Avs Game 34 Grades: Abusing an old goaltender

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – B

It was at the other end of the ice, so I didn’t get the best view of it, but Bellemare looked to take a shot at Getzlaf behind the net, so I can understand the anger there on Getzlaf’s end. On the ice, though, Bellemare’s line produced maybe the most important shift of the game, as they came out and dominated for a goal after the Ducks had made it 3-2. Another strong night for that line, who also had a great shift in the first period, although Bellemare clearly was not comfortable playing defense defending a rush, as we saw on the Ducks first goal.

Andre Burakovsky – C-

I did think Burakovsky looked better, and nothing bad happened with that line on the ice, but he looks very unsure of himself with the puck. He doesn’t want to shoot the puck on the powerplay, and his passing is just off.

J.T. Compher – B+

That’s now four points in five games since returning from his injury. The time away was probably the best thing for him. Missed a breakaway shorthanded early in the game, and got absolutely robbed by Miller just moments before he was able to bury one on the short side.

Joonas Donskoi – B

Liked Donskoi again tonight, and you can tell he’s got a ton of confidence, as he tried a wild spin-o-rama backhand attempt on a rebound that nearly worked in the first period. He took a lot of abuse in front of the net.

Samuel Girard – D

This was an uncharacteristically poor Girard game. He fumbled the puck a good bit breaking it out, and took some big hits because of it. He forced a puck into Toews skates early in the third period, that led to Terry’s goal making things a little closer. He did frustrate a few Ducks with his spin move, though.

Ryan Graves – B-

Graves beat up the puck a little bit tonight, but his big shot created a rebound for the Jost goal. His shot can cause problems when there is traffic in front, but too often he doesn’t wait for that traffic. Made a big shot block on the penalty kill in the second period that got big cheers from his teammates on the bench.

Philipp Grubauer – C

Uh, not sure how to grade this one. He had very little to do, and made a few big saves in the third period, but didn’t like his play on either goal. He kind of stopped tracking the pass on the first goal (obviously not much help defensively) and then didn’t react a whole lot on the Terry goal.

Tyson Jost – B+

If the Avs are going to feel comfortable with Jost being their 3C heading into the postseason, they’ll need to see some offense, and he provided that tonight, with only MacKinnon creating more shot attempts at even strength among the forwards. Nice second effort on his goal, but did have a few tougher moments breaking out of his own zone.

Nazem Kadri – B+

The second line was much better tonight, but Kadri gets high marks for drawing THREE penalties tonight, and just skating away. Deslauriers clearly was still big mad about what happened a few weeks ago.

Gabriel Landeskog – B+

The top line came out firing on all cylinders, having some truly dominant shifts in the first period, coming off a disappointing game on Saturday. Landeskog, as he did a few years ago with high frequency, deflected a puck home in front on the powerplay. That’s now five goals in his last seven games and nine in his last 17.

Jacob MacDonald – B+

The constant pinching at the offensive blue line scares me, but against a team like the Ducks, it doesn’t really hurt the team much. Against Vegas, it was worrisome. Was not on the ice for a single shot on net against.

Nathan MacKinnon – A

MacK came out like a bat out of hell and could have created multiple goals in the first period alone. He at least did take one big one timer tonight on the powerplay, and want to see that more, but two assists for him coming off maybe his worst performance of the season.

Cale Makar – A

Did not like Makar in the first period on the powerplay, but after that, really started to take off. Three assist nights seem to just come easy for him, and if you are a defenseman, defending his speed and agility on the rush must be absolutely horrifying.

Valeri Nichushkin – B+

It was Nichushkin’s hard work along the wall and distribution to Jost just prior to Jost finishing a rebound moments later that led to the goal. Nuke worked hard to recover the puck and create the play, so it was nice to see him get kind of a lay-up towards the end on the Makar rush.

Logan O’Connor – B+

O’Connor only has five points this year in 21 games…but it sure feels like a lot more than that. He was robbed on a few deflection tonight, including Miller making a wild glove save early in the game. Great distribution on the Compher goal.

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 Anaheim 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 – C

There was one shift in the second where you could tell Renouf’s style doesn’t completely mesh with the Avs, as he didn’t read a breakout properly, and then when he jumped into the rush later in the shift, put everyone offsides. That’s not what he’s here for though, and he seems more willing to get his nose into things these last few games.

Brandon Saad – C

Another pretty quiet performance from Saad overall, as that line looked the least dangerous. His best chance of the net came from behind the net, as he tried to bank the puck in off Ryan Miller for a goal early in the game. Miller seemed a little more prepared for that trick in this one.

Devon Toews – C-

Some uncharacteristically sloppy defensive moments from Toews in this one, as he just completely lost where he was and the man behind him on the Ducks opening goal. He got put in a bad spot on the second goal by his partner. Nearly had a great backdoor pass to MacKinnon in the third that was tipped just wide.