea. Definitely NOT break up the top line, which I notice is something folks start calling for whenever the Avs face any adversity. Koskinen was way better than Varly/Grub, that’s basically the gist of this one. Did anyone notice Greer playing poorly in his 5 minutes? Why won’t Bednar develop this guy a little? It’s more irritating than facing a brick wall like Koskinen.