Avs-Oilers player grades: Denver disappointment

The Avs’ backend really struggled tonight, which led to a second straight blowout. This is a game where the offense did mostly what they needed to do, but every time they turned around the puck was in their net.

Sven Andrighetto (D+) – He reminds me of Nail Yakupov, absolutely dripping with speed and skill, but for some reason can’t seem to generate much of anything right now. His positive Corsi numbers kept him from getting an F tonight.

Tyson Barrie (D) – A great example of why the “eye test” is still important. If you just looked at fancies, Barrie had a great night! But he really really struggled with turnovers tonight; one led directly to a goal against.

Gabriel Bourque (C+) –I liked what this line brought in the limited ice time they got.

Matt Calvert (C) – This guy keeps making really nice plays that go nowhere. He gets the grade bump for straight beating up Benning.

Ian Cole (F) –  Cole desperately needs to figure his game out. He is really struggling, bad turnovers, and just looks generally lost in his own zone.

J.T. Compher (C) – I mean, he was out there. No glaring errors, nothing special either. Pretty much dead even from a Corsi perspective as well.

Samuel Girard (D) – I just can’t justify giving anyone on the backend anything higher than a D tonight. The whole unit is just discombobulated right now.

Erik Johnson (D) – See above.

Tyson Jost (C+) – I liked the effort from 17 tonight. I noticed him moving his feet for a lot of the game. He was absolutely robbed on the doorstep with just a couple minutes left.

Gabriel Landeskog (B+) –I thought the top line was pretty good all night, honestly. And the numbers would support that. Landeskog ended up with two goals and four points on the night.

Nathan MacKinnon (B) – Just a couple assists for MacKinnon tonight in garbage time, but holy smokes did he absolutely eat the Oilers up all night. 20 scoring chances for the Avs versus just five for Edmonton while MacKinnon was on the ice tonight.

Patrik Nemeth (D-) – Just 12 minutes for Nemeth tonight, and I barely remember seeing him outside of getting burned by McDavid early on.

Matt Nieto (C) – Pretty much the exact same thing as Calvert. Creating good chances, but nothing is really coming from them if Soderberg isn’t involved.

Mikko Rantanen (A) – I thought he was the best Av all night. This is the only guy who I thought was good all night long. Four more points for Rantanen as he extended his point streak to 12 games.

Carl Soderberg (C) –Also just kind of a guy out there, the PK needs to be better and he’s a big part of that.

Semyon Varlamov (F) – Needed a bounce-back game after getting the hook against Tampa Bay; instead, he gets yanked again. When he’s cold, he is cooooold.

Colin Wilson (C) – Scored a goal on the power play, so that was nice.

Nikita Zadorov (C) – Making an exception to what I said about not being able to give a higher grade than a D for any of the Avs D corps. He got beat on the first goal in front, but he looked engaged and physical all night.

AJ Greer (C) – Very limited minutes again in his first game since being recalled, can’t make too many judgments based on that.

Philipp Grubauer (D) – Came in for Varlamov in the second and couldn’t stop the bleeding. Judging by Bednar’s comments after the game I would guess Grubauer gets the next crack at getting Colorado’s goaltending back on track.