Avalanche-Stars grades: Heart attack special.

Another game in the books, a 6-4 Avs win. This game definitely shouldn’t have been as hard to win as it was, but hey you’ll take it, right?

The grades:

Gabe Landeskog (A) – Jared Bednar gave the captain effusive praise afterward, saying he doesn’t get as much press as he probably should (agreed). Landy potted two goals, including the game-winner, a nice tip of Erik Johnson’s slapper with 3:20 left. Landy also won 10-of-14 faceoffs.

Nathan MacKinnon (A) – Is it possible to have a quiet four-point night? Because, that’s how I felt overall about MacK. He was obviously very involved offensively, though, and deserves that A. I thought he overpassed a couple of times on the power play, and the goal was just an empty-netter. But then there are those three apples.

Mikko Rantanen (A) – Three points for the NHL’s leading scorer. What a sick, sick snipe of a one-timer he had on his power-play goal, that made it 4-2 in the second. That shot was unreal.

Matt Calvert (A) – Strong game for Calvy, who scored a pretty deke goal that made it 2-0 at 7:57 of the first. He had four shots on net and just played well overall.

J.T. Compher (A-) – We all got a scare when he left the game in the second period, after taking a semi-dirty hit into the boards by Julius Honka. His head appeared to take the brunt of the hit, and of course the first thing you think in that case is: concussion. But Compher returned to play and I have no reports saying he’s hurt. He was a real pest around the net and got an assist.

Colin Wilson (D) – Went minus-2 despite playing only 10-plus minutes. I don’t like his game much right now. He had three Corsi events for, 12 against. Bad night.

Sven Andrighetto (C-) – No points, one shot on net in nearly 15 minutes, bad puck-possession numbers.

Carl Soderberg (B) – I thought he was robbed of a good goal by another overturned goal from Toronto. He barely touched the goalie, who also bumped into Carl as much as Carl bumped into him. He worked hard, took 26 faceoffs in the game (won 14).

A.J. Greer (C) – I thought he got screwed out of a good goal, too. It would have been a nice thing for the kid to get, but Toronto took it away. That was his most memorable moment in a game that saw him play less than six minutes. Took another bad penalty.

Gabriel Bourque (C) – Another goal-less game, another game in which you kind of don’t notice him much at all. But what you can always say about Gabe Bourque: he works hard.

Matt Nieto (B-) – Got an assist. For Matt Nieto, that’s a good night. Had OK puck-possession numbers.

Erik Johnson (B-) – Really helped bail out the win with that big slapper that Landy tipped home. The Avs had been overpassing for a bit there until EJ stood up and let one rip. Not great puck-possession numbers tonight though.

Sam Girard (C+) – Not great puck-possession numbers and maybe a little too fancy offensively, but he did have a couple real nice, Girard-esque spin moments and long rags of the puck. Needs to put more pucks on net.

Nikita Zadorov (B) – Pretty nice game for Big Z. Patrolled his areas well and administered some physical punishment on a couple Star fools. Almost went coast to coast on one offensive foray.

Tyson Barrie (B) – Didn’t have the ghastly turnovers of the night before, played pretty well. Got an assist, now has 23 points in 29 games.

Ian Cole (C-) – Seven Corsi events for, 21 against. That’s not very good. Seems a little tired, a good couple days off might do him good.

Patrik Nemeth (B-) – I thought he was fine. Was physical against the team that waived him a couple years ago (go figure). I thought he was caught running around a couple of times, but overall a pretty good showing for Broadway Nemeth.

Semyon Varlamov (C-) – Yeah, it’s still something of a struggle for Varly right now. Lots of rebounds, a couple of softies in there. But, hey, the man made 38 saves. Not a horrible showing at all. Just…nothing real consistent right now.