Avs Game 17 Grades: Down Goes Benn

Anton Blidh – B+

Not much more you can ask from a fourth liner than to not be on the ice for a single shot attempt against. Had a breakaway in the third period but…he’s not a goal scorer, let’s just say that. Not sure he was the real driver, but +11/-0 in less than five minutes is impressive.

Andrew Cogliano – B

An incredibly low event game from him at both ends of the ice, but had a great setup to Compher in the slot in the first period that was stopped.

J.T. Compher – B

That entire line was so low event that it’s kind of crazy, considering they played a fair amount. Had that good look in the first that he couldn’t get past Oettinger, and after the last overtime game, saw a good bit of OT time with MacKinnon.

Andreas Englund – C-

Quit trying to hurt the goalies, please. Other than that, he was okay. He’s not afraid of jumping into the play and I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.

Alexander Georgiev – B

I love the swagger but thought he might hurt himself on that final shootout miss by the Stars. Looked kind of awkward. The first goal, not sure what you can do there with someone getting shoved into you. Only real issue with him is rebound control, but really hard to complain about much.

Dryden Hunt – B+

A solid night for him. Think his only shot attempts came early in the game when he overstayed some shifts and got out there with the big boys. That never hurts the numbers.

Erik Johnson – C

A solid and relatively quiet evening. There were a few shifts where he got stuck out there for a long period of time with Englund, but they were in the second period, where that tends to happen. Has adjusted okay to playing the left side on occasion.

Martin Kaut – C

A quiet start to the game, then he got hurt, then he came back and had some ugly turnovers, but managed to finish strong. Took a big hit to make the play on the Newhook goal.

Artturi Lehkonen – C+

Nice play on the wall on the Makar goal to show some patience. It’s a tougher pass than it looks to Rantanen behind the net there just because of the angle of everything. Not sure he touched the puck much on the powerplay but sure took a beating in front.

Jacob MacDonald – C+

It’s nice to have someone who can skate the puck out of danger when a Toews or Makar isn’t on the ice. Did not like him on the powerplay but liked him at even strength.

Nathan MacKinnon – B

He really wanted that one-time bomb in overtime, but the only problem with that is you have to hit the net, which he was not really doing. Feels like a really rare sight on the season where the Avs win a game and MacKinnon doesn’t figure in on the scoresheet.

Cale Makar – B

The GOAT now officially has something else on his resume, as the fastest defenseman to hit 200 points. Did it in style with an absolute bomb, but he created the whole play because he carried the puck from his own end into the Stars’ end to set it all up rather than dropping to MacK.

Josh Manson – A+

Forget the penalty in the first (impressive to trip someone without a stick). After that, he was spectacular. The sliding defensive breakup on an odd-man rush, as it looked like EJ told him some sliding tips. But the most memorable moment was easily the big hit on Marchment and then feeding fists to Benn. Instant high grade even if he struggled later in the night, which he did not. This was a game he was built for.

Jayson Megna – INC

His linemates didn’t even really hit the threshold, but they were out for a lot of good things. Megna was not really and that’s a little confusing how his linemates could be so far ahead of him in shot share.

Alex Newhook – B

The goal was great, just staying in front of the net and waiting. Beyond that, the big thing I noticed with him was he was moving his feet. That’s what you need to see from Newhook. When he’s shifting and moving, he creates space.

Logan O’Connor – B

Somehow this team is getting by with what is closer to a fourth line playing the role of a second line at the moment. O’Connor continues to grind it out and was fourth in even strength time on ice for the forwards

Mikko Rantanen – B+

Hintz’s night was over the second Mikko shook him loose in the second period in the neutral zone. We’ll ignore Mikko’s ugly drop pass moments later because the shimmy move was too good. Great feed on the Makar goal, and he was physical yet again with some nice reverse hits.

Evan Rodrigues – B

Like the patience on the Newhook goal. Not sure it created a better shot, but it certainly dragged Oettinger out of the net, which gave Newhook an empty cage to shoot at. Another strong night on the PK, and had some good looks in the bumper spot that he couldn’t finish.

Devon Toews – B-

You don’t really see Toews get angry, but Marchment took his stick at one point in the second period, and Toews threw him to the ice. The refs let it go too, which you like to see. Another workhorse evening.