Avs-Hurricanes player grades: Windy water wins

Andrew Agozzino (C) – He was fine. The fourth line had its moments of both good and bad but at least Agozzino and Andrighetto helped create some offense in limited minutes.

Sven Andrighetto (C) – Another really low-impact night for Andrighetto as he continues to play out the string on his Colorado career. I like the guy so I’m disappointed it hasn’t gone better for him.

Tyson Barrie (C-) – The power play wasn’t even really competitive. I had this given as an F originally but Barrie was pretty adamant postgame his stick had been slashed out of his hands by Svechnikov and watching the replay it sure looks like he has a case there. It was still not a great night for Barrie as there were some very questionable decisions with the puck.

Gabriel Bourque (D) – This dude is…not good. There’s just no offensive touch whatsoever.

Derick Brassard (D+) – When you’re playing next to MacKinnon, you have to flash throughout. He did that last game but I just can’t say I felt he was any good tonight.  Watching the replay of Carolina’s second goal, he looks like the guy who needed to get back and help out and he was nowhere near the play. Rantanen was caught trying to defend two guys and had Brassard (or Barrie) gotten back sooner that goal may never happen.

Matt Calvert (C+) – I thought Calvert was okay. The sequence where they drew the de Haan Delay of Game penalty was a mess that he got bailed out of because he should’ve shot or passed there. Doing nothing got rewarded but he got lucky with it. I didn’t hate the rest of his game.

Ian Cole (C) – Another night where he’s on the ice for a goal against but it’s real hard to pin that one on Cole at all. You have to do some real mental gymnastics to try to blame it on him but there are some real flexible folks out there. I thought overall he was a break-even player in this one. There were some nice moments mixed in with a few plays that made me recoil in disappointment.

J.T. Compher (F) – I just didn’t notice him do much of anything positive at all and he got absolutely crushed in shot share. The Hurricanes were quite content with JTC on the ice as he was out there for a team-high 25 shot attempts against at 5v5. That’s a monster number.

Samuel Girard (C-) – It was an up and down affair for G tonight as he lost an early edge that created a great scoring chance for Carolina and he dropped his spin move on a poor Carolina guy at the guy that left him sprawling on the ice. Hilarious but nothing of substance came of it. I’d like to see him start to take these games over a bit more. He can blend in and be too much of Just A Guy at times.

Philipp Grubauer (A-) – Goalies are kind of all or nothing in grades for me. Grubauer was great today, stopping 30 of the 32 shots he faced and didn’t really stand much chance on either goal against. He got beat by a goaltender who had a career night.

Erik Johnson (F) – I have no idea what EJ was doing in the sequence leading to the first goal against. It was a terrible decision to step up and try to make a play and he was in the process of getting called for a penalty when he gave up on the play and helped allow an easy 2 on 1. I don’t think the Avs have gotten his best very often this year and they’ve really needed it.

Tyson Jost (C) – A lot of the numbers look good but he felt just a half-step off tonight. He had a couple shots on goal but there was a lot more in front of him tonight but he wasn’t able to capitalize.

Alexander Kerfoot (F) – The fancy stats hide what a poor night I really thought he had. It was about this time of year last year I was arguing that maybe he needed a healthy scratch because he was actively hurting the team and I think he’s been that way again recently. I thought he was downright awful tonight.  

Nathan MacKinnon (C-) – Seven shots on goal and I’m still giving him a low grade. He did what he could to carry this team tonight and overall I thought his defensive effort was better than we’ve seen at times this year but it just wasn’t enough. Colorado rarely wins when MacKinnon is kept from the scoresheet.

Patrik Nemeth (D-) – I didn’t think he was any good at even strength but his limited work on the PK was pretty sound. I generally liked Colorado’s PK tonight. Nemeth also created a scoring chance early that came from nowhere but soon retreated to his usual Casper routine.

Mikko Rantanen (B) – He hit the post and was all over the ice involved in scoring chances tonight. I thought he was Colorado’s most dangerous player and he set up a handful of excellent scoring chances. Mrazek ruined everyone’s fun tonight.

Carl Soderberg (C) – Like Rantanen, Soderberg helped create some scoring chances that could have changed the game had they been buried. Instead, it was a donut on the scoreboard and nobody gets much credit for what they did well.

Colin Wilson (D) – This is the toughest grade to hand out. He was involved in Colorado’s best scoring chances, especially in the third period. Does he get credit for doing all the right things except finishing, especially when one of the saves by Mrazek was downright insane? This is a harsher grade than it normally would be just because Mrazek made Wilson into a great save highlight reel multiple times tonight and the Avs just needed more.

Nikita Zadorov (C+) – I thought this was a pretty standard Zadorov night. He blocked some shots, laid the wood when appropriate, and did some questionable stuff with the puck. Overall I liked more of what I saw, especially when he got stuck on a long shift and decided to hit two people at once to solve his problems. It worked and made me laugh, which is always a bonus.