Avs Game 49 Grades - Comeback Attack

The Avalanche, for the second straight game against the St. Louis Blues, scored a goal with their goaltender pulled to tie it late, and this time won in a shootout 2-1.

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

Tyson Barrie (A) – Barrie was all over the ice, especially for the last period and a half.  The play he made prior to the game tying goal was terrific, and his ability to shield the puck from the other team, despite his size, is actually amazing.

Francois Beauchemin (C+) – I actually thought the veteran just had a so-so game.  When he plays as many minutes as he has been, it becomes a bit more noticeable, as he starts to turn the puck over a bit more.  He did make a tremendous play with the net empty to lift the defenders stick and let the puck get across to MacKinnon.

Chris Bigras (D+) – I thought it was his weakest game to date, but he will be staying a while, based off the decision by Roy after the game.  While he spent a lot of time in the defensive zone, I don’t think there’s much panic in his game, and that’s remarkable for his age.  He got crushed possession wise at 30%.

Matt Duchene (B) – That was just a beautiful assist by him on the game winning goal.  The net could not have been more wide open for MacKinnon to put it in.

Mikhail Grigorenko (B-) – Grigs had a solid game playing RW with some skilled guys, and because of that, looked a bit more willing to shoot the puck.  He’ll probably be back at the 4th line C position tonight.

Nick Holden (B+) – He had an awesome possession game, sitting at 68% for the night, and continued what has been a strong season for him.

Jarome Iginla (F) – Yikes.  If you don’t want to get annoyed, don’t watch Iginla in the defensive zone.  There’s a lot of standing around, and when the puck comes to his side, he’s very slow to react.  His line spent the majority of the night in the defensive zone.

Gabriel Landeskog (C+) – Maybe that beautiful shootout goal will get Landeskog going.  He’s looking a lot better defensively the last few games, to me, but the offense just isn’t there.

Nathan MacKinnon (B) – He had 7 shots on goal, so he was due to have one go in the net.  It’s concerning that his last two goals are only with the Avs goalie pulled, but he needs to add more scoring to help the team.  His defensive game is much better.

Andreas Martinsen (F) – His game has fallen off a cliff.  He was only credited with one hit and had several more turnovers to go on top of that, which has been a theme lately.

Cody McLeod (B) – McLeod, once again, took a boarding penalty where the defender turned at the last second, but I think he was to blame on this one, as he was looking at the defenders numbers the whole time.  Still, he had a solid game beyond that.

John Mitchell (B+) – Great game from Mitchell, and it was nice to see him put 6 pucks on net, as that’s something he doesn’t do with enough consistency.  He got robbed a few times on the power play.

Zach Redmond (D) – Another frustrating night of watching Redmond try to do too much with the puck in the defensive zone, and watch the end result be too much zone time for the other team.  He was the worst possession defenseman on the Avs at 26%.

Jack Skille (B) – Skille’s line was great, spending a lot of time in the Blues zone, and Skille was the best possession player on the Avs at almost 70%.

Carl Soderberg (B-) – A very un-Soderberg like play on the Blues only goal, as he flubbed a pass back to his defenseman and then turned it over up the middle of the ice.  He should have been credited with the tying goal, but the referee got a little too whistle happy.  After the giveaway, he was a man on a mission.

Alex Tanguay (D) – He found himself in a great scoring position several times, which means he was doing something right, but too many soft plays with the puck again, and the amount of times he goes offsides is just absurd.

Semyon Varlamov (A) – It had been a while since we’d seen Varlamov play in a shootout, and now we all remember just how great he is at them.  The save he made on Steen in overtime was fantastic, as it looked like a sure goal.  He had some swagger last night.

Chris Wagner (D) – The last few games, Wagner has been stuck in his zone a lot, and his possession numbers are taking a hit.  I think his linemates have been a bit worse than him, but he hasn’t been good.

Nikita Zadorov (F) – I guess that’s the type of game that can get you sent down, although I don’t agree with the move, in general.  He had too many sloppy plays with the puck, and had to take a penalty in the third because of it.  I think he showed significant strides with his defensive play, but the decision making isn’t there yet.

The Avs return to the ice tonight to take on the Dallas Stars.  The game starts at 6 PM MST.