Avs-Blues player grades: Overtime blues

Player grades from the Colorado Avalanche’s game against the St. Louis Blues.

Sven Andrighetto (A) – I loved his game tonight. He was flying around and creating chances at will. His goal was great as he took Compher’s pass and just blew everyone away. My favorite play of his was him driving the night with one hand on his stick and the other fending off a defenseman and him chipping the puck on net and creating a rebound right in front. It should’ve been a great scoring chance but Jost overskated it.

Tyson Barrie (F-) – The dreaded F-minus. It’s not often anybody lays an egg this big but Barrie was just so out of it all night. His puck management was atrocious and his decision-making in overtime might have cost them a second point tonight. This was a true disaster from a player capable of so much more.

Gabriel Bourque (F) – This line was truly terrible tonight as the Blues enjoyed multiple odd-man rushes against them. They were caught out there against the Blues’ top line and it predictably turned into a goal against.

Matt Calvert (A) – He finished off a nice play where he shook Vince Dunn behind the night with a nice move and created the separation necessary to try a wraparound and Jake Allen was just bad enough on it to let it get through him. Calvert was pretty strong throughout the night as well.

Ian Cole (C+) – I didn’t have any real issues with Cole’s play. I think the third St. Louis goal bounced off his skate but he wasn’t doing anything he shouldn’t have been. That’s just bad luck sometimes. He and Barrie must be getting ready to fight a kaiju because they have a weird mind meld thing going on right now.

J.T. Compher (A+) – There were stretches of tonight where I thought he was Colorado’s best player. His pass to Andrighetto was the kind of creative playmaking I’ve been waiting to see in his NHL career for a while now. He also threw down with Brayden Schenn and scored the game-tying goal to go from Ginger Drury to Ginger Gordie for one night.

Samuel Girard (B) – I thought ‘G’ was really good tonight, pushing play and creating some havoc with his legs. Allen made a nice glove save on a one-timer from him and Girard also drew a penalty by outskating some fools. It was a classic

A.J. Greer (F) – This line simply got rocked tonight. When Bednar mentioned passengers, I definitely feel this line was one of them.

Philipp Grubauer (C-) – Grading the goalie usually feels very all or nothing depending on how they do but tonight Grubauer was a true mixed bag. I don’t have an issue getting scored on during a clean breakaway like that and the second goal was a total collapse by the next guy on this list but goals one and two are ones you’d really like to see him come up with. Traffic and unpredictable tips are a way of life for a goaltender but when the PK is designed to give up shots from those areas, it’s because they are very low percentage chances and two of them getting by him tonight really drive home the struggles he’s still having.

Erik Johnson (D) – This was a real up and down night for Johnson. He did a good job overall against the Blues’ toughest competition but his play on the second goal was downright atrocious. He had beaten his man back into the defensive zone by several steps but he never looked back to pick him up and he lazily defended the general front of the net area as a result. Had he been more alert of what was going on around him, he could have easily defended the play. Just terrible defense.

Tyson Jost (A) – I really liked this line tonight, okay? I thought they were great. Jost’s defensive read sparked the entire play that led to Colorado’s first goal. He and his linemates could have easily found one or two more points tonight given the pressure they applied.

Gabriel Landeskog (B) – Statistically these guys dominated again. Landeskog had eight shots on goal on his own! But he also helped in accomplishing nothing on a four-minute power play with the Avs leading 2-1 that could have changed the game. He also turned the puck over skating into two defenders and it became the second Blues goal.

Nathan MacKinnon (B) – I thought this line was just really frustrated tonight overall and nobody exhibits that better than number 29. He was pissed pretty much throughout and like Landeskog, the box score numbers look great but I think they were just a touch off their game tonight.

Patrik Nemeth (C-) – I just didn’t notice Nemeth a lot tonight so I’m leaning on the numbers here and they are not very good. Not very bad, either, but more bad than good.

Matt Nieto (A) – I loved his speed again tonight and think he’s in a really strong stretch of play as an individual. He’s been rock solid lately and even though he struggles to generate shots for himself, he cycles very well and moves through the neutral zone at a high pace. He does all the little things really well.

Mikko Rantanen (B-) – Of the top line, it felt like Rantanen was really the most disconnected tonight. There were some lazy old habits we haven’t seen much of this year where he tries to get too cute instead of making the easy play. I just didn’t love this line’s overall night despite crazy numbers.

Carl Soderberg (A) – He destroyed in the faceoff circle tonight, winning 12 of 15 and managing to not get himself kicked out of very many. He could have had a couple of points with how he played. He essentially erased Schenn’s line.

Colin Wilson (F) – He got bumped from his spot on the power play and while the postgame reasoning was Compher is a right shot, I think Wilson killing several possessions on the four-minute power play helped that decision quite a bit. He wasn’t any better at even strength and was a deep net-negative for the Avs tonight.

Nikita Zadorov (C-) – There were some huge hits and a little bad luck to boot but some bad decisions along the way. It was a typical Zadorov roller coaster.