Avs-Blues player grades: Can't win 'em all

It was a fun, pretty well-played hockey game at the Pepsi Center Friday night between the Avalanche and Blues, won 3-2 by St. Louis in overtime. Hey, the Avs were down 2-0 and got a point, so I look at this night as kind of a win, even though, well, they lost. Let’s take a look at how the Avs players fared, individually:

Gabe Landeskog (C) – The Blues did a pretty good job on the Three-Headed Monster tonight. The captain had only one shot on net and failed to put a point on the board. That one shot was a mini-breakaway, though. He competed hard, but the results just weren’t there tonight.

Nathan MacKinnon (B-) – He was flying out there at times, very dangerous at times. But the Blues limited his true scoring chances to a minimum. Still, I thought he was fine. The puck just wasn’t on the top line’s stick as much as usual tonight.

Mikko Rantanen (B-) – Scored the power-play goal that tied it up in the third and nearly got another on a later PP. Overall, a pretty good night, but he probably wishes he could have a couple shot attempts back.

Alexander Kerfoot (C+) – Made a GREAT pass to Colin Wilson in the third that probably should have been the game-winner, but Jake Allen had other ideas. Won seven of 11 faceoffs. But kinda quiet otherwise.

Tyson Jost (D) – His first bad game in a while. Nothing on the sheet, played only 11 minutes. Just a non-factor.

Colin Wilson (C-) – He made a nice shot attempt on that potential game-winner, off the pass from Kerfoot, but Allen robbed him. Otherwise, like the rest of his line, not much in the way of tangible offense.

Matt Nieto (C+) – I think he’s starting to skate better and he’s doing a few more things out there, but he just can’t get the puck to go in this year after potting 15 goals last year. He had decent puck-possession numbers tonight, when not many could say that.

Carl Soderberg (C+) – Mostly a quiet night for Carl. But he was decent on faceoffs (50%) and was responsible defensively and on the PK.

J.T. Compher (C) – Won four of five faceoffs, but didn’t do a whole lot offensively. Just didn’t have the puck on his stick much tonight.

Vladislav Kamenev (D) – Only played 5:35, probably because he was sloppy with the puck a couple times, including on a Blues goal in the first period.

Matt Calvert (C+) – I thought he played hard and created some good offense for himself at times, but the puck just won’t go in for Calvy.

Sven Andrighetto (C) – Three shots on goal, a couple of nice moments. But now he’s getting spotty minutes and it’s hard to do much when you don’t play a lot.

Erik Johnson (INC.) – OK, on the question of whether I think he’ll get suspended or not for the hit on Alexander Steen that injured the Blues forward and earned him a match penalty: Yeah, probably. Steen was cutting toward the middle and had his body lowered a little from doing that. But Johnson looked like he led with the arm/elbow and got him up high. Johnson has a prior suspension history, so I do think he’ll get a game or two from the league, maybe more.

Sam Girard (C-) – His game seemed to suffer when his partner, Johnson, was lost. He had some dazzling moments with the puck, but mostly played on his heels. And, of course, he coughed up the puck in the end to Colton Parayko for the OT winner.

Ian Cole (C+) – Had his first real rough puck-possession/Corsi night in a while (nine for, 24 against). But he battled (including a fight) and I thought he was fine really, relatively speaking.

Nikita Zadorov (B) – Scored a goal and was engaged throughout. Made a sloppy pass that helped lead to a Blues goal, though.

Patrik Nemeth (B-) – Really, not a bad night at all for Nemeth, who has been spotty of late. Decisions with the puck in his own zone seem like they’ll always be a worry with him, though.

Mark Alt (B+) – One of the few players to have positive puck-possession numbers, I thought he was fine all things considering, this being his first game of the year and all.

Semyon Varlamov (B-) – That final goal – ugh. Can’t let a D-man poke a puck past you with one arm. He nearly gave the game away late in regulation too, with sloppy puck-handling behind the net. But the man did make 34 saves, including a penalty shot.