Avs Game 67 Grades - Another 3rd Period Meltdown

The Avalanche, once again, fell apart in the third period, blowing the lead and the game to the Nashville Predators, losing 5-2 in the end.

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

Tyson Barrie (C+) – Barrie was moving his feet, and putting the puck on net, finishing with 5 shots on goal, but wasn’t able to find his way on the scoresheet tonight.  He looked exhausted at the end of the game.  He did have a pretty bad turnover in the third, trying to backhand the puck up the middle in the defensive zone.

Francois Beauchemin (B) – Beauchemin was angry all night long, and played pretty well.  He made a nice breakout pass to MacKinnon for the Avs second goal, and played the one on one about as well as you can play it prior to the Neal goal.

Chris Bigras (C) – He recovered from a disastrous game the other night and had a real quiet game.  The only time he was noticeable was when Forsberg walked him with ease in the first period.

Andrew Bodnarchuk (D) – At this point, it’s on the coaching staff with Bodnarchuk.  He’s clearly in over his head, but the staff keeps putting him out there over Redmond.  He hilariously overplayed a one on one rush in the second period, and just kind of batted the puck further into the slot on the game winner.

Mikkel Boedker (C) – Boedker probably had his weakest game since coming here, but made a nice, smart play on the Landeskog goal by driving the center of the ice and going to the net.

Blake Comeau (A) – Comeau might have been the best player on the ice for the Avs.  He had 7 shots on net, a few big hits, and a real nice goal in the first period.

Matt Duchene (A-) – Duchene did everything but score tonight.  He was a monster in transition and hit the post late in the game.  My one complaint was that he was trying to do way too much on his own.

Mikhail Grigorenko (C+) – Grigs had a tough first period, with some bad passes and a bad icing, but was solid the rest of the way.  I like that he’s shooting more.

Nick Holden (D) – The lack of effort on the first Nashville goal was horrendous.  All he did was swing at the puck and he didn’t even touch it.  Then when the puck goes to the front of the net, he does nothing, and just stands there.

Jarome Iginla (C+) – Iginla played with some fire and anger today, but wasn’t able to do a whole lot offensively.  They weren’t able to find him in his trusty power play position tonight, but he was in the penalty box for one of the power plays.

Erik Johnson (C-) – EJ played better today, and was moving his feet a lot more, but the lack of awareness is killing him lately, and it did on the game tying goal.  Instead of picking up the late guy, he tried to help out Beauchemin, who did well on his own.

Gabriel Landeskog (B) – I can’t, for the life of me, understand why fans would want this guy traded.  He does ALL the dirty work on that line, defensively and in the corners offensively.  He was rewarded with another goal today for his hard work.

Nathan MacKinnon (D) – MacKinnon looked frustrated again today, and while he used his speed well on the Avs second goal, a poor decision with the puck, and another poor one on the backcheck cost him, as he got caught watching just like EJ.

Shawn Matthias (B) – That line was really good, and their goal came off hard work and the line just being bigger and stronger than the other team.  Matthias showed strong puck protection skills on that goal.

Cody McLeod (D) – I can’t get over how poorly McLeod played that game winning goal.  All he had to do was go skate to the puck and the whole goal might have been averted.  Instead, he tries to throw a hit on the defenseman, who avoids it easily, and moves it to the other defenseman.  The puck was in the net 5 seconds later.  It was a display of really low hockey IQ.

John Mitchell (C) – I thought Mitchell was fine today, and he had a real nice rush up the ice in the first that almost led to a goal.  That’s what he needs to do more of.

Calvin Pickard (C) – Pickard had to be good in the first period, and he was, but he kind of slid out of position on the first goal, and was deep in his net on the tying goal as well.

Jack Skille (D) – Some nights Skille is very noticeable, and some nights he not.  Today, I didn’t notice him at all.

Carl Soderberg (B-) – Soderberg had one of his better games lately, making a smart decision to put the puck on net on the first goal.  He was also moving his feet through the neutral zone all day.  He needed to be harder in front of the net on the first Preds goal.

The Avalanche continue this home stand when they take on the Arizona Coyotes on Monday night.  The game starts at 7 PM MST.