Avs Game 10 Grades: Does the score even matter?

Andre Burakovsky – C

Burky’s shot metrics were great, but it didn’t necessarily match up with the eye test. The puck had problems on his stick all night. Whether it was whiffing on an empty net early, whiffing on a one-timer in the third, or just overhandling the puck on the power play in the second, the puck was not his friend.

Bowen Byram – C+

Don’t want to be too harsh on him in some areas, but took a few penalties, although one may have saved a goal (that probably would have been disallowed due to goalie interference). Still, a lot to like about his game, and the reality is that he’s been tossed into a crazy situation with Toews and now EJ out.

J.T. Compher – F

In 102 minutes at even strength, he’s only attempted 11 shots, with four hitting the net. That’s wild. Sending out an SOS at this point.

Joonas Donskoi – B

It did feel like that was one of Donskoi’s better all-around performances this season, despite the fact that he continues to rack up points. Great shot on his goal and a quick release, which is what made the play in the end.

Samuel Girard – D

Girard has had a great start to the year, but tonight was not his night. Took another penalty, which is a little alarming how many he’s taken so far, and managed to get a lot of his shots blocked. Bednar wasn’t super happy with his defense tonight, and I think that pair is probably what he was referring to.

Ryan Graves – F

I have a feeling that if the team really was healthy right now, Graves would be right back in the press box. But the reality is, they are so beat up that they not only have to keep playing but play him a lot, so he’s got to get it together. I don’t know what he was thinking on that second goal. The Graves of last year made smart decisions and didn’t try to do too much. He didn’t try to walk around forecheckers when he was the last man back.

Tyson Jost – C

Honestly, at this point, there’s no reason Jost should be playing less than Compher. Neither of them is really providing anything offensively, but at least Jost is doing a good bit defensively and has some jump and energy to his game.

Nazem Kadri – C

A nice play on the Saad goal, and an overall solid game. He absolutely should have drawn some penalties tonight, including Ryan Suter hooking his arm around him at one point in the second. Kadri drew a lot of penalties last year but hasn’t seemed to translate this year.

Gabriel Landeskog – D-

Only thing saving him from an F was drawing a penalty and the great play he made on Donskoi’s goal. After that, probably his worst performance of the year, and was caught in no man’s land on the OT winner.

Jacob MacDonald – C

A completely fine debut, although #34 on a defenseman looks strange. He was not afraid to shoot the puck at all and actually led the team with four shots on goal. They sheltered him big time, but not bad at all.

Nathan MacKinnon – B

Like I said, it doesn’t really matter what happened in this game if MacKinnon is out for an extended period of time. He picked up two primary assists before leaving, and nothing really seemed to be wrong with him on his final shift, but now we’re stuck waiting a few days to figure out what’s going on.

Cale Makar – A

A tank. I really disliked him passing up shots in good areas to distribute to teammates early on, and then he just went AWOL after that. He drew two penalties on the night, played a career-high 28:09, embarrassed Jordan Greenway on his goal, and somehow wasn’t on the ice to start overtime. Not sure I agree with that call.

Hunter Miska – D

He’s battling, and you have to give that to him, but it is not pretty to watch. There is a rebound on nearly every single shot, and it led to a lot of chaos in the defensive zone, with players scrambling trying to cover anything they could. This is a tough situation and really hoping that Grubauer can just stay healthy.

Valeri Nichushkin – D

The only thing holding me back from criticisms like what I’m giving Compher is that I think his defensive game has been better but plays just continue to die on his stick, and it’s looking more and more like his run offensively last year may not ever be coming back.

Logan O’Connor – A

Another top-notch performance from O’Connor, so much so that the staff kept him in the lineup instead of Sherwood. Nearly picked up a nice assist if not for Talbot robbing MacKinnon in the first period. He’s going to be sticking around for a bit, I imagine.

Mikko Rantanen – D

Weakest performance of the year from Rantanen, as he got caught sleeping for just a second on the first Wild goal, and didn’t do much in the offensive end. I think the back to back games, plus the shorter bench up front really gassed out those top-end guys.

Brandon Saad – C+

I’ll be honest, didn’t notice Saad a ton outside of two plays. The first being his pass to Burakovsky where Burky just whiffed on an easy goal, and the second of course being his snipe. That’s now seven points in four games and he looks a little more comfortable, providing exactly what Sakic and Co. probably imagined he would.

Conor Timmins – C

Outside of the weirdest decision to cut across the ice and pinch in the final few minutes, he played a quietly solid game without much to complain about. It really does seem like he’s missing that last little bit in his game to take the next step, and maybe just sticking in the lineup will bring it out of him.