Avs Game 23 Grades - Last Place

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The Colorado Avalanche dropped to last place in the NHL as they closed out their 5 game home stand with yet another loss, this time to the Dallas Stars by a score of 3-0.

How did each player perform?  Let’s find out…

Tyson Barrie (D) – Another rough night for Barrie.  No shots on goal, although he did hit the post late in the game.  He tried to go at it all by himself a few times on the power play, and it didn’t work at all.  With Johnson now out long term, the Avs will be in real tough if Barrie doesn’t figure it out.

Francois Beauchemin (D) – The EJ injury is scary enough to begin with, but now it means Beauchemin will be playing even more.  He played a major role in the Stars first goal, as he had control of the puck, and instead of making the smart, safe play, he blindly threw a backhand to the skates of several players, and the Stars broke out while he was deep in the offensive zone.

Rene Bourque (D) – Bourque had a rough go of it, with some turnovers, missed shots, and an offensive zone penalty, although that seemed a little questionable.

Joe Colborne (C) – Colborne had a really strong shift in the second period, where he helped maintain possession of the puck down low, behind the net.  Unfortunately the shift ended with him cross checking a Stars player in front of the Stars net, which is not ideal.  He’s still only got 1 point since the season opener, but he did seem a bit more engaged tonight.

Blake Comeau (B-) – Big surprise, the 3rd line was put back together and they were the only Avs forward line to finish above 50% in CF.

Matt Duchene (F) – Duchene is in a slump, and he’s trying to do too much instead of keeping it simple and going to the net.  We’ve seen it before, and in his 8th year, you’d hope that he’ll figure it out at some point.

Eric Gelinas (D) – Gelinas normally has good possession numbers, but he had the worst numbers on the team tonight, at 31%.  He at least got on the p0wer play, but some poor decisions with the puck.

Mikhail Grigorenko (D+) – He was OK.  I thought he did some good things on the PK, a place that he hasn’t been used at a ton.  He’s not going to be the best player on his line, so when Duchene is struggling, Grigorenko’s game drops a bit.

Rocco Grimaldi (C-) – He showed some good energy, and led a nice rush in the first period, and then just kind of disappeared after some failed clears along the boards.  He might already be back in San Antonio.

Jarome Iginla (C-) – It’s not really his fault the Avs force everything to him on the PP, but he’s got to start burying some of these chances he’s getting at both even strength and on the power play.

Erik Johnson (INC) – He was playing well before his injury, but it’s not good news when your top defenseman goes down long term.  Hopefully this doesn’t effect him long term, as he’s dealt with some bad leg injuries.

Nathan MacKinnon (F) – More turnovers and more inability to get into the danger areas.  He’s getting tough matchups but they need a heck of a lot more from him.

Andreas Martinsen (C) – I don’t even know what to grade him because I barely saw him tonight.  Played only 6:22, and in a game with little energy, you’d think they would want to get him on the ice.

John Mitchell (B) – Mitchell will get a point at some point, but he’s doing things right.  He threw a huge hit in the 2nd period to try to get the team going but it never happened.

Mikko Rantanen (F) – His ability to fall down with no one around him is truly astounding, but that’s not a good thing.  He had some rough passes tonight, which is normally a strong suit of his.  He was on his own a lot forechecking at times too.

Carl Soderberg (F) – He has responded to his 4th line demotion by being completely invisible.  You almost wonder if a scratch for him is next in line.

Semyon Varlamov (C) – What the heck happened on that first goal?  He has to control that rebound.  Didn’t have much of a shot on the Seguin goal, but he wasn’t tested a ton tonight in terms of Grade A chances.

Patrick Wiercioch (C-) – He struggled with the puck at the offensive blueline a bit tonight, which is uncharacteristic of him.  He may see increased minutes without EJ around, and has a chance to take advantage of it.

Nikita Zadorov (C) – He looked heavily engaged offensively in the first period, and that was probably his best period in a while.  He stopped that a bit the rest of the game, but it was a good sign.  With EJ missing, you have to wonder if the Avs let him jump up more to try to create some offense.  The only defenseman with positive possession numbers tonight.