AVALANCHE GAME 3 REPORT CARD

Thunder and Lightnin’, I tell you it’s frightnin’

Jack Johnson: C – Finished a minus one and no shots on net. He wasn’t noticeable out there tonight for the Avalanche. There was a lot of standing around and watching. 

Bo Byram: C- – He had four shots on net and felt like he was all over the ice but not in a good way. 

Erik Johnson: D – This was a defensive collapse by everyone. He was a minus-two with a little over 17 minutes played.

Devon Toews : D – He and Makar really struggled out there. Each was a minus-three and left a few guys alone in front of the net.

Cale Makar: D+ – He had two assists tonight but again, the defensive miscues outweigh the points.

Andrew Cogliano: D – He was feisty out there tonight, but there wasn’t much else from him. He threw a couple of punches at the end of the 2nd and 3rd periods.

Valeri Nichushkin: C- – Almost got the team going but it was ruled offside. He was fairly quiet after that point with one shot on net.

Nicolas Aube-Kubel : D – He jumped back into the lineup after Andre Burakovsky was ruled out. He played a little over six minutes with four hits. In this game, that didn’t matter much.

Alex Newhook: D – He took a few big hits and wasn’t a threat offensively. The game got out of hand and that’s when the penalties started piling up for the Avalanche.

Logan O’Connor : D – He had a couple of giveaways in 12 minutes played. Time to regroup for Wednesday.

Nathan MacKinnon: C – He was frustrated and was playing like it. He took the shot on a 3-on-1 rush, which isn’t bad, but I wonder if he was going to take that shot no matter what.

J.T. Compher:  B – He had three golden opportunities and Andrei Vasilevskiy robbed him all three times. He finished with five shots on net.

Josh Manson: D – The Avalanche took five penalties in the through two periods. Even though Tampa capitalized on one, they were either playing down a man or 4-on-4. He was careless with the puck in his own zone. 

Darren Helm: C – He continued the physical aspect of his game but even that took a large drop compared to Games 1 and 2. He had four tonight compared to the 10 in the last two games.

Artturi Lehkonen: D – He was a minus-three and had three shots on goal. See everyone for Game 5 at Ball Arena Friday night.

Nico Sturm: D – Silly mistakes from everyone, including Sturm, who took a delay of game penalty. We’ll see if Nazem Kadri and Andre Burakovsky are ready to go, because he’ll probably get a seat.

Gabriel Landeskog: B+ – The only bright spot tonight was the captain and his two goals. The team has talked about its resilience and staying even kill after wins and losses, we’re going to have to see it now.

Mikko Rantanen : D- – His point streak continues. That’s all I got. Poor effort on the backcheck tonight.

Darcy Kuemper: D – He didn’t have any help defensively tonight but he didn’t make the save he needed to. The Avs were still in it midway through the second but the last two goals put them over the edge. He might be back on the bench now. Playoff save percentage now .892.

Pavel Francouz: C+ – Let the goalies debate begin. Did pulling Kuemper mean we will see Francouz the rest of the Stanley Cup Final? Can you win a Cup with a goalie controversy?