Avs-Capitals Grades: When will it end?

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Well, they got a point. But they also lost a key point. Let’s do the individual grades from another Avs OT loss, this time to the Washington Capitals.

Mikko Rantanen (B) – He scored a nice goal that cut Washington’s lead to 3-2, and I thought he had the game won in OT, when he fired a rocket at a net that had some space to it. But Pheonix Copley made a desperation save. Hopefully, this gets him started again. He took a bad offensive zone penalty, though, that led to Washington’s lone power-play goal.

Nathan MacKinnon (B) – Kind of the same game as Rantanen. Scored a goal, took a bad offensive zone penalty – the kind that have just killed the Avs of late. He’s got to have a star-quality game – two goals, two assists – to lift his team. Just a goal now and then won’t be good enough for this team.

Gabe Landeskog (A-) – Real hard-working game. His diving pass to Rantanen started the comeback in the third. I thought he was strong.

Alexander Kerfoot (C) – He made a couple of nice passes and nearly poked in a puck in the first period. Alas, nothing on the score sheet, and the Avs need production from guys like him.

J.T. Compher (D) – Is it too much to ask for a goal from the kid? He hasn’t had one since Dec. 27. I didn’t think he was involved enough offensively in this one, not at all.

Colin Wilson (C+) – OK, I’ll give him credit for scoring that tying goal. But let’s be real for a second: that was a lucky goal, a bad goal allowed by Copley. He’s getting power-play time of late, but not putting up any points there.

Matt Nieto (F) – Ugh. A minus-2 night, bad puck-possession numbers and part of a PK unit that gave up yet another PP goal.

Carl Soderberg (D) – Along with his linemates Nieto and Matt Calvert, just not a very good game. Minus-2, though he did have a couple scoring chances.

Matt Calvert (D) – Just starting to feel like maybe he’s been a little miscast on this team. Avs had a lot of smaller worker-bee kinds of guys already, and he just isn’t standing out enough to distinguish himself. He was awarded an assist on that Wilson goal, which we’ve already been over.

Sheldon Dries (B) – He didn’t play much, but like the rest of his line, he possessed the puck almost exclusively over the Caps’ fourth-liners. That matters.

A.J. Greer (B) – Only played 4:11, but had a shot, had a hit and had good puck-possession numbers.

Sven Andrighetto (B) – See above.

Erik Johnson (A-) – Strong game. Good puck-possession numbers, played well on the PK. Had five shots on net. Be nice if one of them had gone in, but hey.

Ian Cole (D) – Twenty-two minutes in penalties tonight, stemming from a third-period major for interference. That might get him a suspension too. He’s gotta be smarter than that. He also lost the ensuing fight to thug Tom Wilson.

Sam Girard (A-) – Starting to look better again. Had the puck on his stick a lot tonight, and I thought he was good with it. He was a plus-2 with good Corsi numbers.

Patrik Nemeth (B) – I thought he was fine. Played more than 21 minutes of good hockey.

Tyson Barrie (F) – I know he’s trying out there, but he just made too many bad plays in this one. Didn’t shoot when he should have, especially on that OT sequence that cost the game.

Nikita Zadorov (D) – Didn’t love his game. Poor puck-possession numbers, a minus-2. Seemed like he was just kind of a step behind all night.

Semyon Varlamov (C+) – I really thought he played well at times, making some great saves. But he keeps allowing these weird, soft goals from long distance. Fact remains: he’s allowing three or four goals most every start.