Darcy Kuemper – A

This was absolutely what Colorado envisioned in the offseason trade to acquire Kuemper. The second goal was the all-too-familiar goal below his blocker where he’s repeatedly been beaten this season but none of them were laughers and he shut the door at the end…with a little assistance from Erik Johnson.

Nicolas Aube-Kubel – C

An interesting night for NAK. You’d think as the temperature rose in the game, he’d be more at home with his physicality. He wasn’t out of place or anything, but I guess I was left wanting a little bit as the heat rose throughout the game. A great scoring chance, another penalty. Classic NAK.

Andre Burakovsky – A+

I’ve been burying Burakovsky in these grades for the last two weeks but what am I going to nitpick about this game? The first hat trick of his career and the third goal was absolute perfection, the exact kind of goal you keep a guy like Burky around because he can score it and very few others on your roster are capable of it.

J.T. Compher – C

He was second in SHTOI, tied for the lead in PPTOI, and while he went 67% on faceoffs, lost multiple draws in the final minute. He also casually got rocked in shot metrics (37% CF!) The Compher overuse is back, baby!

Samuel Girard – A

I’ve been loving on G’s game quite a bit in the last week but this…this was the goods. The going got tough and Girard matched the rising intensity of the game, laying at least one big hit and certainly separating another player from his happy place later on. He did his thing with the puck but defensively showed way more snarl than we’re accustomed to seeing.

Darren Helm – C+

Just 7:25 of ESTOI says that while he might be a veteran, he’s not particularly trusted by this staff yet in a tight game. He did see ice late in the game so they’re giving him a chance to earn more, but it’s a work in progress. His game overall was okay.

Erik Johnson – B

He’s become arguably the toughest grade during any particular game. He’s just so involved and for a guy you aren’t asking for high-end offense from, that’s typically a bad thing but somehow EJ makes it work. Huge save in the final moments of the game as he pulled a puck headed for the net out of harm’s way and back into safety.

Jack Johnson – C+

I’m torn here. The hockey player Johnson I thought really struggled at times, especially on the PK where he just completely gave up the backdoor contain on Joe Thornton’s goal. I loved his toughness, though, as he played despite having a deep gash on his face from getting hit by the puck early in the game. For the purposes of Operation Male Model, he’s going to have to be the security guard for a while as he heals up.

Tyson Jost – C

He made a couple of very nice individual plays to create scoring chances, including the chip of the puck that took a fortuitous bounce to Alex Newhook in the first period that Newhook fired just wide. He and Compher might be able to make it through a haunted house together but when they’re linemates, they’re the ones bringing the horror. They have to be split up (23% CF together). Didn’t like his PK work at all.

Kurtis MacDermid – B

Oookay. He didn’t even play four minutes and I’m giving him a grade anyway. He had three hits in just six shifts and actively tried to fight Radko Gudas, which would’ve made him a Hockey Twitter hero forever. He can’t get anyone not named Nicolas Deslauriers to fight him but he’s actively trying. He gets a lot of credit for fake things, I’ll give him credit for actually helping the Avs establish a bit of their edge tonight.

Jacob MacDonald – INC

There’s nothing to say about MacDonald other than everyone at DNVR is hoping he is okay and gets well soon. He’s a favorite of ours here and even if he wasn’t, we’d still be wishing for the best for him.

Nathan MacKinnon – B+

Stop me if you’ve heard this from me before, but he’s thisclose to having a huge night. Not that two assists is a bad night, of course, but any day now we’re going to get that five-point explosion where everything breaks MacKinnon’s way. He’s driving the hell out of play and had nine more shot attempts tonight.

Cale Makar – B+

He’s human! Despite being a touch negative in shot metrics and finishing with zero points, I think it’s very important that Makar continues to show he’s comfortable in games where teams are going to try to run him off pucks. He adapted and was dangerous throughout as he was negative in Corsi (17-21) but positive in scoring chances (8-4).

Mikhail Maltsev – C

This one is tough from my seat. From Bednar’s spot, it’s extremely easy, but I’m not Bednar so I feel bad about how it went tonight. Maltsev was on his way to a solid ‘B’ grade as he was part of multiple legit scoring chances and could’ve had a multi-point night with a little more luck. That unbelievably dumb penalty that helped Florida climb back into the game, however, is the kind of thing that gets a player benched. And it did.

Alex Newhook – A-

Call me a sucker for compete level, but Newhook responded to tonight’s atmosphere by elevating his game. That’s the stuff you love to see. He could’ve also had a multi-point night if Sergei Bobrovsky hadn’t been locked in. He was all over the ice. Winning just two of 13 faceoffs, however, is not great, but everything else about Newhook’s work at center is something I absolutely love.

Valeri Nichushkin – B

The kind of game Nuke always thrives in, he just hummed along and found himself involved in some great scoring chances per usual. He was fun, even if the stone hands temporarily replaced the clay upgrades he’s been using most of this season. He’s such a fundamentally good hockey player.

Logan O’Connor – C+

Like Newhook, I love the work ethic first and foremost with LOC. He gives an honest effort and you don’t ever wonder what could have been had he put a little extra pep in his step. He is full-time full-pep.

Mikko Rantanen – A-

I’ve got my annoyances with his game (read previous grades!) but what can you say when he has three assists and generally plays a pretty good game. The penalty late in the game isn’t great and lowered his grade a little but the Avs survived.

Devon Toews – A

Notched an assist, which was cool, but played 30 minutes and heavily rotated in a matchup primarily against Florida’s top two lines. He more or less broke even across the board against the top Panthers forwards while shifting on a pairing next to Cale Makar and Sam Girard. Toews also put in work next to both Johnsons, giving Bednar the kind of versatile shut down option to exploit late-game matchups. That’s what he did with Toews in this game and Toews handled the assignment with great aplomb.