Avs Game 33 Grades: Counting is hard

Jack Johnson – C+

I thought this was one of Jack Johnson’s better games. Did a good job of pushing play, and wasn’t caught out of position regularly in his own end as we’ve seen recently. He had a good five-minute stretch in the third where he put several shots on towards the net and played a part in the Avs sustaining pressure.

Erik Johnson – C-

We talked about it on the DNVR Avalanche Podcast last week, in my opinion, EJ overextends himself, and it’s making his job tougher than it needs to be. Too often he ends up being the highest man in the defensive zone. Not great when you’re having major net-front coverage issues.

Devon Toews – C+

A surprisingly pedestrian night for Toews. A lot of Avs had room for improvement tonight, so just lump him in with that group.

Cale Makar – A-

My goodness, what else can you say about this guy? Just an unbelievable play to tie up the game. It really does feel like he’s starting to find some real consistency in his production, and is increasingly problematic for opposing teams and coaches.

Mikhail Maltsev – C-

I really wanted to see him make a mark tonight. Didn’t need him to score or anything, just do something that makes the coaches say “we need that in our lineup.” He only skated 6:08 tonight and didn’t do a ton with it. He had one opportunity where you’d like to see him get a better shot off.

Valeri Nichushkin – B

Val slotted in on the top line, and I thought he served as a totally serviceable replacement for Gabe Landeskog. Obviously, he’s not Landy, but he filled the role of playing hard down low and digging out pucks very proficiently.

Nicolas Aubé-Kubel – B

The confidence is really starting to build. NAK can be a tough one to crack when we talk to him in media availability, he’s pretty reserved, but you can see when he’s on the ice that he’s starting to really settle into the Avs’ system, and he’s feelin’ it.

Tyson Jost – D+

He’s going through a really rough stretch right now. Jost has really settled into who he is as an NHLer for the most part, but this right now falls below even that standard.

Alex Newhook – C

Only eleven minutes for Newhook tonight. He wasn’t bad, but he definitely didn’t have that same jump we’ve come to expect. Dead even in terms of 5v5 corsi tonight.

Logan O’Connor – C+

He had one really good sequence on the penalty kill that I can think of, other than that, not a ton of super note-worthy moments from him tonight. As the Avs continue to work through their penalty-killing woes, he will absolutely be key. He’s been their most consistent killer so far this season.

Ryan Murray – C+

I thought this was one of his best games as an Av. He had multiple plays where I thought he made really good decisions and no real bad turnovers. He also finished the night on the positive side of his 5v5 advanced metrics.

Nathan MacKinnon – B-

The pucks are starting to go in for him. He absolutely hammered his goal tonight, and you can tell that the confidence is starting to come back. Thought he was maybe still forcing plays just a little through the middle of the ice. But you can absolutely live with that the way he’s producing.

JT Compher – D

Another guy that I can’t remember much of what he did, but when you look at his fancies from tonight.. it was a rough outing for Compher.

Sam Girard – C

I keep wanting the breakout game against Nashville, and we haven’t gotten it yet. I liked but didn’t love his game tonight. He’s getting some more PK responsibility, and I thought he was good there tonight. If he can add that to his repertoire, that contract is going to look even better. 

Kurtis MacDermid – INC

I want to see him be successful so bad. Everybody on the team loves him, and he works his tail off in practice, but in these close games, he just doesn’t have the skillset to be super valuable. Another night with fewer than five minutes played.

Nazem Kadri – B

Two more points for Kadri tonight. I thought on a night where a lot of guys struggled, that Kadri had a relatively solid outing. He also rebounded nicely in the face-off circle (when he wasn’t getting tossed out), after a couple of games that weren’t great that saw Naz struggle at the dot.

Andre Burakovsky – B+

He was easily Colorado’s best forward from an analytics standpoint. Burky also scored an absolutely beautiful goal to tie the game at two, he truly is one of the league’s most elite pure shooters, and when he gets time in the slot (and hits the net), it’s a thing of beauty.

Mikko Rantanen – D+

Thought this was one of Mikko’s worst games in a while. A player of his caliber, you don’t worry. But even so, this one wasn’t pretty for the Moose.

Darcy Kuemper – C

I liked him. He was ok. I guess you could say that you want the second one back, but as head coach Jared Bednar pointed out post-game, it feels like every goal against for the last week has started with a major defensive breakdown. We all know he has another level, but he’s giving his team a chance to win every night.