Avs Game 61 Grades - Stars Lead the Way

The Avalanche got some great performances out of their best players and were able to walk into Edmonton and beat the Oilers 3-2.

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

Tyson Barrie (A) – Barrie may have been the best player on the ice, and his stat sheet looked pretty good, with 2 goals and an assist.  His defensive work was strong all night, other than a drop pass that led to the Oilers goal that was disallowed.  Made a great play to continue following the puck up the ice on his first goal.

Francois Beauchemin (B-) – Other than both he and EJ getting caught doing a whole lot of nothing on the Oilers first goal of the night, I thought Beauchemin had a solid game.  He had a few chances offensively with his big shot.

Chris Bigras (B-) – A nice bounce back game for the rookie after a rough outing the other night.  He threw a nice hit in the first period, and even though he was on the ice for a long shift in his own end in the third, he showed enough composure to break the puck out a the end of the shift.

Andrew Bodnarchuk (C) – Bodnarchuk had a decent game, but did take a penalty in the second period and had a few turnovers that contributed to a long shift in the third.

Blake Comeau (C+) – Made a tremendous pass to John Mitchell to get the scoring started for the Avs, and had some key faceoff wins at the end of the game.

Matt Duchene (B) – Made a nice drop pass to Iginla to help lead to the second Avs goal of the night, and now has 3 points in 2 games in his return to center.

Mikhail Grigorenko (B) – If the NHL gave out a point for the “3rd assist” (which they don’t, because that would be dumb), he would have gotten two, as his passes started the first two goals.  Made some more nice plays on the backcheck with his reach.

Nick Holden (B-) – The penalty he took at the end of the second period was not very smart, but I would say Holden had his best game in a few weeks, as it’s been a rough go for him.

Jarome Iginla (B) – The veteran keeps racking up the points, and looks a little rejuvenated late in the year.  The pass he made to Barrie on his first goal was top notch.

Erik Johnson (B-) – I don’t really know what he was doing on the Oilers first goal, as he was caught puck watching, and then chose to flail to the ice instead of using his stick to poke the puck away.  Other than that, he had a decent night.

Gabriel Landeskog (A) – He didn’t have the numbers that Barrie had, but I think he could have been even better.  He was a monster at both ends of the ice, and the Oilers couldn’t get the puck off his stick in the offensive zone.

Nathan MacKinnon (A-) – MacKinnon also had his best game in a long while, and was unlucky to not end up on the scoresheet.  He made some strong plays defensively, and had a great screen on the game winner.

Andreas Martinsen (F) – This guy is not an NHL player, and has not looked like one for over a month now.  More poor plays with the puck, and I have no idea why he was on the ice late in the game.

Cody McLeod (B) – McLeod had a nice bout with Kassian early in the game, and appeared to really hurt his hand, but stayed out there the rest of the night.  It will be interesting to see if he plays tomorrow.

John Mitchell (B) – Mitchell scored his first goal in what seems like forever, and played well on the PK.  Adrian Dater reported that he might be on the trade block during the game.

Calvin Pickard (B) – Another strong game from Pickard.  He didn’t make any spectacular saves, but he didn’t need too.  It seems like the Avs may be willing to carry 3 goalies once Berra comes back up.

Jack Skille (B) – That looked more like the Skille from early in the year, using his speed to create chances and getting his shot off.

Carl Soderberg (C+) – Soderberg had a real good game defensively, but the last few games the puck has been bouncing off his stick a bit too much.

Alex Tanguay (B-) – He was the third wheel on the Landeskog/MacKinnon line, but made some nice plays offensively, and made the feed to Barrie for the game winner.  Those two players should be good enough to carry him.

The Avalanche continue this mini road trip tomorrow night when they take on the Vancouver Canucks.  The game starts at 8 PM MST.