Avs Game 69 Grades - Core Leads the Way

The Avalanche got strong efforts from most of the core players on the team, en route to a very convincing 3-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

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

Tyson Barrie (C) – Barrie was the one player from the core who I would say didn’t have his best night, but he wasn’t bad by any means.  He was just very pedestrian, at least for what you’d expect from him.  He did make a beautiful breakout pass to Comeau for a 2 on 1 in the second period.

Francois Beauchemin (B) – The veteran with another strong game against his old team.  I’m glad they’ve taken him off the power play because he rarely gets a rest on the penalty kill.  He had at least three huge blocks on the kill tonight.

Mikkel Boedker (D) – It was a very quiet night for the forward tonight, after possibly his best game against his old team.  He seems very reluctant to shoot the puck at times.

Blake Comeau (D) – Comeau missed practice yesterday because of a back injury, and outside of a nice backhand pass to MacKinnon early in the game, was very quiet.  I hope it doesn’t limit his physical play.

Matt Duchene (B) – Duchene showed great patience to hit Martinsen with the pass that led to the goal.  He did a nice job of drawing the defender to him to create more space for Martinsen.  He got robbed early in the game by Gibson.

Eric Gelinas (D+) – Kind of the opposite of last game.  He had a good first period tonight, but then got worse as the night went on.  I like his play in the offensive zone, but his decision making in the defensive zone and sometimes the neutral zone is questionable at best.  He tried to throw a backhand up the middle in the defensive zone in the third period, only to have it picked off and the Ducks to get a scoring chance.  The Avs only controlled 11.54% of the shot attempts with him on the ice, far and away the lowest on the team.

Mikhail Grigorenko (B+) – Grigs looks as confident as he ever has in the NHL.  He had a fantastic rush up the ice in the first period, with a beautiful backhand saucer pass to Duchene in the slot, who was robbed.  In the third, he carried the puck from behind his own net, all the way up the ice into the offensive zone and got a shot on net, flipping the ice around completely.  It’s a treat to watch him right now.

Nick Holden (C) – Holden has struggled lately, but he managed to be average tonight.  He made a smart decision on the Matthias goal to just throw it at the net.  He did have one terrible turnover in the first, where he was just standing behind the net, not moving, and slapped it up the ice, only for it to get picked off.

Jarome Iginla (C-) – I think it’s pretty clear at even strength that Iginla is the passenger on that line.  It would be nice to see them with another skilled player (Rantanen, perhaps), but Iginla will have to do the rest of the year.

Erik Johnson (A-) – When EJ is finishing shifts in front of the opposing teams goaltender, you know he’s engaged, and that was the case tonight.  A perfect lob pass to MacKinnon for his goal, and EJ was all over the ice, moving his feet in every zone.

Gabriel Landeskog (B+) – I don’t know what’s going to happen wit his hit late in the game, but Landy is leading by example with his effort all over the ice.  Threw a few more big hits tonight, including one on Lindholm in the first period.

Nathan MacKinnon (B) – Outside of 2-3 stinkers, I’ve liked MacKinnon and the way he’s been skating the past few weeks.  His goal was created by pure speed tonight.

Andreas Martinsen (B) – I don’t think I noticed him the rest of the night, but for 10 seconds in the second period, Martinsen was on top of his game.  Tremendous effort in the defensive zone to get the puck out, and then to beat Bieksa up the ice for a nice goal was just icing on the cake.

Shawn Matthias (B+) – He’s fit in the best of all the pickups, in my opinion.  He looks like a natural fit on that third line in Roy’s system, with his size and skating ability.  Every goal he’s scored has come from within 5 feet of the net.

Cody McLeod (B) – Anytime McLeod can take Corey Perry off the ice with him for a few minutes, that’s a good trade off.  The Avs even scored in that 4 on 4 time.

John Mitchell (B) – Mitchell had a few very good “Malkin” moments tonight, where he held onto the puck in the offensive zone without getting stripped or making a bad decision.  One of his better games in 2016.

Zach Redmond (C) – Redmond has managed to not make the big mistake in his two games, but that pairing was stuck in their own end a ton tonight.

Carl Soderberg (B) – Soderberg looks a little reborn with Landeskog on his wing again, and the assists are following, as he’s got points in three straight games.

Semyon Varlamov (A) – Varly was locked in tonight, and outside of one play in the second period, his rebound control was strong as well.  Don’t underestimate how big his breakaway save to start the third period was.  If that goes in, we might have had a different game.

The Avalanche hit the road to take on the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.  The game starts at 6 PM MST.