Avs Round Robin Game 3 Grades: Two Seed

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – D+

I think we can stop calling this the fourth line because Bednar is using it as the third line at the moment. I was not a huge fan of their game overall, though. Bellemare had the chance to get the puck in deep just prior to the second Vegas goal and failed to do so, which trapped the tired group out there.

Andre Burakovsky – D

He gets points for good work on the forecheck on the Donskoi goal, but other than that, a rough one for Burky, who barely saw the ice at even strength. He attempted zero shots in five on five play, including passing up a clear chance to drop the puck to an unsuspecting Compher. His only shot attempt was a buzzer-beater at the end of the first on the power play. Looks a little sloppy right now.

Matt Calvert – D+

Still love his effort, including a diving poke check at the end of the third to help get the game to overtime, but that line was not super effective, and he failed to clear the puck prior to the first Vegas goal on the PK.

Ian Cole – B

Talk about a guy who has been super solid since the team got back to it. Really liked his game overall. Only blip was taking a bit too long on some decisions offensively.

J.T. Compher – C+

I thought Compher had a relatively uninspired game, where he was not noticeable for most of it, and then he just goes and makes two of the bigger plays in the game, with a nice assist on the Donskoi goal and the big goal to send it to overtime. This grade might seem harsh because of that, but that line was pretty ineffective at even strength.

Joonas Donskoi – C+

Three goals in the bubble already if you count the exhibition game. I’m a little confused why he’s not playing so much, because he looks fine to me, and made a nice play on the forecheck just prior to his goal. You can’t deny that production either.

Samuel Girard – D

Today felt like a rough day for Sam, and he seemed to get frustrated after making a bad pass to Landeskog late in the game, slamming his stick on the ice. Vegas went after him physically and I don’t know if that played a role in his game, but he struggled a bit. Really didn’t like seeing him pass up a shot just prior to the overtime goal.

Ryan Graves – D

That’s now twice in the last two games that Graves has let a guy get behind him for a breakaway, and on this one, he ended up tripping his man and it didn’t end very well. Some ugly clearing attempts on the PK in this one too.

Philipp Grubauer – D

Loved the save early in the game on Karlsson, but this game isn’t going to help slow down the people who want to see Francouz start Game 1. The first goal was a tip, nothing he could do about that, but he way overplayed the second goal, and was beat cleanly glove side on the final two. Those last two were good chances, so can’t blame him too much, but he was outplayed by the guy at the other end.

Erik Johnson – C+

Nice to see EJ jumping into the play a bit more, and had a good chance in the third pinching into the offensive zone. I’ve been pretty happy with him, overall, although Grubi had to bail him out in the second after Stone took the puck from him for a breakaway.

Nazem Kadri – B+

Consistent. Kadri has been really consistent through the Round Robin, and that’s a good sign moving forward. His line has consistently controlled the puck more than the other team and has produced some chances because of it. Two more points for him today.

Gabriel Landeskog – C-

Well, he stayed out of the box in this one, so that’s good, but he had some sloppy moments with the puck, overall. Getting the puck taken off his stick cleanly before the OT winner was not great.

Nathan MacKinnon – C+

I have no idea what MacK was screaming at the ref to get that penalty call in the second, but that’s not something you want to see out of your star. He did make up for it with the big power-play goal. Probably his worst game in the Round Robin and Vegas deserves credit for that. Two shot attempts at even strength from MacK is not the norm.

Cale Makar – D

That seemed like a super sloppy game from Makar with the puck. Nothing was really working for him, and of his eight shot attempts, only one managed to hit the net.

Vladislav Namestnikov – C+

Like seeing a smaller guy like this have no fear when giving it back to a big guy like Reaves off the face-off in the third. Solid game from him, with some nice work on the backcheck at times. He’s a smart player.

Valeri Nichushkin – C+

Another great defensive game from Nuke, but offensively, not a lot there, and his lack of passing skills came back to haunt him again after his pass on a two on one in the second period was pretty easily broken up.

Matt Nieto – D

Well, not a great one from Nieto, taking a pretty clear penalty 200 feet away from his own net in the second period. That line was great last game, but not so much in this one. You wonder if that gives Jost an opening.

Mikko Rantanen – C

This game was all over the place from Mikko. He had great moments, and some less so. He’s come so close to scoring multiple goals so far and nothing wants to go in for him. You watch him dangle through the defense like he did in the second period and you can see what he’s really capable of. That backhand sauce pass to get it to Kadri on the tying goal was a thing of beauty, and he’s shown a bit of nasty in the Round Robin series. The flashes are there but the Avs are going to need some goals here soon.

Nikita Zadorov – C

It felt like Z was having his best game yet, with some smart plays, including shutting down Mark Stone in transition in the second period, but then the second goal happened and he didn’t seem to play much the rest of the game.