Avs-Jets Grades: Lethargic offense

The Colorado Avalanche had their most lethargic offensive performance in quite a while in a 3-0 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Below are the player grades!

Tyson Barrie (C+) – On a day few of Colorado’s top players showed up, Barrie was actually passable. He wasn’t spectacular but he was moving his feet well and helped drive what little offense Colorado mustered. Oddly, I’d say this was his best of the three games since his return from injury.

Gabriel Bourque (D) – Maybe next time on the 2-on-0 break you put the shot on net, yeah? Nothing exemplified the struggles of today quite like that moment.

Blake Comeau (C+) – He was decent today. Very active stick, especially in the neutral zone, and he was involved in some good things that, obviously, amounted to nothing (in which case, how good could those things have been? Sigh). Burying one of those chances would have been great, especially on a day where the best line (Soderberg’s) was just breaking even on the day.

J.T. Compher (C-) – It might be anecdotal but he sure gets a lot of his shots blocked. I’m not sure why that is but to my eye far too many attempts of his end up in shin pads and on opposing sticks. Today isn’t the greatest example of this as he simply didn’t shoot much but more of a general observation. I did like Compher’s feistiness at times today. The Jets are a team that loves to bully the opposition and Compher lives to be the anti-bully.

Samuel Girard (D+) – For a guy who has shown significant shot suppression skills, these last two games have been really disappointing. Today, he was on the ice for the most shots attempts and shots on goal against. He moved well, per usual, but his struggles to make productive plays with the puck at even strength continued. He just wasn’t any good today. Hopefully, a little home cooking turns it around for him.

Erik Johnson (B+) – I thought he was really good today. As stated above, not many of Colorado’s horses showed out today but EJ stepped up and had what I thought was his best game in a while. He might have been trying to force the action on offense a bit too much but with such a stagnant group around him, somebody had to try something. Colorado managed 23 shots at even strength – 14 came with Johnson on the ice.

Tyson Jost (C+) – There were some great moments today again. He got robbed by Colin Wilson of a surefire assist and that’s just kind of been Jost’s luck lately. He’s become Colorado’s top “what if?” points guy recently as he keeps finding ways to come oh so close and still get nothing. His process has improved quite a bit and he looks more and more comfortable by the game.

Alexander Kerfoot (D-) – This was a big disappointment for me. I understand centering a line between two players having very good seasons leads a naturally deferential player to be even more so but my goodness. Kerfoot’s flat refusal to shoot the puck today was frustrating. Zero shot attempts in 17 minutes of ice time on the top line is unacceptable. He either needs to turn it around or a change needs to be made.

Gabriel Landeskog (C+) – On the opposite side of Kerfoot was Landeskog, who attempted five shots today. One of them was even on goal, which was nice. He was solid but unspectacular today. It’s obvious he doesn’t have the raw talent to drive a top line on his own. The Avs need him to elevate just a bit to survive this MacKinnon-less stretch.

Anton Lindholm (C-) – The usual from Lindholm tonight, although his recent trend of being a tough more aggressive with the puck did continue. There were a few moments defensively where I was curious what he was thinking and that’s pretty rare for him. Normally, he’s in the right position but the execution will fail him. Tonight, he just looked a little lost and the numbers reflect some of those struggles.

Patrik Nemeth (C+) – The puck struggles continued as he iced the puck or turned it over in situations that led directly to scoring chances for Winnipeg. That said, he did a little of everything tonight, blocking shots, laying hits, even taking a shot of his own. It was an okay all-around night for him all things considered.

Matt Nieto (C+) – His line played well and he made the right play on the 2-on-0 with Bourque. I wouldn’t have minded him taking the shot on his own but then I’d be in this space lamenting his lack of finishing ability so passing it off was the smart move for him 😉

Mikko Rantanen (C) – Didn’t love his game today. The top line didn’t really bring it but Kerfoot had arguably his worst game of the season and it’s tough for wings to take over games. There were some moments but overall this was just a forgettable day.

Carl Soderberg (C+) – His line was Colorado’s best and he had a great moment where he briefly broke in on Hellebuyck by himself. He wasn’t able to finish but he made a competitive move and just got shut down by a goaltender in the zone. At least he put the puck on net. That being a victory shows what kind of day it was.

Dominic Toninato (C+) – Tough break on the second Jets goal when he didn’t have his stick. Not much he can really do there except what he tried to do. Beyond that, he was solid again in limited minutes. You’d like to see some offense eventually but that he’s a consistently positive possession player is a very nice step up for Colorado’s fourth line versus recent years.

Semyon Varlamov (B) – I didn’t have any issue with either goal he gave up as the first was a one-timer from one of the three best shooters in the NHL and he still almost made it across in time and the second goal was as flukey and silly as it gets. Given he hadn’t played in a month, this was a pretty encouraging performance for him. Bednar is going to have an interesting decision on his hands for the San Jose game.

Colin Wilson (C-) – He had the save of the game on what would have been a Barrie goal but he appeared to get pushed into the goal mouth so I’m not actually blaming Wilson. Beyond that, I simply didn’t notice him do a lot tonight. There was one offside play where he was visibly frustrated that he and his linemates were just so far out of sync.

Nail Yakupov (B) – Expectations for Yakupov are low enough now that a game like today felt like a big victory. He was kind of all over the place, notching three shots on goal and three hits. That’s a fun combination from a player like him.

Nikita Zadorov (C) – I should really give Zadorov an INC because he appeared to get hurt early in the game and play through what looked like obvious discomfort. He didn’t look like himself after the injury and was just okay. I didn’t notice any major problems but he wasn’t the game-changing force he’s been against the Jets in the past (even beyond That One Game). I’m giving him a neutral grade here because I’m just not sure how healthy he really was the second half of the game.

Jared Bednar (C+) – From his spot on the bench, Bednar appeared to do right by putting guys into decent position. We’ve talked a lot about him handling road usage and I thought today he was on the mark. His top line by committee approach worked out pretty well as he evenly distributed the assignment against Winnipeg’s top trio. They’re a deep team, though, and he handled the assignments in a logical manner, even if they didn’t ultimately work out. I thought his usage made sense despite the results.