Avs-Senators player grades: Matt who?

The Colorado Avalanche punched up the Ottawa Senators in a 6-3 win. Below are player grades!

Sven Andrighetto (C+) – Made a nice play with the puck after being put on the top PP unit. Beyond that, pretty quiet night for Sven10.

Tyson Barrie (A) – Proving I’ll nitpick just about anything, the only reason Barrie isn’t getting an A+ for his three assists tonight is they were all secondary points and some individual brilliance went into effect after he’d given the puck up. Still, three assists? There’s the TB4 Colorado has needed.

Matt Calvert (B) – Picked up an assist and was part of several more scoring chances. I liked Calvert’s offensive game more than his defensive game for the first time all year. He was still really good on the PK, though.

Ian Cole (A-) – I was a huge fan of Cole’s game tonight. He was great defensively and his excellent fancy stats weren’t a product of him being carried by four other guys on the ice. He was active in moving the puck and keeping possession for extended periods of time. A great game from Cole.

Marko Dano (C) – He did very little good or bad tonight so I’m giving him my “completely neutral” grade.

Samuel Girard (A) – Holy smokes, Sammy G. He could’ve had several points tonight and even though he was just barely a negative in Corsi For at 5v5, he was excellent all-around. I loved his transition game. And that goal he scored, of course.

Philipp Grubauer (C) – One of Colorado’s weakest goaltending performances of the year, I felt Grubauer paid the price for daring to be just a little rusty early on. I felt his puck tracking picked up quite a bit as the game wore on but he was also asked to do significantly less after the first period so maybe my eyes are lying. Still a solid effort overall.

Erik Johnson (B) – I thought EJ was really solid again. Watching EJ and Girard pick their spots and knowing each is safe to do it without fear of their partner not being able to handle bad stuff if it happens has been a lot of fun. This might be Colorado’s top pairing until Cale Makar’s ascension to the throne takes place.

Tyson Jost (C) – Jost had one shift in the third period (according to shift charts, anyway) and apparently suffered some kind of injury. There’s no information on that yet but we’re certain to get something before tomorrow night’s game against Minnesota.

Vladislav Kamenev (C) – See: Dano, Marko.

Alexander Kerfoot (C+) – Interesting night for Kerfoot. His fancy stats are out of control good but his careless play with the puck created scoring chances for Ottawa as well as the Avs and he ultimately found himself benched near the end of the game. Still, 21 CF and 7 CA at 5v5 is enough to get a positive grade from me.

Gabriel Landeskog (A+) – This is the NHL’s best line. Landeskog moved into a tie for 5th in the league in scoring with his three points (1g, 2a) tonight.

Nathan MacKinnon (A+) – MacKinnon is now second in the NHL in scoring with 18 points after his three-point (1g, 2a) night.

Patrik Nemeth (C+) – I thought Nemo was solid tonight. Some predictable stumbling blocks with the puck but his positioning defensively and ability to just get in the way was enough for me.

Matt Nieto (B-) – Nieto was having a solid night before the goal. Nothing special but he wasn’t a black hole or anything either. He was just fine. Then he was the recipient of some greatness by MacKinnon. They all count the same.

Mikko Rantanen (A+) – He leads the NHL in scoring with 20 points. He had a four-point game (1g, 3a) and was, for my money, the best player on the ice tonight. Kid is insane. Auston Matthews may not be the only one getting McDavid money next summer if this keeps up.

Carl Soderberg (B) – It was a rough start for Soderberg in that he kept missing great scoring chances. Then he banked a puck off Anderson and into the net and it’s all giggles from there.

Colin Wilson (B-) – Very quietly this guy was an animal tonight. I loved Wilson’s game, including the two (??!?!) times he flew through the neutral zone with the puck and got a good look at the net.

Nikita Zadorov (B) – The fancy stats weren’t good or bad (he was just under breaking even) but I liked his process a lot. Anderson made a very nice glove save on a Z clapper through heavy traffic that could have easily been a goal. He was solid offensively and defensively tonight overall. He was put in a tough spot on Ottawa’s first goal but it was a bad look for him to aggressively take the man in front when Dzingel had the puck ALL ALONE just to Grubauer’s left. Tough spot to be in for Z but he rebounded to have a solid game.