Avs-Sharks Game 6 player grades: Going the distance

Tyson Barrie (C-) – I liked his game defensively more than offensively. That’s never a good thing because Barrie needs to be dynamite offensively. He just wasn’t tonight and is activation through the neutral zone wasn’t as impactful as we’ve seen the rest of the playoffs.

Gabriel Bourque (C) – Some big hits in the series but you can’t get caved in every shift.

Derick Brassard (B) – He made a very questionable decision to change late in the second period that helped lead to the Burns tying goal but Meier also skated 1v4 into the Avalanche zone. It wasn’t all on 18. He had a hell of a third period, though, and his assist to Compher was his first apple as an Av.

Ian Cole (B-) – I really liked his overall game. He was way more aggressive offensively than we’re accustomed to seeing from him and it came as zero cost to his defense, which was solid overall. No penalties, no PPGA. Just a very solid night for Cole.

J.T. Compher (A+) – I’ve jokingly called Compher “Ginger Drury” a lot over the years but this kind of performance is exactly why. What a huge game when the Avs needed it the most.

Samuel Girard (B-) – Girard was solid in moving the puck but he wasn’t spectacular tonight. Decent defensive game, too. No complaints about his game at all.

Philipp Grubauer (B) – Grubi was as he’s been most of these playoffs – steady, at times spectacular, but just a shade below dominant. His love of the poke check on breakaways/near breakaways continues to frustrate me if only because they so rarely work the way he wants. It happened again on the second goal when his attempt to poke the puck away left him vulnerable to exactly what happened. A little defensive help certainly would have been nice, too.

Erik Johnson (C+) – Made a nice play on the goal early in the third period. I really didn’t notice him a lot defensively but did see him trying to activate on offense more than we’ve seen this postseason. The shot share is just on the negative side but I didn’t feel he was bad tonight.

Tyson Jost (B) – A negative on the shot share but he played well again. And his goal was the kind of finish we’ve seen too little of from him in his career. Have to feel good about Jost’s game right now.

Alexander Kerfoot (C+) – Another game where I struggle with Kerfoot’s game. It felt like the process was a real struggle for him tonight and he certainly wasn’t at his best. That said, his individual effort on Colorado’s second goal was fantastic. A great keep of the puck on a clearing attempt and then he went straight to the net to screen Jones after cycling the puck.

Gabriel Landeskog (A) – It wasn’t a typical ‘A’ night for Landeskog, who at times looked slower than normal and like he was playing through an obvious injury. He’s struggled to find the net in the playoffs and with the deflections not working, he had been blanked by Mike Smith and Martin Jones. Then he scored the OT winner and all was (temporarily) forgotten. Huge finish from the captain.

Cale Makar (A-) – He has the strongest shot metrics on the team and notched an assist on the game-winning goal when he didn’t get cute but took the failed San Jose clear and fired it at the net. Good things happen when you shoot. Makar gets the minus for the questionable defense on the first San Jose goal. He recovered well enough to make it competitive without taking a penalty but his gap control was a mess on the play and Meier powered through him a little too effectively.

Nathan MacKinnon (B) – Drove some offense, got rocked at times defensively, and was a sight to behold on nearly every shift. He made great plays and glaring mistakes on both ends of the ice tonight. He was negative in shot share, which doesn’t happen often, and was held scoreless. And he still had five shots on goal and five more attempts that were either blocked or missed. The guy is an animal.

Patrik Nemeth (C) – I simply didn’t notice Nemeth at all tonight, good or bad. He played just under 10 minutes in what was overall a very good defensive effort. The low grade is really more of a reflection of my failure to register his play than anything he did or did not do.

Matt Nieto (B) – Nieto, however, I noticed. I think this series might be the best I’ve ever seen him play. He’s been all over pucks, creating problems with his speed and hard work. I’ve loved watching him get after his former team.

Mikko Rantanen (C+) – I thought he quietly played the worst of the Avs’ big line tonight. Of course, he also got rocked midgame by Brent Burns and was clearly laboring the rest of the game. He needs to be okay for Game 7 because Colorado isn’t going to get away with him playing as clearly compromised as he was tonight.

Carl Soderberg (B) – I felt like this was Carl’s best game of the series and that’s not even heavily factoring in his assist on Compher’s first goal. He was good and effective throughout, providing a quality matchup problem for San Jose.

Colin Wilson (C-) – Wilson got a freebie assist on a puck he misplayed so that was nice. Otherwise, Wilson was ineffective throughout tonight and I really didn’t like his game as a whole. He might have had a goal tonight had MacKinnon not accidentally blocked the shot. It was that sort of night for Wilson.

Nikita Zadorov (C-) – He got crushed in shot share and he was unlucky as it gets on the final San Jose goal. He also had a completely unnecessary icing late in the second period that was shortly followed by the Burns tying goal. But he had seven hits and snuffed out some legitimately good offensive chances both with his physical play and with just raw good defense. If there was ever a game to showcase Zadorov’s career to this point, tonight’s was it. Great physical presence (Evander Kane is the unhappiest player that this series is going the distance), questionable work with the puck.