Colorado Avalanche Grades in Tough loss to Oilers (+)

Is it time to worry about our Colorado Avalanche?

Jack Johnson : C – Almost 18 minutes played and one shot on net. This was not one of the Avs’ better defensive games

Bo Byram : B- –  He starting to come on before playoffs with slick passing and momentum. All seems well with his game.

Cale Makar : B –  He’s got 85 points now. No big deal. He’s so incredibly patient with the puck and played 30:11 tonight. 

Andrew Cogliano : C – Not much from him tonight. 10 minutes played, zero shots and a minus one.

Valeri Nichushkin : A – He is going to be CRITICAL come playoffs. He scored his 23rd & 24th goals tonight and is sixth on the team in goals. He has such a powerful shot. 

Nicolas Aube-Kubel : C – The team in general needs to pick it up in the final week. I would have liked to seen this line bring some energy.

Alex Newhook : C- – Fairly invisible tonight. Zero shots and a little under 11 minutes played. 

Logan O’Connor : C – Team is in a rut and they need to get out of it. Who is going to lead this team out? It wasn’t him or his line tonight.

Nathan MacKinnon : A –  He wasn’t credited with a point but that was a great pass that led to the first goal of the game and I know it didn’t matter much but his goal was beautiful with almost zero space to squeeze it in there. 

J.T. Compher : B- – Got his 29th point of the season. I didn’t love his play or hate it tonight.

Josh Manson : D – Rough night as he finished a minus three and a penalty. He’s had a handful of good games for the Avs but he’s got to turn it around.

Darren Helm : D – It truly felt like most of team took the night off. Helm was part of that equation.

Sam Girard : D – Very similar to Manson, a minus three is unacceptable. This was a bad game for both. 

Kurtis MacDermid : C- –  Can’t be taking penalties like that. He’s been playing smart all season long. He struggled defensively tonight too.

Artturi Lehkonen : C – Minus two, a penalty and no shots. That was stat line for a few guys tonight.

Nico Sturm : C+ – Really strong play on the penalty kill. He was 80% in the faceoff dot too.

Nazem Kadri : C – He had a few good looks on the power play but couldn’t punch one in. Hopefully, he finds his groove again before the playoffs start.

Andre Burakovsky : B –  It wasn’t a flashy game, but it was a good game for him. He’s now got 60 points on the season.

Darcy Kuemper : D – He went down way too quick on the wrap-around goal. He had no chance to recover once he committed. He seemed shaky from there on out. Five goals on 27 shots isn’t going to work.