Avs-Flames player grades: Complete meltdown

The Colorado Avalanche lost 6-5 to the Calgary Flames. Below are player grades.

Mark Barberio (D+) – He was having a fine game, not really good or bad, just cruising along, and then a brutal failed clear in his own zone turned into a Calgary goal at the start of the third period and it gave the Flames all kinds of life.

Tyson Barrie (D+) – He snuck in an assist but otherwise Barrie continued the poor play that has been all too common to start this season.

Gabriel Bourque (B-) – He picked up an assist and generally played pretty well after the first period. His work on the PK was solid. Of all Colorado’s problems tonight, he wasn’t one of them.

Matt Calvert (C-) – He got rocked from a totally clean hit that was basically identical to Cole’s hit but no call was made and the ensuing turnover turned into a goal against. Beyond that, Calvert and his linemates actually were solid tonight.

Ian Cole (B) – Dude got kicked out for a clean hit. He was one of the few Avs playing well at the time and the hit served to completely turn the game around. Hard to penalize Cole for negatively impacting his team when all he did was go hit a guy in a way that isn’t illegal. But all the chaos that followed was a mess. This will be one of the losses Avs fans remember from this year.

Marko Dano (C) – I don’t remember seeing him on the ice at all. The box score says just under seven minutes played. I guess I’ll take their word for it.

Sheldon Dries (A+) – A goal and an assist. Hell yeah.

Samuel Girard (C-) – Like Dano, I just didn’t really notice Girard much out there. For a guy playing six minutes, it’s whatever. For one playing 19 minutes, that’s a bigger problem.

Erik Johnson (C-) – I didn’t think Johnson played worth a damn tonight. Just not a good night for Colorado’s top pairing.

Vladislav Kamenev (B+) – A short-handed goal and a night where I thought he played a solid game overall. Made some good plays defensively and was one of the few Avalanche players capable of clearing the puck out of the defensive zone.

Alexander Kerfoot (D-) – Mistakes all over the ice, mishandling pucks and turning them over, icing the puck in the final minute, etc. It was just a fiasco for Kerfoot tonight. He snagged two assists so I won’t give him an F but I thought overall he played an awful game tonight.

Gabriel Landeskog (D-) – He got Colorado’s fifth goal so I’ll keep from giving him an F tonight but beyond that, he was pretty terrible. The puck management and defensive play were atrocious.

Nathan MacKinnon (F) – This was one of the worst games we’ve seen from MacKinnon in the last 12 months. Last year when he wasn’t rolling, you just didn’t notice him very much. Tonight, he was actively detrimental to Colorado’s efforts. It’s so rare to see a game this bad from Colorado’s best player.

Matt Nieto (D) – Dude got devoured in shot attempts and especially in scoring chances. He was terrible tonight.

Mikko Rantanen (D) – I don’t think he was as bad as his linemates tonight but for a guy being hyped as much as he was the last week (deservedly so), he was a total non-factor tonight beyond the first few minutes of the game.

Carl Soderberg (C) – He scored a goal and his line was the only one that really held its own tonight. They were solid.

Semyon Varlamov (D) – It wasn’t all on him, for sure, but you can’t look at a five-goal third period and say the goaltender is completely without blame. A lot of nice passing from the Flames on the goals, no doubt, but the Giordano goal was one where Varly just wasn’t as locked in as we’ve seen him be this year. Colorado is built to win on the back of one great line, solid defense, and good goaltending. None of that was present tonight.

Colin Wilson (B-) – Snagged a goal and an assist and his fancy stats weren’t a complete bloodbath like the majority of his teammates. He was fine tonight. If he’s ever one of your best players, your team has underperformed.

Nikita Zadorov (B-) – I thought Z personally was fine tonight. His numbers weren’t great but they weren’t terrible. I liked that he was moving his feet and trying to create offense when so few of his teammates seemed capable of getting pucks out of the defensive zone. He was just fine.