Avs Game 11 Grades: Failure to launch

Erik Johnson – D

Sometimes guys have tough nights in the box score when they really didn’t do a lot to earn it. This is best represented by plus/minus and the way people try to use it to interpret how good or bad a player was during that game. Tonight, Johnson earned the negative two by playing key roles in both of the goals Anaheim scored with him out there. I’ve largely liked him in a more simplified role but tonight there was room for him to do more.

Cale Makar – A+

I’ve always tended to save the high grades like this for guys who had huge nights on the stat sheet but Makar was just that good tonight. He was strong defensively and outrageous offensively. He had seven shots on goal three days ago. He’s had nine in the last two games and six of them came tonight against the Ducks. He was dominant at even strength and was the game’s best player by a mile. He picked up a well-earned assist on a great entry on the PP that created confusion in Anaheim’s PK system and MacKinnon was the ultimate beneficiary from Makar’s brilliance. All the times we’ve said, “Makar has more to give”? Tonight was that was more. Wow.

Matt Calvert – A

Nowhere near as sexy as Makar but almost just as effective. Calvert and the fourth line tore up the Ducks at even strength tonight. Calvert played with his usual speed and tenacity and this line could have easily potted a goal or two with some of the chances they created.

Valeri Nichushkin – D

Where did the player go who was strong on pucks and played with a tenacity befitting a man his size? That player, the one from opening night, has not been seen in a while and it’s clear he has lost the trust of the coaching staff for now. This was the fear with his signing. He needs to step it up.

Nikita Zadorov – D+

Another guy whose game felt awfully small in that large frame of his. It wasn’t a night full of good or bad from big Z, just a big bag of…meh? There were some mistakes and a poor read by him nearly gave the Ducks a breakaway in the third but he recovered and Francouz made a nice play. My real issue with Zadorov tonight was I didn’t feel like there were any good plays, either defensively or with the puck.

Tyson Jost – C-

This was one of his weaker games in a strong stretch for him. He continues to get obliterated in the faceoff circle but he’s a young guy with not many reps under his belt and that aspect typically takes time. Like a year or two of time. Now that he seems to be settled into as the 3C, he needs to get to work refining those skills. He did draw another penalty tonight and is Colorado’s leader in that department. He could’ve easily had a second when Cam Fowler drove him into the Anaheim net. Ultimately, he was too low-impact of a player tonight.

Colin Wilson – D

Speaking of low-impact, what do I even say about Colin Wilson right now? His shot metrics continue to hum along as much better than expected but his results and on-ice performance leave plenty to be desired. I always struggle to grade nights like Wilson had because the eyes and the results are so misaligned. The numbers say “Could’ve been worse!” and the eyes said, “Oh, he played?”

Ryan Graves – B-

Now, this is a guy whose game I appreciated. He was the victim of some bad luck when the third goal caught his stick flush and deflected past Francouz. I talked to him after the game about it and he said it was always random what happened after he got his stick in the way. But that was his job and he did it. It just blew up in his face because the universe has a say in things and tonight it decided the Avs were getting at least some bad luck.

Ian Cole – C

Cole, like Wilson, was a guy I just didn’t notice much. The big difference is Cole played 19:31 and all in all broke mostly even in the shot metrics. There was one sequence where the Avs entered the offensive zone on the rush and they hit Cole, who was jumping into space vacated by Ducks forwards and it would have been a great scoring chance except Cole fumbled it just enough to give everyone time to reset and contest the shot.

Nathan MacKinnon – D+

He’s getting the plus because the goal he scored was pretty awesome and because he trucked over Hampus Lindholm, who was interfering with him at the time of contact. Both of those were positive plays. The rest of the game? Not so much. Especially losing that battle at center ice with Silfverberg that led to the empty-net goal. Neat for him to keep his scoring streak going but he needs to be significantly better than he was tonight overall.

J.T. Compher – F

I always say this but I don’t like giving out the F grade. It just doesn’t feel good. It feels really harsh unless a guy had just a disaster of a night. Enter Compher, who got an assist on the MacKinnon goal but otherwise was arguably Colorado’s worst forward on a night with plenty of bad ones to pick from.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare –  A

Like Calvert, just kept doing his thing. He’s great at what he does. He even dominated in the faceoff circle to boot. The havoc he brings on opposing PP units is fun to watch. He is a thief of joy for opposing team’s PP breakouts.

Samuel Girard – C-

There was a moment tonight that really stood out to me. It was in the third period as the Avs were trying to claw their way to a tie game and Girard and Makar were on a pairing together as Bednar tried to kickstart some offense. Makar was all head fakes and shimmy shakes with the puck tonight and it was startling just how cool and calm Girard was in comparison. We know him for the spin move and that’s great but in general, he’s such a composed guy who slows everything down while somehow still playing at a fast pace. It’s just not frenetic energy like Makar brings.

Joonas Donskoi – C-

Didn’t love his work on the first goal against where he seemed a little lost. I always say that luck is a reference point and where we saw Graves get unlucky, Donskoi was not tonight as he banked a puck off Ryan Miller and into his own net to give Colorado their first goal of the game. You’ll take it because you’re never too good for goals but it was about the only good fortune the Avs had on the night.

Matt Nieto – A-

Like his linemates, it was a choice night for Nieto. He’s getting the minus just because several offensive sequences ended with him tonight. He has those nights where he’s involved in so many good things but he’s also part of the reason those good things don’t turn into goals. Sometimes I laugh at how much I’ve come around on appreciating Nieto’s game. He used to drive me crazy with what he couldn’t do but now I see him doing so many good little things every night that I’ve learned it’s okay that he isn’t a 20-goal scorer. He’s a perfect fit on one of the league’s best fourth lines.

Nazem Kadri – B

Good process, great underlying numbers, great in the faceoff circle. It’s the Kadri Trifecta that Colorado acquired him to give them on a nightly basis. He did his job for the most part tonight. I certainly didn’t have any major complaints about his game in this one.

Gabriel Landeskog – F

Multiple penalties and a sloppy offensive night. We haven’t seen this version of Landeskog much in the last two years but we used to him a lot more back in the day. I think we’d all be fine if he went back to being the 30-goal guy who played borderline dominant defense. The Avs could really use that guy.

Andre Burakovsky – B

There were some turnovers that were avoidable but he picked up an assist and I really like his decision-making on the power play right now. He seems to be making all the right reads on when to pass when to shoot, and when to hang on to the puck and draw a defender in. I am falling in deep like with his all-around game to boot.

Pavel Francouz – B-

I’d love to see him stop the first Anaheim goal. After that? Hung out to dry by a defense that didn’t make tons of mistakes but the ones they did were all big ones. Hell, the fourth one he had an Anaheim player knocked into him by his own defenseman and he still almost made the play. The night will hurt the numbers a bit but it shouldn’t dampen Bednar’s enthusiasm for playing Frankie.