Avalanche Game 2 player grades: Gut-check win

SAN JOSE, Calif. – The curse of the Shark Tank is no more. For one day, at least. Big win today at the SAP Center for the Avs to even the series at one game apiece. Let’s do some grades:

Alexander Kerfoot (C-) – It’s just been a tough postseason for No. 13. I mean, the Avs are winning and it’s been a fun story and all, but Kerfoot has yet to really take part in the party. He was a minus-5 in the first two games in San Jose, with no points, and was a little too careless with the puck.

Nathan MacKinnon (A-) – Scored the empty-netter (which proved the game-winner) and assisted on another goal. He had seven shots on net and had a decent day in the faceoff dot. He started off the last round fairly slow before getting it going in Game 2. The Avs can only hope he’ll be as good the rest of this series as he was against Calgary.

Gabe Landeskog (A) – He got the scoring started for the Avs with that great tip, and he added an assist in an overall quality performance. He also won 11-of-17 faceoffs.

Colin Wilson (B) – No points and a minus-1, with negative puck possession numbers. But I actually thought he was pretty good today. He had some strong puck-carrying moments and was active around the net.

Carl Soderberg (B-) – I thought Carl was, at the very least, looking a bit more like the regular Carl today. He’s still kind of snakebit offensively, but I thought he skated pretty well and was a bit feistier than normal. He offered a lot of physical puck support along the boards and defensively, and that matters.

J.T. Compher (B) – He had a nice Corsi day (16 for, 6 against) and did some nice work on the PK. Not many offensive chances so far in the series for him, but you know he’ll keep working at it.

Matt Nieto (A) – That was a uuuuuuge goal he scored in the third period, making it a 3-1 game. He just stood his ground at the net and jammed home a loose puck. He’s got four goals now in these playoffs.

Mikko Rantanen (C+) – He got an assist, but had negative puck possession numbers and no shots on net. He was kind of quiet here, but I expect the full Rantanen to show himself in Denver.

Matt Calvert (A+) – Two assists, great puck-possession numbers and he showed heart by taking one for the team at the end on that big Brent Burns hit. While Burns was more concerned with leveling the smaller Calvert, the puck escaped the Sharks zone and led to MacKinnon’s empty-net game-winner.

Gabriel Bourque (B-) – Played a reasonably good fourth-liner type of game. I admire how he’s just kind of hung in there all year, despite plenty of criticism, and keeps battling.

Tyson Jost (D+) – Didn’t love his game. Bad puck-possession numbers (Corsi 5-17), and he lost five of six faceoffs. Also, a minus-1 despite playing only a little more than eight minutes.

Derick Brassard (D+) – Played only a little more than seven minutes, not much at all to speak of offensively. He just hasn’t really carved out a role with this team yet. Maybe we’re seeing more why two teams traded him this season.

Cale Makar (A) – He is just so cool, fast and efficient, isn’t he? I thought he was sublime out there, even if the stat sheet may not show it. He passed the puck well, skated with it well and just did a lot of nice things opposite Sam Girard.

Sam Girard (A) – After that awful Game 1, he was back to spinnin’ Sam. He was great today, skating the puck out of pressure at will and really moving it well. He and Makar will be together a long time I think.

Tyson Barrie (A+) – One goal, two assists, four shots on net. That goal he scored, which made it 2-1, was quite an amazing shot, because the puck that came to him on a rebound of a Gabe Landeskog shot was just bouncing on edge. Somehow, he got the stick blade on it just the right way and put it over Martin Jones’ right shoulder.

Erik Johnson (B-) – A much better showing than in Game 1, but it still seems like he’s been a bit off his game for some reason. He played a pretty clean game, though, opposite Ian Cole.

Ian Cole (B) – At 23:23, he had the most ice time of an Av in the game. I thought he was, for the most part, fine.

Nikita Zadorov (B) – Not the greatest Corsi numbers, but I thought he added good things to the win, particularly his Z-Smash of Evander Kane. He was called for boarding, but the Avs PK unit did a nice job killing it off.

Philipp Grubauer (B+) – He made some really good saves, especially that glove stop on Logan Couture in the third period. He allowed a pretty juicy rebound prior to the Sharks’ first goal, by Kane, but he kept the Avs in it after that, allowing them to get into the second period down just the one goal.