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Avalanche player grades vs. Vegas: Small mistakes add up

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Well, the No. 2 seed it is. The Avalanche overcame three separate one-goal deficits in a spirited effort but still lost to the now-top-seeded Vegas Golden Knights in overtime. It was a series of small mistakes and “mental errors” that did them in.

Here’s how I saw the game, with the report card:

 

FORWARDS

 

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare:

C+

He always seems to play well against his former team. Today, however, I didn’t see that same tenacity I usually do from Bellemare. I would rank him third among the forwards on that Avalanche fourth line, putting Matt Nieto and Matt Calvert a notch above him.

Andre Burakovsky:

C-

Oh how the mighty fall…

Burky spent his second straight game on the third line and I hardly noticed him throughout the game. He played a team-low 10:44 of ice time (down from 11:34 last game). He was easily pushed off the puck by Vegas defenders a majority of the time he had the puck on his stick, which wasn’t very often. He did make a nice play in the defensive zone when he broke his stick but still used his feet to kick a puck out of the zone. But that was literally his only highlight of the game.

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A graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder, Scott has so far spent the early parts of his young career covering Colorado hockey — from the Avalanche to the Colorado Eagles to the DU Pioneers. His work can be found across sites such as NHL.com, TheAHL.com and SB Nation, among others. Scott currently resides in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Denver, where he works as a Marketing Executive when he's not writing.

Colorado's premier coverage of the Avalanche from professional hockey people. Adrian Dater, Editor-in-Chief. Part of the National Hockey Now family.

This site is in no way associated with the Colorado Avalanche or the NHL. Copyright © 2019 National Hockey Now and Adrian Dater.

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