Avs Game 36 Grades: Same as the last month

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – B

Won a ton of offensive zone face-offs right in the left circle that unfortunately didn’t lead to much more than long-distance shots, but that’s not his fault. Liked his work on the penalty kill, for the most part. Fourth line, which was kind of makeshift, did well.

Andre Burakovsky – C+

Really liked the second line at even strength, at least for the first part of the game, but Burakovsky’s game on the powerplay is just not good at the moment. Had a great chance in the slot early after a brutal turnover by the Blues but got stopped. Bad penalty in the second period to take.

J.T. Compher – D

Compher got moved up with the Nichushkin injury, and largely was invisible. Had a really nice block on the penalty kill but then moments later Perron scored. Only Avs player without a shot attempt, which plagued him early in the year.

Joonas Donskoi – B-

Playing with so much confidence that he caught Mikko off guard with a pass on the powerplay. That’s hard to do. Didn’t really like that line much for the first two periods, and then the third came around and they picked it up big time. Set up Jost for a nice chance in front late in the game.

Samuel Girard – C

Wasn’t a huge fan of Sam in this one. He kind of got caught in no man’s land in front of the net on the Blues’ first goal, as he was trying to protect the net but the only guy that was even close was the guy who scored, so he got caught on the other side. Felt like he fumbled some breakouts that usually don’t happen.

Ryan Graves – C

I do not like Graves and Makar together right now. They’re letting a lot of guys get behind them for some breaks that just didn’t happen last year. Makar pinched without help in the first but Graves just kind of got caught in no man’s land after that. Good on the PK, otherwise. Liked him pinching a lot late, showing some confidence.

Jonas Johansson – B

Have to give him credit, the first goal was not good but he bounced back. The breakaway save may have been a big confidence booster. A lot of pucks were just hitting him in the first two periods, but in the third he looked pretty comfortable. A few posts always help goalies.

Tyson Jost – B-

Like I said with Donskoi, didn’t like that line for two periods, but they came alive late. He had a great chance in the slot that Binnington made a save on, and then he picked off a pass later for a zone entry and shot that led to chaos. Starting to generate more shots, which is nice.

Nazem Kadri – B

A strong game from Kadri, with a depleted bottom six, they needed the top six to kind of carry the load offensively, and they did.

Gabriel Landeskog – A

Gabe is smart, and knows the best thing to do when you’re on the ice: give the puck to Nathan MacKinnon. That’s what led to his two primary assists. The powerplay goal from that unit was an interesting setup and not a play we’ve seen before with the fake slapshot.

Jacob MacDonald – B+

Another great game. Had a nice big hit coming back to cover himself defensively in the second period, and then made a great spinning breakout pass on the game-winner. Vegas is the only team to have really exposed him.

Nathan MacKinnon – A+

Maybe the helmet toss threw away all of his frustrations, as he looked confident all over the ice, and took it to the net for his first goal, something Avs fans have been begging for. Loved seeing him take the shot on the second goal rather than curling and looking for the late man.

Cale Makar – C

Once again, not a huge fan of his game, although the shot metrics say otherwise, which they usually do. He makes great plays defensively with his stick, but also some nonchalant plays where he thinks he’s going to poke it away and it doesn’t work. Like I said with Graves, they’re giving up too many odd-man breaks.

Liam O’Brien – B

Not sure what else you can expect. He went out there and did what the staff probably asked him to do: hit everything. Puck skills still lacking though, with one icing and a pass that was too far ahead of Bellemare on a two-on-one.

Mikko Rantanen – B

Mikko’s angry, and he’s had enough of the cross-checks to his back not going called, so he’s taking it out on opposing players. His stick failed him big time in this game, with at least three of them breaking.

Dan Renouf – INC

How do you grade a defenseman who didn’t even play much? 4 minutes of ice time. Incomplete.

Brandon Saad – B

I had a feeling he was going to score tonight after being quiet so long. So much so that I put money on DraftKings down on it. Nice way to start the game. I think he still had some issues in the offensive zone after that, but he is at his best crashing the net.

Kiefer Sherwood -B

He was only credited with one shot attempt, but I swear I saw him shoot more off face-offs, all of which didn’t even get to the net. Called up in a pinch and performed well, which he’s done for the most part this year. Got away with a big hit from behind late when the refs were not calling much of anything.

Devon Toews – B

27 minutes and tons of shot blocks on the penalty kill. Another solid night in the office for Toews. I will say that even though he’s still been great, there’s been a little more inconsistency of late with him, but nothing to be worried about.