Avs player grades, from a win in Minny over the Wild

It sure sucked to see the Minnesota Wild’s playoff chances thrown a major wrench in the gears tonight by the Colorado Avalanche, didn’t it? If the Avs miss the playoffs, but also cause the Wild to miss them based off this 3-1 win tonight in their barn?

That won’t suck, will it? The grades:

Mikko Rantanen (B+) – No points, but on the ice for two of the Avs’ three goals. He had a ridiculous puck-handling display in the first period. Overall, a strong game despite nothing on the score sheet.

Nathan MacKinnon (B+) – Nothing on the score sheet either. But he played nearly 24 minutes in this game and had five shots on net. The Wild have always had a problem covering MacKinnon, and tonight was no different despite him getting nothing on the sheet.

Derick Brassard (C) – Lost four-of-five faceoffs, mediocre puck-possession stats (14 Corsi for, 12 against). Doesn’t seem fully-adjusted to this team yet.

Alexander Kerfoot (B+) – Won 8-of-11 faceoffs, which was huge. And, while he also was blanked on the score sheet, he had a couple of dangerous scoring chances and generally was a pain against the Wild defense with his skill and unpredictability.

Carl Soderberg (B+) – An assist for Carl. Three shots on net for Carl. A plus-2 in 20:25 for Carl. A strong game for Carl.

Tyson Jost (A) – Bar DOWN. Bar down, that backhander goal that proved the game-winner. Great play by Jost there, in a big game. He got his 10th goal of the year. Now, he’s just gotta do it again and again and again and again and again.

Colin Wilson (B+) – Great saucer pass for Josty on the game-winner. These are almost certainly his final 10 games with the Avs. So, why not go out with a bang?

Matt Calvert (B) – Good, tough fight in the second period. Tough around the net all night. He’s best when he’s a pain in the ass, and tonight he was.

Gabriel Bourque (C) – Played a little more than nine minutes, with no offensive stats whatsoever. Why he played and not A.J. Greer? Seemed weird to me too.

Sven Andrighetto (B+) – Only played a bit more than seven minutes, but had two shots on net and skated with the puck a lot. His Corsi for was 10. Corsi against? Zero.)

J.T. Compher (B) – I thought he was strong on his skates, went to the net a lot and generally was engaged in the right way. Nothing on the score sheet, but he was a good player for the Avs tonight.

Erik Johnson (B) – His analytics numbers were mostly average, but I thought he was a good asset to the Avs tonight. Mostly safe possession of the puck, and he blocked three shots.

Sam Girard (B-) – A pretty decent game. Nothing to get crazy about. I still feel like he’s not taking advantage of his true offensive skill. But overall, he played a competent game.

Tyson Barrie (A) – Scored the first goal of the game, was a plus-2 and had five shots on net. Sure we want to trade this guy? He surpassed the 50-point mark for the third time.

Ryan Graves (B+) – He didn’t even play eight minutes, but he had FIVE shot attempts. two of which went on net. He was 13-6 in Corsi for-against.

Patrik Nemeth (A) – Very strong game for No. 12. A couple jittery moments with puck, but no joke, he really played well in this thing. Corsi for-against was 16-7.

Ian Cole (A-) – Scored the empty-netter, plus assisted on another goal. Played a solid veteran game on the blue line.

Nikita Zadorov (B+) – Good analytics numbers, good physical presence. He always seems to play well against the Wild.

Philipp Grubauer (A) – Grooooooob. Very solid performance. Has he grabbed the No. 1 job for the rest of the season? Starting to look like it.