Avs Game 20 Grades: JoJo says "NoNo"

Nicolas Aube-Kubel – C-

His penalty was his fourth in eight games in Colorado. That’s too many. He can’t seem to string together games without doing something dumb. The penalty tonight you feel bad for because he thought his star player had just taken an elbow up high and he was defending him. When it turned out to be friendly fire, NAK’s aggression was misplaced and he ended up in the box alone. Heart in the right place, head not. The rest of his game was forgettable.

Andre Burakovsky – A

The shot metrics are sparkling (all of the top-six forwards have this in common) and Burakovsky scored a very un-Burakovsky goal when he crashed the net, found a loose puck and scored a greasy one. Great for him and overall a much better night than some of his recent struggles.

Samuel Girard – A

I seem to only live in extremes with Girard. Either he’s fantastic and I love his game, a la tonight, or I’m so frustrated I want to shout adult language in the general direction of a television. Tonight was Girard performing well in front of the home crowd.

Darren Helm – C-

I don’t think he’s very good. He’s certainly not Matt Calvert. He may not even be Matt Nieto. I’ve been slow to criticize him much because he’s spent so much of his season next to guys who probably shouldn’t be in the NHL but he’s not making a particularly strong case he should be either.

Jonas Johansson – A+

This is as much about Johansson responding to last night’s fiasco as it is his game tonight. In an isolated sample, this just wasn’t a game where he was tested very much and he didn’t give anything free to the Habs. Great. The real story was how he powered through in a tough spot after the worst night of his career. Great response.

Erik Johnson – B-

Speaking of better, I thought EJ was heaps and bounds better in this game than last night’s. There were still some moments of wondering what he might be up to but ultimately I was a much larger fan of his game overall. Nowhere near as many mistakes.

Jack Johnson – D

The opposite of EJ, I thought JJ was passable at times last night but pretty bad tonight. Not the worst we’ve seen of him but close. Not many good puck decisions, especially in his own zone, and he wasn’t nearly as physical as I was expecting against a Montreal team that isn’t super shy about contact.

Tyson Jost – C

The analytics have him pretty much breaking even in shots but coming out well ahead in scoring chances. I’ll be honest in saying I just don’t really remember too much of his game for once. Totally drifted into the background for me and I tend to give all of those guys a ‘C’ because I don’t feel either way about them

Nazem Kadri – A

Another very good overall night for Kadri. This is the best hockey of his career, bar none.

Gabriel Landeskog – B

So here’s the rub with Landy: I loved his game tonight. He was active and engaged throughout and filled up the stat sheet but was responsible for two of the five Colorado penalties. Both were avoidable and that drops his grade down a full letter. Otherwise a great game for the captain.

Kurtis MacDermid – C

I just didn’t have a major problem with MacDermid tonight. The most notable sequence I had for him involved a failed clear but MacDermid made the right decision and executed with the puck just the way you’d want, but was failed by the forwards. I don’t think this was a step forward just because it wasn’t a step backward.

Nathan MacKinnon – B+

I thought MacK was dangerous and could have had a litany of points if a few things went his way. Jake Allen’s best save of the night was a sassy glove save of a MacKinnon wrister. He still had an assist but his defense was just a touch lacking once again but the offense looked even better. He’s thisclose to completely dominating a game.

Cale Makar – A

If we could put him on the ballot in Colorado in the mid-terms, he’d win in a landslide. Kid rules.

Jayson Megna – F

Don’t love giving out F grades but also don’t love when a player has a 0 CF/9 CA stat line even if he did play just six minutes. Normally I give out incomplete for a player with so little ice, but it wasn’t the plan to play Megna that little. The worst game of his season dictated the team not play him again.

Alex Newhook – D-

Same for Newhook, honestly. I thought he had some real moments in Toronto but this was a night where he got kicked around a bit more and seemed to never find his groove. A bad night for the rookie.

Valeri Nichushkin – A+

I wrote in my last grades after the Predators game that I didn’t understand not loving this guy at this point and I’m just here to reiterate that point. He’s a train of spectacular fancystats and has 11 points through 11 games. Contract years are a hell of a drug.

Logan O’Connor – A+

Sometimes y’all accuse me of being a nerd caught up in spreadsheets and not watching the game or whatever but here’s a great example of me throwing out the numbers because LOC’s effort was game-changing tonight and his work on the game’s opening goal was immaculate. An awesome night that was close to being even better if he could finish a breakaway opportunity.

Mikko Rantanen – B

I thought he had a quieter game than MacKinnon or Landeskog but then you poke through the numbers and see he added an assist (albeit on Landeskog’s ENG) and had dominant shot metrics and you just roll with the punches on this one.

Devon Toews – A

Quiet, effective as hell, and could have been even better if Allen didn’t make a nice save on the Toews one-timer on a short-handed chance shortly after Nichushkin’s goal on the same penalty kill. He got a “good guy, works hard, loves the game” assist on the ENG but it’s okay for the universe to hook him up with that one. He earned it after another very good night.