Avs Game 44 Grades - Strong Effort Goes to Waste

The Avalanche played one of their better games this year, but couldn’t finish it off, and lost to a very good San Jose Sharks team 3-2 in OT.

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

Francois Beauchemin (B+) – The veteran stepped up his game without Barrie tonight.  He scored his second goal in four games, and was strong overall.  The penalty in the first didn’t help the team much though.

Joe Colborne (D) – He tried to make a skilled play around a defender in the second period but instead iced the puck because he has little to no speed.  He probably wishes Roy stuck around.

Blake Comeau (D) – Comeau is a big fan of the curl move inside the blueline, and tonight it wasn’t working for him, as he was turning it over more often than not after the curl.

Matt Duchene (C) – The lack of awareness from him at the end of the first period to not shoot the puck was frustrating, but I thought he was OK tonight.  He did a lot of good work below the goal line.

Eric Gelinas (C) – I really don’t know how to grade him because he was barely out there, especially in the second half of the game.  The coaching staff are not fans.

Cody Goloubef (B+) – When did he turn into Brent Burns?  He was launching pucks at the net all night, and finished with 6 shots on goal.  That was probably his best game in an Avs uniform, but a poor turnover on the Sharks second goal haunts him.

Mikhail Grigorenko (A) – Easily his best game in months.  He was engaged on the puck and without it, including a nice backcheck in the 3rd period.

Jarome Iginla (F) – Just counting down the days until he’s traded, but playoff teams have to be watching his steep decline as well.  Choosing not to shoot, the one thing he does well, on a 2 on 1 is mind boggling.

Gabriel Landeskog (B-) – The penalties were not ideal, bu the had a monster game other than that and didn’t get much to show for it.

Nathan MacKinnon (B+) – Hard to bag on a guy who helped create the teams two goals, but the bad change in overtime was unacceptable.  The more frustrating part might have been him passing up the shot on the 2 on 1.

Andreas Martinsen (C+) – It’s a little frustrating to watch him play solid games like tonight and then see him disappear in so many others.  I guess that’s why he’s a fringe NHL player.

Spencer Martin (B) – First NHL start against a very good team, and he looked very composed.  Made some strong saves in the third period to get it to OT, and is already the best puck handling goalie the team has had in years.

John Mitchell (D) – We saw prime Malkin in the second period at one point, but nothing else beyond that.

Matt Nieto (B) – He got bailed out by the Sharks player missing the puck in the third on a very dangerous pass by Nieto, but he’s been a good third wheel on the second line.

Mikko Rantanen (B) – MacKinnon wasn’t the only guy who made a poor change in OT, as Rantanen left the ice just before him, giving Zadorov zero outlets.  He had a strong game other than that.

Carl Soderberg (C+) – I really think he is playing a lot better, but he doesn’t have much to work with on his lines.  It would be nice to see Greer come up and play on his wing.

Fedor Tyutin (B) – It looked like he hit the post early in the game, and had one of his better games in the last few months.  That’s the type of game you hope playoff teams were watching.

Patrick Wiercioch (C) – A pretty average game from Wiercioch, and he saw time sparingly in the third, as Bednar rode the top two pairings.

Nikita Zadorov (B) – I don’t know what he was doing on the Sharks first goal, but he had a really good game other than that.  He hit the post in the first, and the crossbar in the third, so luck is not on his side right now.  He did it all playing his off side too.

The Avalanche return home to face those same Sharks on Monday night.  The game starts at 7 PM MST.