Avs Game 80 Grades - Another Long Summer

The Colorado Avalanche were unable to recover from defensive miscues (sound familiar?) and were eliminated from the playoff race with a 4-3 loss to the Nashville Predators.

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

Andrew Agozzino (C+) – I’ve liked what Agozzino has shown in the NHL this year.  He isn’t a natural center, but has done well in the faceoff circle and had a real nice win at the end of the first period.

Tyson Barrie (B) – Barrie had been struggling big time of late, but had jump tonight.  He made some great moves through the neutral zone just prior to Iginla’s goal in the second period.

Francois Beauchemin (C) – His lack of foot speed has gotten more and more apparent as the season has worn on, and it was exposed a bit tonight.  He got caught flat footed in the first, took a penalty, and the Preds scored on the ensuing 5 on 3.

Mikkel Boedker (C+) – Boedker scored a fluke goal, when he actually chose to shot the puck, which he doesn’t do nearly enough.  He passed up way too many shots again tonight, and he’s far too soft on the puck.

Blake Comeau (C) – This line was solid, in terms of possession, but didn’t get a lot of great chances, and were out there for a few goals for the Preds.

Matt Duchene (B+) – Duchene responded pretty well to some criticism from his coach, and was the best forward on the ice for the Avs.

Mikhail Grigorenko (C+) – Grigorenko’s development has been fun to watch this year, but he still passes up too many shot attempts.  He uses his stick really well defensively and on the forecheck, and helped keep a few pucks in late in the game because of it.

Nick Holden (F) – He was leading the team in ice time after two periods.  That’s on the coaching staff, not Nick Holden.  He’s depending on far too much when he clearly shouldn’t be.  He was out there for every single goal by the Preds, and played a prominent role in some of them.

Jarome Iginla (C+) – Iginla showed some strength in front of the net to get a shot off on the rebound for his goal.  He also got 5 shots on goal tonight.  I don’t think he was very good at even strength, and the Avs seemed to want to force an Iginla shot with the net empty.  Teams know it’s coming.

Erik Johnson (B) – Erik Johnson was flying tonight…offensively.  Unfortunately, he’s getting caught out of position a little bit too much defensively, and he overcommitted too many times defensively.

Gabriel Landeskog (F) – Unfortunately, the Avs were in a do or die spot, and Landy didn’t produce a single shot on net.  I love the guy, and I wouldn’t trade him because it would hurt the team even more defensively, but they needed more tonight.

Shawn Matthias (C) – I didn’t like that line too much tonight, but that was a really nice goal by Matthias.  Don’t underestimate how hard it is to one time a puck coming across your body like that.

Cody McLeod (C) – McLeod got into a rather meaningless fight early in the night and was quiet most of the night.  He didn’t even see 4 minutes of ice time.

John Mitchell (C-) – Mitchell got crushed in the faceoff circle tonight, and his line wasn’t great, but he did make a nice, patient play at center ice prior to Matthias’ goal.

Zach Redmond (B) – Redmond has looked like a guy who knows he’s playing for his NHL career right now.  He’s not guaranteed a spot in the NHL next year, and he’s looked real good out there.  I didn’t like him on the 3 on 1 but the defender played it pretty well.

Jack Skille (D) – Did Jack Skille play?  I honestly do not know.

Carl Soderberg (F) – Soderberg did not play well tonight.  He got caught coasting on the game winner on the backcheck, and that ended the season, more or less.

Semyon Varlamov (D) – I don’t recall Varly being forced to make many difficult saves tonight, and he allowed 4 more goals again.  There were a lot of defensive breakdowns, but Varly just wasn’t great tonight.

Nikita Zadorov (C+) – He got caught watching and lost his guy on the first Preds goal, and played well after that.  He looked to be jumping into the play more and more as the game went on.  Had a real nice breakout in the third, escaping two Preds forwards and breaking it out with little to no help or support from his teammates.

The Avalanche head to Dallas to take on the Stars on Thursday night.  The game starts at 6:30 PM MST.