Avs Game 27 Grades: Four in a row

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – C+

So Bellemare can definitely hit the empty net, he’s got that going for him. With Compher’s pending return, you have to wonder if Bellemare is an option to healthy scratch. Empty net goals aside, there’s no offense there and the staff could, theoretically, play Compher on that PK spot.

Andre Burakovsky – A

The second line is moving and shaking, and Burakovsky looks comfortable as ever with his linemates. Great play on his goal to stop at the net rather than continuing. That’s something they teach you when you first start playing, but you see players skate past the net far too often.

Matt Calvert – C+

His best play of the game came on the penalty kill, diving to break up a chance in the slot and breaking his stick in the process. Rather than sit there without a stick, he grabbed one from the bench. More players need to do that.

Joonas Donskoi – D

Maybe this is a hot take because he had two great assists, but I thought he was the worst forward on the ice by far. He was soft on the boards, struggled in his own end, and was basically a no-show for most of the game. He obviously keeps racking up the points, but the percentages for him look like he’s got a lot of luck on his side. Got the puck taken off his stick prior to the first Ducks goal.

Samuel Girard – C+

Girard looked off to me, but the numbers sure don’t back it up. Just a dominant night in terms of possession for him, which has been the norm lately. He got taken off the top powerplay unit as they struggled, and he got caught on the breakaways at the end of the first. You can tell if he’s a little off when he takes some hits, as he usually avoids a lot of contact.

Ryan Graves – B

I’ve given Graves a ton of grief this year but felt like a relatively quiet game from him, which I will take. He did frustrate MacKinnon late when MacKinnon was flying through the neutral zone and Graves put a pass in his skates. That’s just one small difference from what we saw last year.

Philipp Grubauer – A

Came in on his night off, didn’t have to make many big saves, but just steadied the ship. Wish that he didn’t have to do that, but it is what it is.

Tyson Jost – C-

Really not sure what he was doing on the first Ducks goal, as he floated really high in the zone and completely lost Terry in the slot. It’s been a bit of a mixed bag with him on that line. Overall, I’ve liked him more than JTC, but it’s been up and down. PK work strong as always.

Nazem Kadri – A

The man is on a roll right now and looks way different from the guy who started the year. It’s rare for a forward to get a chance to wind up for a bomb in the offensive zone, so that’s kind of the dream goal. We saw the feisty side late, but good for him for avoiding a fight, as that’s probably for the best given the size difference between him and Deslauriers.

Gabriel Landeskog – B+

I’ve said it before, but Landy knows when to pick and choose his spots to be physical, and he came out in the second period hitting everything, helping to set the tone that they needed to be better everywhere. That’s what a good captain does.

Jacob MacDonald – A-

His shot selection was ugly, getting all of them blocked, but loved the rest of his game. He had a great stand up defensive play in the second period on a Ducks forward entering the zone where he gave him the cold shoulder to the chest. At this point, assuming EJ doesn’t return and Makar and Byram do, he has to be the #6.

Nathan MacKinnon – B+

Drifting a little too much to the perimeter again at times, but that goal was a sign of just what he can do, and would love to see him take that shot a lot more. Oddly enough, thought he was the worst player on his line, but they still dominated. Hit two posts in the first period, and they were loud ones.

Hunter Miska – F

Not his fault he’s in this situation, but yeah, I think it’s time to look at other options internally if they aren’t going to pick someone up.

Valeri Nichushkin – C

Considering how beastly he’s been of late, a step back in one game isn’t a huge deal. That line in general was probably the least effective.

Logan O’Connor – B-

Had a great shift on the penalty kill where he skated it all the way down and killed time by passing it back to his defenders. Big scare in the first when he went into the boards awkwardly, but he did return.

Greg Pateryn – C

Poor guy took a puck to the face in the first, but then on one of his first shifts back in the game, gets caught by a faster Zegras and has to take a penalty (honestly should have been a penalty shot). After that he settled down a good bit and even had an end-to-end rush.

Mikko Rantanen – A

Mikko looked for that bank shot goal earlier in the second period, and it didn’t happen, but he didn’t miss later in the period. He had a back check in the third period that was tremendous, chasing down Fowler to eliminate a 3 on 2.

Dan Renouf – D

Hard to be a -3 in an 8-4 win but here we are. A lot of things went wrong after the Avs won the face-off on the third goal, but the front of the net got vacated there.

Brandon Saad – B+

Boy is he relentless on the backcheck through the neutral zone. It’s easy for defensemen to play when he’s on the ice because they know they can gap up a lot better. Nice of him to get on the board on the powerplay for the first time this season.

Devon Toews – B-

He had some surprisingly sloppy moments defensively and got beat to the puck after the face-off win on the third Ducks goal, but wow, what a play to battle and keep the puck in the zone on the Rantanen goal. That goal really changed the momentum of the game, and only happened because he beat three Ducks players for the puck.