Avs Game 33 Grades: Temporarily Stalled

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – D

One game after a dominant performance from the fourth line, they came back with a pretty blah performance. They were super low event and Bellemare didn’t even attempt a shot on net. He was also a part of the penalty kill, which got hemmed in pretty badly and gave up a lot of chances.

Andre Burakovsky – D+

The first period was really good at even strength for Burakovsky, but after that, he fell back into some of the struggles he’s had the last week. Poor passes and issues in the defensive zone. Took a big hit from McNabb in the second period, but his work on the second powerplay unit has been concerning.

J.T. Compher – D

Compher looked like a new player on Thursday night. That wasn’t the case Saturday afternoon. The burst he skated with when he was re-inserted into the lineup was gone. Got crushed in the face-off circle too.

Joonas Donskoi – A

Donskoi was the lone standout upfront. The opening goal of the game was one for the highlight reels, and he nearly had another one in the second period on another toe drag. Another great game for Donskoi.

Samuel Girard – B-

I didn’t like a lot of the Avs defensemen, as the Vegas forwards made life tough for them with the constant cycling. Girard, however, did get things kickstarted with a great breakout on the Donskoi goal and had the best possession numbers back there.

Ryan Graves – D

Graves took a few penalties and got away with one on a trip on a rush where he got beat a little bit. Against a team like Vegas, the Avs need Graves to be good as he’s the biggest defenseman, but not his best game on Saturday.

Philipp Grubauer – B

It sure seems like if Grubauer is getting beat these days, they’re not on clean shots. Two deflection goals against and then the weird one in overtime were what it took to get the puck past him. Made some big saves on the penalty kill in the third period just to get this game to overtime, as the Avs were not very good there.

Tyson Jost – C

The Jost line in general had a solid outing, but outside of Donskoi, they didn’t create a ton of chances offensively. Jost, like his other linemate that I will get to, didn’t have their best night with the puck but were still working hard on the ice.

Nazem Kadri – C

Great first period, but then kind of fell off after that. Surprised that he did not play more with under 14 minutes of ice time. Got into it with Reaves at the end of the first period but nothing really came from it. They tried something new on the poweplay with him on the second unit, but the powerplay just looked really off.

Gabriel Landeskog – F

The top line in general really struggled and got hemmed in way too often in the defensive zone against the Vegas fourth line, including being out there for a goal against. Landy struggled with the puck, took a penalty in his own end, and lost the puck just prior to the overtime goal. Not a good showing.

Jacob MacDonald – D

Maybe the increase in the level of competition had something to do with it, but another game where MacDonald’s every move seemed to be anticipated. With Byram going in and out of the lineup due to injury, they’ll need him to be better.

Nathan MacKinnon – D-

Avoids an F because of the assist, but a really poor showing from MacKinnon. The penalty call on him was not a good call, and he did get tripped in overtime, but for three periods, he didn’t bring a whole lot, and ending with only one shot on net for him is just so rare. He needs to just be firing the puck on the powerplay more than he is.

Cale Makar – D

Did not like Makar again, and outside of the last period and a half of the first Vegas game, it’s been a struggle for him most of the last three games. Maybe there’s some rust from missing so much time and not being able to get in practice time but looks off.

Valeri Nichushkin – C

Another great hard-working game from Nuke, but his puck struggles came through in this one. Every time he seemed to get a rush, Vegas would take the puck away from him. The last few weeks have been so dominant from him that you can’t really say much else bad right now.

Logan O’Connor – C

The one fourth-liner who showed some jump, but even that was only for brief moments on the penalty kill, where he knocked a pass out of mid-air to get a good chance in front of the net.

Mikko Rantanen – C-

Mikko gets a bit of a break from me because he seemed to be really working hard to create some things, but was dealing with 2002 level interference and holding from the Vegas defenders every time he was on the ice. There could have been multiple penalties drawn by him, but it only managed to be one, somehow.

Dan Renouf – INC

I’m fairly certain Renouf was in the lineup just for that fight. I get why the fight occurred, but probably not best to do it right after the Avs scored. After that, he didn’t even play that much, so can’t even grade much.

Brandon Saad – C

A slightly better performance from Saad, although not a great one. Great work on the Toews goal to not just dump and change, but to create a little bit of a forecheck while the rest of the team changed and put some pressure on the Vegas defensemen. That forced a turnover, that led to the goal.

Devon Toews – C+

Great read on his goal to just jump into the open space. That’s how you work a give and go. He was one of the few defenders that didn’t seem to have issues with the cycle, even breaking up a few with great defensive play. The overtime goal was more bad luck than anything, as he made a great read to break up the pass, and then his stick just gave out on him.