Avs-Canucks player grades: Goaltending is hard

Player grades for the Colorado Avalanche’s 7-6 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks.

Tyson Barrie (C+) – Played pretty well on offense and picked up an assist. His defense was just okay tonight. Not that anybody was really good there.

Gabriel Bourque (C) – It was a quiet game overall but he snuck in an assist on the Zadorov goal. He seems to be at his best when he knows his spot in the lineup is most in danger. There wasn’t really much he could do on the game’s final goal but I’m sure his existence will cause some frustration there.

Matt Calvert (C) – He wasn’t great tonight but I don’t think there was anything egregious on the bad side. He was just okay.

Ian Cole (C+) – He scored a great goal but that penalty in the third period that led to the fifth Vancouver goal was totally undisciplined and cost them dearly.

Sheldon Dries (B+) – Another goal for Dries but his weak play in front of the net allowed Pettersson to poke home a puck for Vancouver’s fourth goal. For a guy like Dries, that’s a pretty high-event game.

Samuel Girard (B-) – Solid game overall for Girard. Great assist. He’s rock solid.

A.J. Greer (C) –  He played at least. Not much happened but he played.

Philipp Grubauer (F) – There’s no defending Grubi tonight. Seven goals against and he was just awful all night. He never looked comfortable.

Erik Johnson (C-) – Not as good of a night for EJ as Girard as there were a few more mistakes along the way and not a notable offensive contribution. It’s been a mess for EJ lately.

Vladislav Kamenev (C-) – Didn’t play as much in this one and did very little with the ice time he was given. This was a noticeable step back.

Alexander Kerfoot (A) – Kerfoot was awesome tonight. A great individual play for his goal and a well-deserved assist. He was just awesome in front of his hometown family and friends.

Gabriel Landeskog (B-) – The bottom line is he had a really solid game tonight but the mistake behind the net was just an absolute mess.

Nathan MacKinnon (A+) – After an atrocious game in Calgary, this is how your best player should respond. Two goals and an assist and what should have been the game-winning goal.

Patrik Nemeth (D+) – This was a night where Nemeth’s skating limitations were exposed as Vancouver’s speed directly beat him for two goals against. That’s a big problem.

Matt Nieto (C-) – A low-event night for Nieto but what little did happen during his time on the ice more frequently favored the Canucks.

Mikko Rantanen (A+) – He was a beast again tonight and his three assists pushed his league-leading total back up there. He was an animal with his puck protection and he was a maniac overall. So good.

Carl Soderberg (C+) – He was just okay. I didn’t really see much from him good or bad tonight. It was a mess when other guys were on the ice but it was pretty low-event when Carl was out there.

Colin Wilson (A) – He was awesome alongside Kerfoot. Those guys were animals tonight. He potted two well-deserved assists along the way.

Nikita Zadorov (B+) – He scored a goal and was positive in the fancy stats. He was shooting the puck, hitting fools, and making a few pets along the way. He was a bright spot in an otherwise messy evening on the back end.