Avs Game 13 Grades: Surviving

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – C

For the second straight game, this ragtag group on the fourth line did just enough to get by, and nearly scored. Bellemare had a chance in the first period but Holden got his stick on the shot to deflect it wide of the open net. It’s not pretty, and when Stone’s line was against them, it was ugly, but they’re getting by right now.

Andre Burakovsky – D

I don’t like Burakovsky on the top line, and him getting moved there killed some of the mojo. He was doing a whole lot of nothing on the second Vegas goal.

Bowen Byram – B+

The offense hasn’t been there yet, but he seemed to have more jump offensively in the third, trying to create a little more in the offensive zone. The impressive work has been on the defensive end, where you would have expected more struggles from him. He logged heavy minutes and while it wasn’t always pretty, he did a lot against some tough competition.

J.T. Compher – D-

After one of his stronger performances of the year, Compher went right back to doing…a lot of nothing. His one shot attempt at even strength missed the net by a good bit, and nothing was created with him on the ice. Had the worst possession numbers among the forwards.

Joonas Donskoi – B+

Picked up two more assists, including a beautiful pass to Saad on his goal in the second period, where he timed it perfectly. The production has been there from him, even if he’s not exactly driving the play.

Sheldon Dries – D

The one thing you can’t do if you’re playing extremely limited minutes on the fourth line is take penalties, and he took his second one in three games in the third period of this game. Would have to think with guys returning that he’ll be out next game.

Dennis Gilbert – INC

I get that he had a rough night the other night and wanted to get himself into this game, but with an already depleted lineup, I didn’t like the fight right away. Unfortunately, he also got hurt in the fight, and the Avs had to play most of the game with five defensemen.

Ryan Graves – C-

It looked really ugly for Graves out there after a strong performance the other evening, but he did just enough to get by. It felt like, especially early on, there was a turnover on every other shift, and he’s just really fighting the puck. He got better as the night went on, however.

Philipp Grubauer – A-

The man who is driving the bus for this team, as Nazem Kadri put in the postgame. Can’t argue with anything that he’s done, and he was great again. I imagine he plays Saturday, and then maybe gets a night off to keep him as fresh as they can.

Nazem Kadri – B

The second line got a boost when Saad dropped down, and Naz seems to have a knack for these last-minute heroics. Huge face-off win to even create the goal in the first place.

Jacob MacDonald – C-

Really feels like the lack of structure in his game is starting to show more and more, and the mistakes are getting bigger and bigger. Took a penalty in the second, which allowed Vegas to tie the game up, and had some turnovers. He also just goes whenever he feels like it, and that seems to be catching some teams by surprise.

Nathan MacKinnon – B

The chemistry between he and Rantanen was on display on MacKinnon’s goal in the first period. He had plenty of chances in this one to add to his goal total, but Pietrangelo made a great play to deny him in the first and then MacK just whiffed on an empty net in the second.

Jayson Megna – C

Liked him more than Dries tonight, and made a nice play to get the puck to Bellemare, who had a sure goal taken away by a nice stick by Holden.

Valeri Nichushkin – D

You could tell that Bednar was not happy with the wingers on his third line in the second period, because their ice time got cut a good bit after a lot in the first period. He had a nice chance late in the second, but not a lot of good from Nuke tonight.

Logan O’Connor – D

Felt like this was easily his worst game this year, and he didn’t have as much energy when tasked with a bigger role. Had a really bad icing in the second period that nearly cost the team.

Mikko Rantanen – C

Great play on the MacKinnon goal to show patience and then make the perfect pass. Beyond that, kind of quiet for him, and the powerplay was a mess.

Brandon Saad – A

Definitely their best skater, and this is not the first time he’s helped create a goal on a 3 on 2 just by creating the perfect center lane drive. He had some huge clears in the defensive zone late in the game to just calm things down.

Conor Timmins – C-

I took some heat on the post-game pod just because I don’t think Timmins has been that impressive this year. There’s just a lot of panic in his game and was again tonight, and on a shift to shift basis, you don’t know what you are getting. That being said, he’s playing way more minutes than he should be because of the injury situation, so he deserves credit for battling through and doing what is needed. This could be good for his development in the long run.

Devon Toews – D+

Logged a ton of minutes, but arguably his sloppiest game in an Avs uniform. The powerplay fit just hasn’t been there, and he had some tougher turnovers that we just haven’t seen from him much this year. The return of Makar would really help take some pressure off of him. Did love the swat out of mid-air to help start the rush on the MacKinnon goal.