Avs-Jets player grades: Extra point is good

Now that was an ass-whipping.

Avs beat Winnipeg Jets 7-1 Wednesday night, move back into the top eight in the Western Conference and win the fights against a chippy Winnipeg squad. Let’s get to the grades, and I’ll be doling out A’s like biscuits on a cold Sunday morning.

Mikko Rantanen (A) – Scored the second goal of the game after a great setup pass by Matt Nieto. He also had six shots on goal and was credited with three takeaways. Boy, if he can start heating up again, Avs chances of playoffs will go up exponentially.

Nathan MacKinnon (A) – Scored his 30th of the season, achieving the mark for the second straight year. That broke a 0-for-30 Avs futility streak on the PP too. He had one awesome puck-handling sequence later in the game that didn’t result in a goal, but did have the scouts in attendance looking at each other like “Did you just see that?”

Gabe Landeskog (A) – Strong two-way game. Had goal and assist, won 7-of-11 faceoffs. Tremendous game.

Alexander Kerfoot (B) – Not everyone gets an A I guess. He didn’t get his name on the score sheet, though he was robbed on a point-blank chance. Had 17 Corsi events for and 10 against, so good puck-possession numbers.

Carl Soderberg (X) – Great game for Carl. He gets my third X grade of the year, a game so good it was filthy. A goal, two assists, plus-4, 22 Corsi for, 14 against. Won 11-of-20 faceoffs (the Avs won 56 percent of the draws tonight!). Carl now has 19 goals on the year.

Matt Calvert (A) – I thought he was just tremendous. His stat sheet says one goal, that’s it, but he did a ton of little things tonight, especially on a very good PK. He’s elevated his game of late, looking more like a leader on and off the ice. The goal was his 10th.

J.T. Compher (B+) – Good solid game, with an assist on A.J. Greer’s first career goal. He was aggressive as usual, and seemed to get under the skin of some Jets – which wasn’t hard to do in this one.

Tyson Jost (A+) – Rumors of his career death appear to have been greatly exaggerated. Suddenly, he’s looking like a 10th overall pick out there, making confident plays and being rewarded for them. A goal and two assists. He’s playing with a bad pinkie right now too.

A.J. Greer (A) – Let’s hear it for the kid. Hey, the first career goal was team goal No. 7 in a 7-1 win, but nobody can take it away from him now. I snapped this picture of him with the puck. That’s a keeper eh? In fact, one of the things Greer said is that he will take that puck with him wherever he travels now. It’s on the audio page.

Andrew Agozzino (C+) – A couple turnovers out there, one of them that could have gotten the Avs in an early hole if not for Varly. Don’t forget, this was a scoreless game into the second period.

Sven Andrighetto (B) – Two assists for Sven 10, his first multi-point game of the season. Be nice if he could finish some of his chances, but baby steps.

Matt Nieto (A) – A two-assist game for Neetsy. He’s got 18 assists on the season now. Yeah, only four goals, but 22 points is getting close to his career high. Strong game on the PK too.

Erik Johnson (A-) – Good strong defensive game for EJ. He’s definitely been better in the second half.

Tyson Barrie (B) – Had an assist. His puck-possession numbers were decent, though there were a couple of minor scary moments in the first period. Had five shots on net.

Sam Girard (A-) – Strong puck-possession numbers and a plus-4 night. That might be a little deceptive, but it was still one of Sam’s better games in a while.

Patrik Nemeth (B+) – A quietly effective game I thought. He’s been pretty good of late overall, in a quiet way.

Ryan Graves (B+) – Another good game for the kid. Played nearly 17 minutes, made the simple plays effectively and even picked up a late assist. He’s been a good addition to this club.

Nikita Zadorov (B+) – A physical presence who stepped in to stop some of Winnipeg’s chippiness, including a crowd-pleasing fight with Mark Scheifele. Good puck-possession numbers.

Semyon Varlamov (A) – Another excellent game for the rejuventated Russian. Again, it was a scoreless game into the second, and Winnipeg had some good early chances. He lost a second straight shutout on a power-play goal.