Avs Game 52 Grades: Monarchy shmonarchy

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – C

I’ll be real and admit I didn’t see a lot from that fourth line tonight. Pretty much even in shot share and with only a minute of PK time available, his role was minimized throughout.

Andre Burakovsky – B

Loved most of his game. Zone entries were a lot cleaner and he was playing with some real jump. When he’s engaged and his legs are moving, he brings a dynamic element to whatever line he’s on and that continued tonight. Really liked his game. Two assists felt appropriate.

J.T. Compher – C

A perfectly acceptable, albeit quiet, game from Compher. I thought the legs were moving well but I didn’t see anything great on offense or defense to justify doing too much with his grade. Perfectly average.

Joonas Donskoi – C

Plenty of encouraging things from Donskoi tonight but it might be time to take him off that top PP unit. I know his being right-handed plays a role in him being there in the first place but it’s been a while since he’s done anything offensively and between Burakovsky, Kadri, and now Newhook, that second unit has arguably three guys you like a little more to score goals than Donskoi. That little one-timer from the bumper spot hasn’t yielded a goal in two months.

Ryan Graves – B

The first time I had a strong feeling about Graves came in the final two minutes of the game. The Kings tried to push the puck up the wall and deep into the zone and Graves sealed his man inside the zone perfectly and forced him off the puck. It was perfect gap control and he smoked the guy trying to get by him. Good underlying numbers and I didn’t notice any of the BIG MISTAKES that he’s had a penchant for making this year.

Philipp Grubauer – C+

Faced just 17 shots on goal but didn’t look great again. Made a couple of big saves but both goals were a result of big rebounds. The first goal he clearly didn’t pick up cleanly until the puck was almost to him and he just kicked out the leg in desperation. Unfortunately, he kicked it right to Brendan Lemieux, who had an empty net to put the rebound into. Second Kings goal was worse in my eyes as it was a weak backhand from Vilardi that Grubauer was in position to stop. No help needed from a defender there. Should’ve had that one. Not a bad night but enough obvious room for improvement that you can’t help but feel like he’s not 100% back yet.

Tyson Jost – A

Bednar said he got a little too fancy at times with the puck tonight but I just think that’s the side effect of playing in the middle of one of the league’s long-time top lines. There’s an added pressure to do something between those guys. Jost came through, even if his goal was a howler. Went 13 CF/3 CA in his head-to-head matchup against Anze Kopitar. That’ll do.

Nazem Kadri – C+

Liked his all-around effort tonight. He looked “back” to me. Made some attempts at fancy stuff with the puck that could have gone better but the puck just seemed to follow him around and he’s at his best when that happens. Uncharacteristically bad night in the dot. His turnover trying to be a little cute with the puck led directly to the second Kings goal.

Gabriel Landeskog – D+

An overly harsh grade for the captain tonight, I’ll admit. It was just that his linemates played so well and he struggled so much that the contrast really jumped off the ice. Almost had a nice blind backhand goal on the first power play but the puck found Petersen’s leg. Just didn’t love this performance.

Nathan MacKinnon – A+

Didn’t play in hopes of helping some little dings heal up. MacKinnon getting as close to 100% healthy as he can before the start of the playoffs is smart business.

Jacob MacDonald – C+

The typical wildness tonight but some of it could have really cost the Avs as he got caught deep in the offensive zone a couple of times. He’s fun and helped generate some quality scoring chances. Biffed his best chance at scoring but there was a lot of traffic in front on the shot.

Cale Makar – A+

This is the superstar stuff that we see occasionally from Makar. Dominant performance throughout that saw him notch two points on seven shots on goal (10 shot attempts total). Put the team on his back, Greg Jennings style.

Patrik Nemeth – INC

Left with an injury early in the game and did not return. No grade, just good vibes in his direction. Postgame news sounded promising as no concussion was suffered, just some soreness.

Alex Newhook – B

Got the assist on a nice little drop pass entering the zone but that play was defined by Makar’s brilliance. Still haven’t seen “it” from him yet but two games into his career and Newhook is certainly not out of place on NHL ice. The second PP unit worked him into position for his patented wrister from the slot but it didn’t go…this time.

Valeri Nichushkin – B+

I was very frustrated with some aspects of Nichushkin’s game (all involved his play with the puck) but that’s just how he goes most of the time. Defensively he was strong and while a little more quality got through with him on the ice than is normal (he was on the ice for three high-danger chances against), it was still a strong overall performance. It’s hard to watch him brick some golden scoring chances.

Mikko Rantanen – A+

He was the big moose tonight. It’s always a wonder which Rantanen we get when MacKinnon isn’t in the lineup but this is the Rantanen that assures everyone he’d still be a star. Got his 30th goal tonight and has 60 points in 48 games. I think he’s underappreciated nationally, maybe even locally, too, with MacKinnon and Makar around. When he’s on like tonight, there are very few players in the league who can match his combination of size and skill.

Kiefer Sherwood – C

He played 11 minutes tonight and that shocked me because I couldn’t recall much of anything he did in this one. If something big happened with him on the ice, it slipped past me and I apologize.

Carl Soderberg – C-

This guy I did notice. Very frustrating to watch him walk in on a 3 on 1 with the puck and the Avs don’t even get a quality scoring chance from it. He was engaged physically tonight, which is something we don’t always see from him despite his size. I liked that part. I didn’t like much else.

Conor Timmins – B-

The play with the puck was a whole lot of good and fun. He got back and covered defensively when he made mistakes. Got an assist tonight that was well-deserved given how many scoring chances he was personally involved in. Downside for him was he was involved in way too many scoring chances for the Kings, too. Overall a good night but some things he can definitely clean up.

Devon Toews – A-

Some struggles early but I really like how he came into form as the game wore on. Got a free assist on the Jost goal. His play with the puck has leveled off a bit in the last few weeks but I thought tonight was a good step back towards the guy we’ve seen much of this year. Good, sharp decisions.