Avs Game 40 Grades: Sweet Sixteen

Nicolas Aube-Kubel – C

Fourth line had a real hot star, with some seriously extended zone time in the first period before fading away as the game went on. I do love how competitive and hard Aube-Kubel plays, it’s been a nice addition.

Andre Burakovsky – B-

There was a lot more movement from Burakovsky, and although he couldn’t score, he was moving the puck pretty well overall and had some nice shots. You can see the frustration, however, as at one point in the second period he came off the ice yelling. Got taken off the second line at times, but I actually felt like that messed with the mojo of the line overall.

J.T. Compher – C

The complete flub of the chance in front aside, felt like he worked hard and that line ground out some decent chances overall. The offense has more or less disappeared.

Pavel Francouz – A

A wise man from a 2010’s Bosley hair loss commercial once said: 80% of feeling good…is looking good. And boy does Franky look good in that third uniform setup. It’s pretty remarkable how this guy has come back from playing almost zero hockey for two years to looking really good in net. A big plus.

Samuel Girard – B-

There were some extended defensive zone shifts from Girard as the game went on, and a lot of it looked to be from fatigue. A few times he just threw the puck up the glass, which is not typical of his game. I think the Avs top guys on defense are getting a little tired since they really roll 5 defensemen most nights.

Erik Johnson – B+

Another solid and steady night from EJ. Led all players on the Avs in shot share numbers the defensive pair of EJ/MacDermid actually went +9/-1 together.

Jack Johnson – B-

Had a nice stick on Debrincat in the second period after his clearing attempt hit his body. Also had some decent scoring chances, including a nice shot up high on Fleury in the second period.

Tyson Jost – C

Will he ever score again? Maybe, maybe not, and when he airmails shots in the slot as he did in the first period, I may lean towards the “maybe not” category, but he keeps chugging along on the fourth line.

Nazem Kadri – A

Another goal, seven more shots on goal, and continued strong play in the defensive zone. If you’re going to have a career year in a contract year, might as well ball out, and that’s what he’s doing.

Gabriel Landeskog – B

I only really saw the first line get stuck in their own end once, and that was the first shift of the third period. Beyond that, they played really well and could have had a few more goals. Mikko was wide open on his goal, but Gabe looked real calm feeding it over to him through two Blackhawks defenders.

Kurtis MacDermid – C+

The Avs are clearly hiding the guy on defense as much as they can, but you have to give him credit, as he’s looked a good bit better on defense than he did in his chances early in the year. I wouldn’t bet on it continuing but he is playing pretty well.

Nathan MacKinnon – B+

Sent Kirby Dach to the spin zone in the second period, as Dach just has got to have nightmares after playing this team. Only picked up one assist but could have easily had more points.

Cale Makar – B+

The part I liked least about his game was in the offensive zone, but I loved every other part of his game. Breaking up passes in the neutral zone, playing physical and knocking guys off the puck in the defensive zone. And even though I didn’t love his game offensively, he still creates wild mismatches for the Avs.

Mikhail Maltsev – C

Played physical and hard in the first period (minus an errant pass to no one to kill some zone time) and then faded a bit. Really like that they’re giving him some extended time here.

Alex Newhook – C

Good chance early in the game on a two-on-one that Fleury was able to take away, but quite literally nothing happened with him on the ice tonight. Super low event, and even when he got his chance on the second line in spurts, nothing much really happened.

Valeri Nichushkin – B+

The glue on the second line. Had a real nice chance in the first that Fleury got a glove on, and kept chugging along all game. As is tradition, he had the best shot share numbers of all the Avs forwards.

Logan O’Connor – C

Had more energy tonight, with some nice work on the PK in the first period and a good feed to Compher in the slot in the second. That third line seems to be a work in progress on who fits best with Newhook overall.

Mikko Rantanen – A

The backhand goal was just cruel, waiting out Fleury and putting it where he had no chance, but Mikko was feisty all night. In the second, he and Seth Jones got into a long battle in the offensive zone and the refs just let them go. Then in the third, he had the reverse hit on Toews. Angry Mikko is interesting because sometimes he takes it too far with penalties, but I don’t hate seeing it.

Devon Toews – C

I thought it was a rather pedestrian night for Toews until the third period, when he became a machine in the neutral zone, breaking up passes and immediately turning them into rushes for the Avs. Typical Toews.