Avs Game 24 Grades - Better effort, same result

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The Colorado Avalanche played a little bit better tonight but still were not able to come away with a victory, losing to the Nashville Predators 4-3.

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

Tyson Barrie (C+) – I liked Barrie’s game a lot more tonight than I have in recent weeks.  He was rushing the puck up the ice a good bit more, and creating things with his feet.  He wasn’t perfect, but better.

Francois Beauchemin (F) – The less said the better.  He was an utter disaster and played a ton.  Just horrible.

Rene Bourque (C+) – Made a strong play on the forecheck for MacK’s goal, but he fumbles the puck a lot offensively in the corners, and it’s troublesome.

Joe Colborne (C) – Another quiet game from Colborne, but I was really impressed with his effort late in the game on a backcheck, taking away a great chance.

Blake Comeau (B) – Comeau had a strong game on the penalty kill tonight.  He didn’t do a ton 5 on 5, but had another positive possession game.

Matt Duchene (A) – To the surprise of no one, Duchene got in front of the net and scored 2 goals tonight.  That’s how he scored a ton of his goals last year, and he needs to keep doing it.

Eric Gelinas (D) – Weird game for Gelinas.  The hit he took in the first knocked him out for a good bit, and then he came back and deflected a shot into the Avs net with his stick.  That’s one that he probably just needs to get out of the way of.

Cody Goloubef (F) – Brutal debut, and yet he still played 20 minutes.  Bad decision in the first that leads to a goal, took two penalties and was on the ice for another goal.  The pairing with he and Beauchemin was a mess.

Mikhail Grigorenko (D) – The thing that sticks out to me tonight is Grigorenko rushing the puck up the ice in the first and instead of taking it to the net at some point, just circling and circling and nothing coming from it.  His line got crushed overall.

Jarome Iginla (C-) – Struggled at even strength, but he actually did good things on the power play tonight.  He made a great cross-ice pass to Rantanen in the third, who was robbed.

Nathan MacKinnon (B-) – I know he had a goal and an assist, and another strong night in the faceoff circle, but there were some struggles for MacK tonight, and they were just issues with the puck.

Andreas Martinsen (B-) – Marty threw some nice hits tonight when he was actually out there, but only managed to get 6 minutes of ice.

Cody McLeod (B) – McLeod didn’t hurt the team in his limited minutes tonight, and did a nice job to draw a penalty in the second period.

John Mitchell (C-) – We hit that point that we do every year when Mitchell finds his way too far up the lineup and his game dips.  Made some poor decisions with the puck, including holding onto it way too long and hurting the team in the defensive zone.

Mikko Rantanen (B) – He got robbed again, and that’s happened a lot this year, but the drop pass to Duchene on his first goal was perfect.  I would love to see him shoot more from that spot on the PP.

Carl Soderberg (C-) – I actually thought Soderberg had an awesome first period, but his game fell off after that.  He’s really struggling to put together a good 60 minutes.

Semyon Varlamov (C) – He probably could have done a better job on the James Neal goal, even if Neal is a top notch shooter, but the other goals were a 5 on 3, a deflection off his own guy, and a breakaway.

Patrick Wiercioch (C+) – Wiercioch had a good game, and is another guy who has no business playing less than an AHL call-up.

Nikita Zadorov (A) – Easily Zadorov’s best game in a long time.  He was nasty in his own end and made life difficult for the Predators forwards.  He plays better when he gets more minutes and is into the game, and Goloubef should never play more than him.

The Avs continue their road trip on Thursday night when they head to Boston.  The game starts at 5 PM MST.