Avs/Blues Game 3 Grades: Gruuuuuuu

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – A

Big time blocks when on the penalty kill all night long, and just smart plays on a consistent basis. Love seeing him give Newhook some love on the bench after his goal.

Andre Burakovsky – D

To be completely honest, Burakovsky was the worst player on the ice 90% of the game. He was soft on pucks, all of his zone entries, particularly on the powerplay, where every time he went into the zone, a poor pass was made or it was just taken off his stick. Then he made a great backhand pass on the Saad goal that sealed it, and you see the skill. That’s the game-breaker.

J.T. Compher – B

Kadri wasn’t providing a whole lot of offense before leaving, but he was battling hard defensively. Compher stepped into that spot and did the same, with some solid work defensively and doing so up against O’Reilly a lot of the evening. The bank shot for the empty netter was well deserved.

Joonas Donskoi – D

Sloppy puck play and little to no offense created. At the end of the game, he found himself on the fourth line with Soderberg moving up. A sign of how the coach felt he was playing, perhaps.

Sam Girard – D

That was one of the tougher games for Girard that you’ll see. The Blues were hitting him hard, at one point he looked to even hit his head against the boards in the second period. The cameras caught him wincing in pain on the bench. He battled through it but struggled with the puck a lot of the night.

Ryan Graves – A

Birthday boy had a fantastic game. The dream coming out of the box is a breakaway. The next closest dream is the goalie giving you a freebie, and that’s what he got. Great pinch on the Newhook goal, and just a great game overall, particularly with Girard struggling.

Philipp Grubauer – A

Grubi won them that game because the Avs really didn’t have a ton of offense the first half of the game and he kept them alive. The leg saves at the end of the first period were massive. His rebound control was on point all evening, with the Avs getting caught on some long shifts and his ability to control the puck for a whistle was just massive.

Tyson Jost – B+

Strong game again, and the goal was just pure Jost from what we’ve seen of the last three months. Hard work and determination, not giving up after his initial shot was saved, even after falling to the ice. Good penalty kill work as well.

Gabriel Landeskog – C

Did not like Landeskog most of the night. In the first, he took way too long to make a decision in his own end and got the puck taken off him, which led to some chaos. A sloppy game after two fantastic games, but a nice assist on the Jost goal.

Nathan MacKinnon – C

The powerplay just did not have any mojo tonight, so towards the end, you could tell MacK had had enough and was just launching one-timers every time it came near him. Loved his battle most of the night defensively.

Cale Makar – B

Sloppy play on the shorthanded goal aside, a great game defensively again from Makar. He’s not getting enough love because of how good he is offensively, but his defensive game is incredible. He also managed to make more people look silly at the offensive blue line and hit a post in the second period.

Patrik Nemeth – B

Much better game from Nemeth. Got away with a trip late in the game with his skate, but he worked hard and kept the puck mistakes to a minimum. Had one dicey play in the second period with his skate in front of the net, but it all worked out.

Alex Newhook – B

Couldn’t have picked a better time for his first goal in the NHL. It’s becoming a theme with the Avs in these Game 3’s. Seemed to have some jump after that offensively, and just continues to be rock solid defensively.

Valeri Nichushkin – B

Another strong game defensively from Nuke and his speed seems to be catching a lot of Blues defenders off guard. He hasn’t had any great chances, but he’s launching the puck at the net any time he gets it, and I’ll take that. Torey Krug has looked horrified when Nuke comes down his wing.

Mikko Rantanen – C+

I liked Mikko the most out of the top line guys. His finishing is just off right now, but struck iron in the second period on a rush and had some other good chances. He’s still working hard, and great job stealing the puck off Krug’s stick early to draw a powerplay.

Brandon Saad – B

Wow, since coming back, he’s really stepped right in and played great. That move to the backhand has become his thing of late, and the second time he’s done it to Binnington in a month. He could have had a few more but couldn’t finish.

Carl Soderberg – C+

Carl didn’t play a ton for most of the game, then got tossed onto the makeshift second line to end the game and played well, being the third man high and clearing the puck out just prior to the Saad goal. He’ll get his time to play with the Kadri suspension.

Conor Timmins – B-

Pretty quiet evening, other than two things. One, a rough turnover behind his own net in the second period that led to a chance, and two, a great play to break up the cross-ice pass just prior to Saad’s goal. That one proved to be timely.

Devon Toews – B+

Just a machine. Lots of smart, subtle plays defensively but one of my favorites was in the third period when the Blues had a powerplay, he called for the puck from the Blues player, they passed it to him, and he casually cleared it down the ice. Great stuff.