Avs-Blues player grades: Gritty point

Sven Andrighetto (B-) – I liked his game again tonight and thought he was one of the few guys who found a little space out there at times with his speed. I have no problems with him being the third shooter with Rantanen out and no clear-cut obvious choice to take that spot. He had Binnington beat, too, until the puck just bounced on him. Tough break for him.

Tyson Barrie (F) – Bad defense on both goals against. If there was offense to counter the defense, as there so frequently is, I can live with it. Not tonight. Bad defense. Not good enough work in his own end.

Gabriel Bourque (C) – Zero opinion of him tonight. Even with basically no special teams opportunities tonight, he still played more than a minute on the PK. Old habits, I guess?

Derick Brassard (B-) – He continued his trend of not doing much at even strength but he was really good in overtime. I’m not sure where that came from but he and Soderberg made a little magic happen in the 3v3 session. Something to keep in mind in case the Avs find their way to another OT, I guess?

Matt Calvert (B-) – I thought Calvert got better as the game went on and for a while was part of the only scoring chances the Avs were creating. I’d love to see him actually capitalize on some of those opportunities that he’s so frequently in the middle of.

Ian Cole (D) – Also didn’t love his defense on either of the Colorado goals. Very few goals are the fault of just one person, of course, but Barrie and Cole created some defensive mayhem in front of Grubi tonight.

J.T. Compher (F) – A truly terrible night for JTC. He was awful during regulation and the Blues devoured him and then he lost O’Reilly early in OT for a scoring chance. Just not his night and wow is it rare for him to be this bad.

Samuel Girard (D) – This first pairing just hasn’t been good enough for a week now. It’s a small period of time in the scope of the season but when you’re in the final ten games of the season and your top pairing falls apart, you’re going to get exposed. They got better as the game went on but they couldn’t have gotten any worse.

Philipp Grubauer (A) – This run he’s on right now is insane. He’s even been awesome in the shootout, allowing just one goal against six shooters in the last two games. Too bad that one was enough for them to lose tonight but he was still stellar, although a .926 is downright human compared to what he’s been putting up.

Erik Johnson (D) – Like with Girard, just not good enough from the top pairing. They both look sluggish and lacking confidence on offense and I don’t get it. Each guy has such potential to be a serious point-producer. I wonder if their partnership accidentally saps offense from both of them because they each look to the other to do something big?

Tyson Jost (C+) – After a string of games where I haven’t felt he was as good, I liked his game tonight. It was a more low-event night but he was solid and I don’t expect large offensive bursts when he’s playing with more of a defensive deployment.

Alexander Kerfoot (A) – I don’t at all care about the rest of his game tonight. He got the game-tying goal that secured the Avalanche a point that moved them back to two ahead of Arizona.

Gabriel Landeskog (A+) – What a performance when the Avs absolutely needed someone to step up. What a special combination of traits he really is.

Nathan MacKinnon (D) – The defensive work again was lacking but tonight he had just two shots on goal, his lowest SOG total since March 4. He just never seemed to really get it going in this game…and he still registered a point. He definitely needs a stronger effort against McDavid and Draisaitl tomorrow night.

Patrik Nemeth (B) – He just keeps chugging along putting up solid shot metrics. When a guy is right about even at Corsi, I like to look at Fenwick (shot attempts not including blocked shots) and actual shots on goal and Nemeth excelled in both tonight. He got an assist on the Landesgoal as well. I’d be surprised if he stayed in Colorado this summer but he’s really proven himself a capable third-pairing warrior.

Matt Nieto (C+) – He had strong shot metrics tonight so I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt. In reality, I just didn’t notice him very much myself so I’m uncomfortable grading beyond just taking a glance at fancy stats.

Carl Soderberg (B-) – Hard work was rewarded with his assist and he was really good in OT. If only they had finished it off when they had those chances.

Colin Wilson (C+) – He has been a maniac lately and very fun to watch. Healthy Colin Wilson is a driven and helpful player to have on the ice. His skill isn’t overwhelming, as we’ve seen, but his board work and puck retrieval ability make him standout on a team of softer players.

Nikita Zadorov (B) – This dude isn’t soft at all, though. He was a monster in OT, laid the wood in regulation, and his early penalty ended up not mattering at all, even if it was dumb. He was very fun to watch tonight. A playoff atmosphere suits Zadorov well. I’m pretty sure David Perron is going to wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night thinking about Zadorov challenging him to a fight. As the kids say, he doesn’t want that smoke.