Avs-Red Wings grades: Barrie, Barrie good

Kind of snuck themselves out of the trap tonight, didn’t they? Didn’t look too good there with a couple minutes left, but Tyson Barrie to the rescue, than Nathan MacKinnon for the winner winner, chicken dinner.

On to the grades:

Mikko Rantanen (A) – A goal and two assist for 96. We talked to him after the game and he seemed in good spirits, but later there were people who said he was seen in the X-ray room afterward. Hopefully he’s OK. I do remember a moment early in the game when he went down pretty hard on the ice and was slow to get up.

Nathan MacKinnon (A) – Ripped home the game-winner in…get this, overtime. No, really. Avs had a guy score to win a game in overtime. Dreams can come true. He was fast and dangerous most of the night. Still hesitating too much with his shot on the PP I think though.

Gabe Landeskog (A-) – Strong puck-possession numbers (27 Corsi for, 12 against), chipped in with assist. Almost had bad ending, when he was too gassed to play a puck in the Wings zone in OT and saw it go the other way in a chance that nearly went in for Detroit. But all’s well that ends well.

Alexander Kerfoot (C-) – Meh. Not much here to talk about tonight. Only played 8:47, as a fourth-line center. It was an obvious sign that Jared Bednar hasn’t loved his game of late, the demotion. He had a great chance on the backhand early on, but passed back to MacKinnon on a play that was too hard to execute.

Carl Soderberg (A-) – Strong night for Carl, an assist and plus-2. As usual, he had good net-front presence. He’s one of the stronger guys on the team in front of the net and is a good tipper – of pucks, that is.

J.T. Compher (B) – He scored the Avs’ first goal, a great shot to the top left corner on old friend Jonathan Bernier. His analytics weren’t great, though, and there were a couple moments where he was a bit out of position defensively.

Derick Brassard (C+) – I like his willingness to fire the puck on net. Almost scored a goal in the first period on a one-timer. Seems to get a little lost in the shuffle at times. I still think he was a nice pickup by Joe Sakic.

Sheldon Dries (F) – Rough night on the Corsi (1 for, 9 against). He was a minus-2 in 7:26. Just a bad night.

Matt Calvert (C-) – Played a team-high 3:08 among forwards on the PK, which I didn’t think was too good overall tonight. Effort was there, but the results were mostly mediocre.

Sven Andrighetto (F) – Was caught loafing back on the Danny DeKeyser goal that put Detroit up 2-1. The goal started when Nikita Zadorov failed to lock up puck along the wall, leading to a 2-on-1 situation that DeKeyser finished off. Nothing offensively from Sven 10.

Tyson Jost (C) – Decent puck-possession numbers. Trouble is, he didn’t do much of anything with it.

Colin Wilson (C+) – Had an assist and battled. I don’t like his being the second-line left wing right now though. But what do I know?

Erik Johnson (B-) – Did some good things, but played without the puck more than he played with it. Played more than 22 minutes. A good game, not a great game.

Sam Girard (C+) – Turned the puck over a couple times, got a bit lost behind the net on a couple plays that nearly cost his team. But he played nearly 23 minutes and did fine in the big picture.

Ian Cole (C+) – He’s become a bit of a whipping boy lately, but I thought he had a pretty decent game. Blocked three shots, was physically engaged, etc. A couple of scary moments defensively, including on the second goal for Detroit. But I don’t think that goal was much his fault.

Patrik Nemeth (C) – Minus-1, took a penalty. He did block three shots though.

Tyson Barrie (A) – His best game in a while. And not just because he scored that big tying goal at the end. Because his defensive game was good. Not perfect, but good. That late tying goal probably saved any chance the Avs still have of making the playoffs.

Nikita Zadorov (C) – Not the best night for Z. Made some bad passes out of zone, a minus-1 overall, negative puck-possession numbers. Appears to have escaped serious injury, after going into the boards. Might have gotten a shoulder or arm injury, but he played through it. Hopefully it didn’t get worse overnight.

Semyon Varlamov (C-) – Didn’t love his game tonight. Seemed to tighten up in the third and allowed two goals, including that near-side one-timer at the end on the power play. Seemed like his reaction times were a bit slow.