Avs Game 7 Grades: Shark for dinner

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – B-

He had the goal taken away from him that looked like it might have hit off his stick, but a good night for the fourth line otherwise. They controlled the majority of the play and shot attempts, although the real driver was Jost.

Andre Burakovsky – B

Nice to have him back after a game of getting himself back up to speed. Two great plays on the second line’s goals, as that line showed chemistry for the first time this season. Still want to see him shoot more, as he shot is unstoppable.

Bowen Byram – C-

I think this was probably Byram’s sloppiest game so far. He had a turnover in the defensive zone early that Grubauer bailed him out on, and then lost Couture’s stick on the third Sharks goal. Those things are going to happen, but you still saw flashes of the skill, like a great cross-ice pass to Burakovsky late. He led the team in time on ice, and the staff used this game as a chance to look at him in all situations.

J.T. Compher – D

He had a burst shorthanded where he nearly beat Karlsson, but beyond that, another nothing burger game from him. Zero shot attempts and both he and Graves got caught in no-man’s land on the second Sharks goal.

Joonas Donskoi – B

It feels strange because he really hasn’t looked all that great, but Donskoi is once again producing, with his third goal in seven games this year. Two of his goals have come off deflections in front, so nice to see him getting to the net.

Samuel Girard – A

Another star performance from Girard, who Bednar said after the game is “making the game look easy.” Had a great backdoor look for Rantanen early that almost went in, but he’s in another universe right now with his play and was nice to see him get rewarded with a goal. Looked scary when he got taken out by Kane late, but he seems fine.

Ryan Graves – D

Back in the lineup, but not a great one for him. Got caught again stepping up when he probably should have backed up, and for his second straight game, it led to a goal against. Even Bednar wasn’t too happy with his performance afterward, and you can tell Graves is a little frustrated with his misconduct late.

Philipp Grubauer – C

Need him to seal the post on that first goal, even if it was a little flukey with the bouncing. I would consider this an average game from him, but when your team scores seven goals for you, not much to worry about.

Erik Johnson – B+

Even though he played a game on the road trip, this should really be considered his debut, as he wasn’t ready to go then. He looked comfortable after a few shifts against the Sharks, and he’s a calming presence for a pretty young defense overall. His role looks like it will be different this year, and that’s probably a good thing over the course of the year.

Tyson Jost – A

Jost has done a lot of things right this year defensively, but tonight, it all clicked in every zone. Great patience on his assist to wait for Girard to get into the zone, and he was a maniac all over the ice, drawing a penalty in the first and running Kane late.

Nazem Kadri – B+

I could tell Kadri and his line had more jump right from the get-go, and even though he’s a little frustrated right now with no even-strength goals, it will come if he plays like this. Fantastic play on the second Saad goal to draw the defenders towards him and then sauce it over to Burakovsky.

Gabriel Landeskog -B+

Landy didn’t have to attempt a shot at even strength this game, but did his work along the boards and defensively. I love seeing the Captain on the team chase down Timo Meier on a breakaway in a 7-2 game to disrupt him. That’s a leader setting the tone for his team not for this game but moving forward.

Nathan MacKinnon – A

Rantanen is stealing all the goals from him right now, but he’s still a monster to deal with and making it look easy most nights. The stick handling on the Rantanen goal was something to behold, and like most nights, he only drew one penalty even though it should have been a few more.

Cale Makar – A

The bulk of his points have come in the two blowout games, but he now leads all defensemen in scoring this year. Once again, the Avs completely dominated the game with him on the ice, only giving up five shot attempts against in his near 15 even strength minutes.

Valeri Nichushkin – A

The prototypical Nichushkin game where he hounds the puck and that leads to some chances ended with a very fitting Nichushkin goal, where he loses the puck but his skate ends up putting it in. And what do you know, putting him on the penalty kill works.

Mikko Rantanen – A+

He’s on another level right now, and it’s not just offensively. He’s working hard all over the ice, coming back to break up odd-man rushes in the defensive zone. He also seems to be a little angrier this year as well, as he dropped two Sharks players with hits tonight.

Brandon Saad – A

Led the Avs in even strength shot attempts and picked up two more goals to hopefully get things going. As I mentioned earlier, that line seemed to finally find some chemistry, and I loved Saad backing away from the defenders to find the soft spot in the defense on his first goal.

Kiefer Sherwood – C+

I have to say I barely noticed him out there, which isn’t a bad thing. He picked up a point off a bank pass to Jost on Girard’s goal, but other than that, a quiet night without much to note.

Devon Toews – B-

Probably the first game where he made some mistakes, which were going to happen eventually, but the Avs dominated with him on the ice. Loved his smart play in the first, recognizing Rantanen backchecking and reading that the pass was coming on a two on one so he could break it up. The left side of the defense looks set right now.