Avs-Ducks player grades: Overtime winners, finally

ANAHEIM – Player grades from the Colorado Avalanche’s 4-3 overtime win against the Anaheim Ducks.

Sven Andrighetto (B) – He got away with a penalty right before his goal but in a game as poorly officiated as tonight’s was, who didn’t get away with something? A great goal right on the doorstep.

Tyson Barrie (A+) – He finished with the one assist but he was outrageously effective tonight. At 5v5, Colorado was 33 Corsi For, 11 Corsi Against. Also seven shots on goal?? That’s a straight beating.

Gabriel Bourque (C-) – He’s just not very good and he can’t even get credit for his PK work most nights when that unit is getting regularly lit up right now.

Matt Calvert (C+) – Calvert was fine today, seeing his three-game point streak come to an end without much pushback. He was really active in disrupting things defensively but when the puck crossed through the neutral zone, Calvert seemed to lose all ability to handle it. He’s being overplayed still but that’s not his fault.

Ian Cole (A) – Like Barrie, this was a game of extreme effectiveness in the shot share department. 30 Corsi For, 14 Against. 15 Scoring Chances For, 8 Against. A beating.

Marko Dano (C-) – He seems pretty out of sorts and after everything he’s been through this season, it’s no surprise. Unfortunately, the NHL isn’t a league for feel-good stories if you can’t play. Dano hasn’t proven he belongs even a little.

Sheldon Dries (C) – I straight up did not notice him much tonight. He was credited with 13 minutes of ice time and three hits, so that’s something.

Samuel Girard (A-) – Holy smokes I thought he played a great game. He was his normal twisty and twirly self as he worked his way through Ducks defenders like he was Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden. He could have easily had a multi-point night with the way he was skating and moving the puck.

Philipp Grubauer (C) – This was a very uneven performance for Grubi. Goals one and two against were straight up bad goals and the third was just a great deflection to my eye. That said, he stopped two clean breakaways to keep the Ducks from ever getting away on the scoreboard. It wasn’t pretty early but he locked it down at the end as his teammates worked their way back from a 3-1 deficit.

Erik Johnson (A-) – He was really good tonight. I thought he was moving well and creating chances with aggression with his feet and the puck. There were a couple of bad turnovers along the way but when he’s handling the puck as much as he was tonight, that’s going to happen to him.

Tyson Jost (B+) – He was quietly effective tonight even though he didn’t score. His stick lift on Ryan Getzlaf in the corner of the offensive zone with about two minutes remaining led directly to a very good scoring chance for Soderberg. He’s been on fire since returning from injury.

Vladislav Kamenev (A-) – Grabbed an assist and spearheaded an extremely effective fourth line. And when I say he spearheaded it, I mean he was directly responsible for much of their success. He was very good tonight.

Alexander Kerfoot (B-) – Got rocked in the faceoff circle, which is a deviation from his recent run of form, but created two very good scoring chances with his elite vision. He’s really good, y’all.

Gabriel Landeskog (A+) – You’ll notice a theme with this line – it’s incredibly good. Landeskog was ultimately credited with the game-tying goal in the third period and he had a two-point night. He also had five shots on goal to go with it. Ho-hum.

Nathan MacKinnon (A+) – What was two goals and an assist ended up as one goal and two assists but it doesn’t really matter. He was incredible and made Ryan Kesler look like the old and broken down center he is these days. His eight shots on goal really added to the ridiculous numbers this line generated tonight.

Patrik Nemeth (B-) – He was really effective with the puck tonight, which is the kind of thing you only say once or twice a year about defensive defensemen. Nemeth’s aggression led directly to the first goal, though, and he was generally really solid overall.

Mikko Rantanen (A+) – After the play down low where he went all Hulk on fools behind the net for the game-tying goal, I turned to my Anaheim counterparts in the press box and said: “You just can’t stop that.” Captain Obvious strikes again!

Carl Soderberg (A) – He’s been so good in racking up a four-game point streak that unfortunately ended today. He nearly ended the game in overtime off a gorgeous feed from MacKinnon but Kesler’s dusty bones found their way into the shooting lane. Too bad. It would’ve been an appropriate capper to a great game.

Nikita Zadorov (C+) – His much-maligned benching looked like it might be destined to repeat itself after he took a silly penalty right after Colorado tied the game and the Ducks scored on the ensuing power play. But Zadorov kept getting out there and had a solid showing.