Avs-Sharks Grades: An appropriate response

The Colorado Avalanche beat the San Jose Sharks 3-1 in a game where the score did not accurately reflect the pace of play. How did each player do?

Check out the player grades below!

Tyson Barrie (C-) – Barrie was sloppy with the puck all night and his partnerships were inconsistent throughout the night. It seemed at times Bednar was trying to kickstart Barrie with some of the situations he placed him in but nothing was particularly effective. The Avalanche succeeded despite Barrie’s mediocre night.

Jonathan Bernier (A) – Bernier was excellent yet again tonight as he backstopped an Avalanche team that was determined to give up an unbalanced shared of shots on goal tonight. He stood tall, however, and took another step towards straight up taking the starting goaltender job.

Gabriel Bourque (B) – He drove hard to the net when Jost and Compher were taking advantage of a San Jose turnover and a great pass from Compher gave Bourque an easy goal. Unlike in Winnipeg, Bourque took care of business and finished it off. His play didn’t register much beyond that but the fourth line chipping in a goal is always found money.

Blake Comeau (C+) – He was solid tonight and I liked his physical play quite a bit. There aren’t many guys on the Avalanche who consistently punish opposing players for daring to have the puck and Comeau did a bit of it tonight, even if he officially was credited with just one hit (Pepsi Center is notoriously stingy with hits). His on-ice results were respectable. Colorado really needs a better right-handed late-game faceoff option than Comeau, however.

J.T. Compher (B+) – Yeaaaah. That’s the good stuff. Compher has stepped up nicely in the wake of MacKinnon’s injury and he has goals in four of his last five games. He’s gotten hot just as Colorado needed the extra offense to come from somewhere. He played with pure heart tonight. The comparisons to Chris Drury feel more and more appropriate all the time. Colorado has a real player in this kid.

Samuel Girard (B-) – This one, too. Girard had a strong night after a couple of lackluster performances in a row. He was really impressive especially with the puck tonight. I liked his decision-making in limited power play time. He’s already grown so much this season, it’s hard not to think the ceiling could be very high for this young man. He has helped solidify the previously hapless left side of the defense.

A.J. Greer (C-) – I’m not sure what Bednar saw the justify his benching in the first period but the lack of ice time throughout is pretty telling about where the coaching staff feels Greer’s game is right now. He had one particularly great shift where he made a nifty backhand pass that resulted in a scoring chance but that was about it from him. He wasn’t very effective in his limited time out there. On the other side of the coin, how can a guy get into any kind of rhythm when his usage is so limited?

Erik Johnson (B) – I thought Johnson was quietly effective tonight. There were some moments of struggle but he certainly isn’t lacking confidence right now. He’s willing to grab the puck and fly up the ice if it means a scoring chance, and plenty of times it does. He wasn’t spectacular but simply steady. That’s a big improvement for Colorado’s top defenseman after years of erratic play.

Tyson Jost (A) – Screw the shot metrics (which were simply so-so), Jost was excellent tonight. His aggression sparked the first goal and his confidence and skill level created the second after a beautiful breakout combination from Kerfoot and Yakupov. He was simply the man tonight.

Alexander Kerfoot (C-) – Stop me if you’ve heard this before but Kerfoot was just too passive tonight. It’s hard to call his patchwork line the “top” line for Colorado with Rantanen out so much as it’s just “a line”. I’d like to see him elevate his game but right now it’s simply not happening. We haven’t seen much in the way of Kerfoot struggles this season so I’m very curious how long this poor form lasts.

Gabriel Landeskog (C+) – Offensively, there just wasn’t much of anything from this line as a whole outside of Wilson but Landeskog helped bring balance to the universe with a strong defensive effort. He made several smart, underrated plays throughout the evening that were subtle in nature but important in reality. His grade is held back by, simply put, a ghost-like performance with the puck.

Anton Lindholm (D) – Instead of the reliably average night he’s been putting up lately, Lindholm was part of a teamwide problem in getting rocked. His results tonight were very poor as the Sharks dictated the pace and pretty much did whatever they wanted.

Patrik Nemeth (B-) – He can’t clear a puck worth a damn but the rest of his game was pretty on point tonight. He was active in disrupting shooters, he made several smart plays that forced the Sharks to continue to play well in order to be effective. The Sharks hit back with a pretty tepid response after the first period and Nemeth was looking stronger as the game wore on. Also, good fancy stats? What?

Matt Nieto (C+) – Not quite what you hope from in a game against a former team but Nieto was still effective throughout. He got robbed on his only shot on goal and was part of Colorado’s most consistently effective line all night. 

Carl Soderberg (A-) – I rarely hand out ‘A’ grades without a player scoring (this is probably the first time ever really) but Soderberg played with a mean streak and level of tenacity rarely seen from him. Given his impressive physical stature, when he’s engaged like he was tonight, he’s a very good and effective hockey player. His one-man army act annihilated San Jose’s first power play. He just wasn’t having it, apparently.

Dominic Toninato (C) – There were things I liked tonight as the line created a little danger for the Sharks but Toninato still hasn’t been involved in finishing anything. While much offense isn’t expected of him, it’s getting to be a lot of games without any production. He’s no Marc-Andre Cliche, though, as he continues to post respectable shot metrics.

Colin Wilson (B-) – Really liked his game tonight. It was simple and effective and he got flat out robbed by the physics gods (Okay, it was Hertl) but otherwise he was part of consistently dangerous offense. He’s not a first line guy long-term (of course) but he’s plenty solid and increasingly reliable as long as he’s healthy.

Nail Yakupov (B) – He fumbled several pucks tonight and continued to be a lot of flash and not much substance but he earned his assist with a nice pass in the neutral zone. A solid effort from a player who needed a good night in his lineup promotion.

Nikita Zadorov (B-) – Some things weren’t working very well and tonight Zadorov’s read of the game seemed a touch slow. His physical presence, however, was dominant as he registered seven hits and seemed to let out his aggression from a lackluster game against the Jets on the poor Sharks tonight. West Side Story never dies, y’all.

Jared Bednar (C) – It wasn’t a great effort from the ol’ bench boss tonight. His team got crushed in the first period but he gets credit for getting in their face during intermission and bringing out a significantly better effort. Still, being outshot 39-20 is the kind of thing he wants his team to avoid. Kudos for rolling with Bernier tonight, even if his reasoning was lackluster (Bernier played well last time against the Sharks? What? He gave up a grip of goals and allowed it get ultra close in the end. I’ll just chalk that up to a coach lying to the media, certainly a significant part of his job.