Avs Game 3 Grades: Capital Punishment

Andre Burakovsky – F

Soft. That’s the one word I would use to describe him tonight. Knocked off the puck with ease, and when he tried to make plays, they were just too soft. Started on the top line, but didn’t finish there.

Bowen Byram – C+

One of the few bright spots amongst a lot of poor performances. Continued to show more flashes offensively and battled hard defensively. Encouraging start to the season for him. Girard and Makar had to be broken up, and Byram was put with Makar at the end of the game. Something we might see more of in the future.

J.T. Compher – C+

Fantastic effort on the shorthanded goal, and drew the penalty, but he got absolutely destroyed when he was on the ice, bleeding shot attempts against, as he was on the ice for 24 of them in 12 even strength minutes. Happy that he’s getting going early offensively though.

Samuel Girard – F

Didn’t love his first two games, but there were things that you could pick here and there that were good. Tonight, none of that was there. Granted, his partner was even worse, and he had to cover up a lot for him, but Girard got lost in coverage a few times, and looked rattled in the third when he panic passed the puck to a stickless Rantanen about five seconds before Washington scored again.

Darren Helm – B-

Really didn’t like his first period, but he picked it up from there and was going all out until the final whistle. When he and LOC are the two best forwards, you know it probably wasn’t a great night.

Erik Johnson – C-

On a night with a lot of poor performances, he didn’t stand out in too negative a way. I do like him and Byram together but with Girard and Makar struggling as a pair, I don’t know if this grouping will work.

Jack Johnson – C-

Didn’t notice him a ton on the evening other than taking a brutal puck to the face. That looked painful. He didn’t play a lot but his shot share numbers were not great.

Tyson Jost – C-

I think if they could do it, they’d love to run Jost between LOC and Helm as a fourth line. The problem is that’s probably their third line because the other line would be a random assortment of players. He looked good in shifts with those guys but didn’t like him much away from them.

Nazem Kadri – C-

He gets no benefit of the doubt from the officials and it’s getting really annoying. There were about 40 cross-checks within a few second span in the corner, including Maltsev getting tackled, but they somehow called one on Kadri. It stinks, and I think he has every right to be upset.

Martin Kaut – C-

I really liked the way Kaut was working, and he seemed like he knew he had to finish all his checks. The problem was that when the puck got on his stick, he didn’t do much and seemed nervous. In the second, after a hard-working shift by his line, he got the puck behind the net and whipped it around to no one for a turnover. I liked the effort, though.

Darcy Kuemper – D

He was not the problem, as the Avs gave up a lot of high danger chances, but if he’s going to be the guy that helps get them over the hump, you expect a save or two to keep them in it. Still think there’s an adjustment there with a new team and all but haven’t loved his last two games.

Kurtis MacDermid – F

I had low expectations and it’s worse than I thought. This just cannot continue.

Nathan MacKinnon – D

He was awful. However, he has a bit of an out as he quite literally has not been able to do anything except sit in a room for the last week. He’ll be better on Thursday. He still managed to feed Mikko an easy one.

Cale Makar – F

Everyone saw the tape on his wrist and thinks he’s still hurt. It’s possible he’s still recovering, but a wrist issue isn’t an excuse for terrible decisions with pinches. He got caught three times in the first period leading to two on ones, with one burning them, and another on a breakaway. One of the worst games he’s played in the NHL.

Mikhail Maltsev – C-

Smart plays, but not a lot coming from it. Got a chance on the powerplay and had some turnovers. Still get those Kamenev vibes from him, so interested to see where this goes. The Avs bottom six is a bit of a mess, so there’s room to steal a spot.

Ryan Murray – F

I knew MacDermid was not going to be good. I at least had expectations for Murray and right now, pretty unimpressed. He’s been anything but the steady guy he was advertised as. I’m sure he’s adjusting as well, but a pretty rough start to the year.

Logan O’Connor – B+

On the other hand, you have LOC. He’s met and possibly exceeded expectations through three games, maybe the only guy you can say that about. A great feed on the goal, with some vision I didn’t know he really had.

Sampo Ranta – D+

The effort is there, as he’s always moving his feet, but he still just looks pretty lost in terms of where to be positionally. He’s learning on the fly right now, and the Avs are trying to figure out who can fill out their forward core, but wondering how long the leash is here.

Mikko Rantanen – F

Don’t really care about the late goal, because it was garbage time at that point, but Mikko looked great in the preseason and it hasn’t really translated to the regular season yet. He’s getting knocked off the puck a little too easy right now for a big guy. Didn’t have a shot on goal until about 10 minutes left in the game.