Avs Game 41 Grades: Be gone, vile Anaheim

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – C

The fourth line isn’t really doing a whole lot right now, with pretty limited minutes 5 on 5. Bellemare is still contributing on the PK, although he got stuck out there on a pretty long shift in the third with the Avs pinned in their end.

Andre Burakovsky – B+

Burakovsky all alone in the slot is basically a guaranteed goal, even against a goalie like Gibson. I liked his game for the most part tonight, other than passing up a shot on an odd-man rush in the second. Drew a penalty in this game too.

Kyle Burroughs – C

Unlike the last few games, didn’t notice Burroughs for much of the wrong reasons, and even noticed him make a pretty great stretch pass out of his zone to spring a forward.

J.T. Compher – C

Offensive zone penalty was not great, just reaching in on the forecheck, but he had some good looks. Gibson robbed him in the second period. His best chances have come away from the fourth line.

Joonas Donskoi – C+

I’m wondering how much longer this bumper job is his because he isn’t doing much with it. He got set up at one point in the second period and instead of one-timing it, corralled it and Gibson just got in position for an easy save.

Samuel Girard – B

Outside of getting some shots blocked, I liked his game. Anaheim has made it a point to target him physically, and he took some hits on the breakout this game, but it hasn’t done too much to alter his overall game.

Ryan Graves – C-

Hockey is weird. Last game was probably the best of the year for Graves. This one was a little ugly, as he got caught a few times early in the game pinching at the offensive blue line, leading to odd-man rushes. Then, he gets some wild bounces late for a huge goal.

Jonas Johansson – A-

I think this might have been the most comfortable he’s looked in net, with the only goal being a weird bounce. Not too much looking behind him, and seemed calm for the most part. Wonder if he even gets into another game.

Tyson Jost – A

The fancy stats weren’t great, but he passed the eye test big time. Made a great feed to Saad early in the game for a nice chance, and a great play for the Graves goal. Beyond that, he was a real pain for the Ducks to deal with all night. Great effort all around from him.

Nazem Kadri – C

The dancing one on one with defensemen almost got him some decent chances, but not enough. Did draw the key penalty to lead to the 5 on 3. Felt like he was the weak spot on that second line.

Gabriel Landeskog – A

Right before Landeskog scored, Makar had a shot from the point on the powerplay and you could see Landy and Gibson chatting about how Landy let Gibson see the puck. Kind of funny that Landeskog followed it up with a sweet deflection about 20 seconds later.

Nathan MacKinnon – B+

The dangle between Grant’s legs on the powerplay was borderline abuse, as it wasn’t even necessary but made Grant look so bad. After all the posts he’s hit this year, nice to see him get a bit of an easy goal at the end of the game.

Cale Makar – A

Ryan Getzlaf just is not able to do anything against this guy. His attempted rush up the ice in the second period that Makar just caught him on and disrupted the play was just mean, and Makar felt like the best player on the ice all night long. Beautiful pass to MacK at the end.

Keaton Middleton – C

Barely noticed him this game, and he came in to help not allow things to escalate in that scrum in the third period, so I guess that’s why he’s there.

Valeri Nichushkin – B+

This game could have started out a little ugly, but Nichushkin’s heroic back check eliminated a breakaway in the first two minutes of the game. He’s just a tank right now, and his move up to the second line gave them a small spark.

Liam O’Brien – D

I’m sure many will disagree, but what was the point of that fight? To settle something that happened several games ago now? Other than getting beat down pretty bad, it didn’t serve much of a purpose. The fourth line’s effectiveness just hasn’t been there, and they aren’t trusted with the same minutes with him there. I’d take Megna at this point in that spot.

Mikko Rantanen – B

Didn’t even feel like Rantanen’s best game, but he was wiring shots left and right, leading the team with eight shot attempts at even strength. And hey, he managed to not take a penalty, so that’s good.

Brandon Saad – B-

For the first time in a few games, he was more noticeable all over the ice, with some good backchecks and plays in the defensive zone. Had a great chance early in the game but fired it just wide on the rush.

Devon Toews – B

That was more like it. He had a rough week but bounced back tonight with some gaudy shot share numbers and back to his ways of cutting off plays before they even have a chance to enter the zone.