Avs Game 3 Grades: Georgiev goes wild

Bowen Byram – B

A confident Byram sure is fun to watch. Jumping into plays to create his own breakaway in the second period is one thing, but watching him defend Kaprizov one on one down low on a shift in the second period was a thing of beauty. Gave him nothing and created a turnover.

Andrew Cogliano – B+

The third line was tremendous all night long on the cycle, and on the game-winning goal in particular. Cogliano had a good look of his own late in the second but couldn’t bury it.

J.T. Compher – B+

We got a pretty rare four-shot attempt night from Compher, including a weak backhand shot in the second period that looked like it caused his teammates to give him crap, but this was a great game from the third line. He was responsible defensively down low and was great on the cycle.

Alexander Georgiev – B+

That was the most comfortable he’s looked in net in an Avs uniform. There are still things to clean up, like his rebound control, but he seemed like he was playing naturally instead of thinking about the new tricks Parkkila is trying to teach him. He should probably never play the puck, though.

Samuel Girard – B+

The beneficiary of some pretty bad goaltending on the Wild’s end, but good on Sam for jumping in and actually shooting the puck, which he doesn’t necessarily love to do. Great underlying numbers on the evening and also got a secondary assist on the opening goal.

Erik Johnson – C

Picked up the assist on the opening goal with a high shot that hit god knows what to go in. The flub in the neutral zone and ensuring chaos that Georgiev had to clean up means that he owes Georgiev a nice dinner.

Artturi Lehkonen – C

A very quiet night. Had a few shot attempts late in the second period but didn’t really get close to finishing, and took a pretty obvious tripping call late.

Kurtis MacDermid – D

You cross-check a guy enough in the back ten feet from a referee, they’re going to call it. Had one extended shift in the first that he decided to extend even further rather than go to the bench just to chase someone down on the opposite side of the ice for a weak hit. After the first shift for that line, pretty sure they never entered the Wild zone again.

Nathan MacKinnon – A-

Funny thing is he had some sloppy moments with the puck, including trying to go one on two against the Wild in the first that was easily stopped and turned into an odd-man rush toward the Avs net. But he still manages to come away with three points, including that late goal that seemed *pretty* close to being a little too high. Maybe this is truly the MVP year.

Cale Makar – C-

Finished with two assists, but didn’t like a lot of the process from him, especially in the defensive zone. He got caught sleeping in the second when Joel-Eriksson Ek got behind him for a breakaway and seemed to have issues with the puck and making clean passes. Even before the MacKinnon goal, he flubs a pass in the offensive zone and gets walked pretty badly in the defensive zone, only for Gaudreau to not finish the play. Left Kaprizov on the first Wild goal after skating up high with him.

Josh Manson – B+

His underlying are surprisingly quite bad, but he looked really good to the eye, so there’s probably more to this. His goal was a thing of beauty, and I’ve been wondering if we see him score more like he did in the playoffs because he does have some underrated skill. Seemed to have the puck a lot.

Ben Meyers – C+

Loved everything about his first shift. Good forecheck led to a wraparound chance, then a stick lift on the forecheck led to the Avs getting the puck back for his goal. As good a shift as you could hope on the fourth line. After that, he spent the rest of the night in his end.

Alex Newhook – C-

Rodrigues showed signs of life, and Nuke seemed to have his best even-strength game of the year, but still waiting on Newhook. I really want to see him start to drive play more and get the puck on his stick but it’s not happening. Did at least do well in the face-off circle.

Valeri Nichushkin – B+

Even strength Nuke showed up and the Avs went to town with shots on net with him out there. His defensive stick was really strong in the defensive zone, and the goals keep coming, even if it was an empty netter. Hoping that he can lift Newhook up here soon.

Logan O’Connor – B+

His shift after the Manson goal was perfection. Instead of forcing something to the front of the net that wasn’t there, he cycled behind the Wild net and held them in their zone for another 30-40 seconds. Perfect hockey. Soft penalty call.

Mikko Rantanen – B

A total gimme goal but he had to crash the net for it, and that counts for something. The penalty call on him was hilarious because it was barely a slash, and he had a much more egregious hook later that they just ignored.

Evan Rodrigues – B

Started to show signs of life, getting quite a few pucks on net and had some good looks for his teammates. Made a great behind-the-back pass to Compher in the third that he sailed wide, and did well to delay and hit Makar on a rush in the first.

Lukas Sedlak – C–

Nice work going low to high on the opening goal, and I did notice a few nice plays on the penalty kill in the second period, one of the few PK’s the Avs actually have done well on.

Devon Toews – C–

This was a tough night with the puck for Toews, and really the top pair in general. Was on the ice for all three of the Wild goals. Did have some of his standard pass breakups, but not his best game.