Avs Game 48 Grades: Afternoon Delight

Pierre Edouard Bellemare – D

It really felt like that third line struggled all night long, whether it was clearing the puck or just making smart plays in the neutral zone. An uncharacteristic game from that trio, as Bellemare, in particular, had a lot of issues with the puck. They got hammered in shot metrics. He did manage to pick up an assist on the empty netter.

Andre Burakovsky – A

Burakovsky wouldn’t admit to me after the game that the puck went in off his skate, but it sure looked like it did on Jost’s goal. Either way, he came right back and picked a corner moments later to pick up his first goal in a long time. He’s been racking up assists of late, so to see him get back onto the scoresheet with a goal is huge.

Matt Calvert – D

Like I mentioned with Bellemare, just a rough game for that line, and Calvert had the worst shot metrics among the forward group. That line generated only one shot attempt all night among the three of them, and it was Calvert.

Ian Cole – B+

Another night where Cole picks up a few assists. Really smart pinch on the Jost goal and he can pinch because the forward help was there. He also made a nice flip pass to Zadorov prior to the Burakovsky goal. His point production this year is bizarre…in a good way.

J.T. Compher – D-

Compher really had a tough time with the puck in this one, as he was one of the guys who failed to clear on the first PK. He made a bizarre decision in the third to take the puck into his own zone and nearly caused a disaster, bailing himself out.

Samuel Girard – B-

Girard made a top-notch play in the neutral zone on the first goal of the game and then finished it off with a nice feed to MacKinnon. After that, that pairing took a beating in their own end, but Girard making that nice play in the neutral zone helped get the party started in this one, and ended up being enormous.

Ryan Graves – C

Graves had some good shot metrics in this game, but he looked up and down to me. He got caught watching big time on the Blues second goal of the game, and on the first power play goal by the Blues, he slid to block the shot and just ended up screening Grubauer from seeing the release. After that second Blues goal, it felt like he settled down.

Philipp Grubauer – B

The Blues didn’t have a ton of shots in this game, but Grubauer did have to make some great saves in this one, particularly on a few penalty kills.

Erik Johnson – D

Really did not like EJ in this one. It felt like he was playing without a stick blade for most of the game, as he just kept whiffing on the puck multiple times, including a handful of failed dives on the Blues’ first goal. The Avs only registered one shot on goal with EJ on the ice in this one.

Nazem Kadri – D

People can dislike the penalty on Kadri in the first period, but he created the chaos himself, having the puck in the neutral zone and sending it back to no one in the defensive zone. He had such a rough game that the Avs chose not to put him out there on the two-man advantage power play.

Vladislav Kamenev – B

Another strong showing from Kamenev and the staff is showing some trust in him, putting him out in four on four action in the second. In just eight minutes of ice time, he attempted five shots, with three getting on net, including a tricky turnaround shot in the second.

Tyson Jost – B

The goal might get taken away from him later today if it’s reviewed, but for now, it’s a big one for Jost, his first since November 30. Even after scoring the goal, he barely played the rest of the night, finishing with the lowest ice time on the team.

Gabriel Landeskog – C

Landy kind of lost his footing in the defensive zone down low prior to the Pietrangelo goal, which allowed things to open up a bit for the Blues. That line is scoring some goals, but also giving up a good bit in their own end, and that has to slow down big time.

Nathan MacKinnon – C+

MacKinnon picked up a goal and an assist in this one, but ended up turning it over on the Blues’ second goal, and then lost his man on the Blues’ third goal. It’s hard to criticize him in a game like this where he plays a big role offensively, but the defensive mistakes have to be cleaned up a bit.

Cale Makar – B+

After Makar scored his goal, which was absurd, he seemed to pick up the swagger a little bit. Let’s talk about that goal, though. That’s a confident play from a young man. Most guys are not going to even try to do anything there, let alone walk the line with no one behind them, but Makar does all of that and then wires one top shelf. That’s stuff you just cannot teach.

Valeri Nichushkin – B+

Guess who led the Avs forward core in even strength time on ice? If you guessed Big Nuke, you guessed correctly. He made quite a few smart plays, particularly defensively in this one, and nearly set up Zadorov for a goal in the first period.

Matt Nieto – D

Nieto had plenty of time to clear the puck on the first Blues goal and just failed to do so. That’s something that you need to do when that’s the biggest reason you are in the lineup.

Mikko Rantanen – C-

Mikko picked up an accidental assist on the first goal of the game, as he just plain lost the puck, but nearly scored moments before Makar, and ended up causing the screen on Makar’s goal. Zero shots on goal isn’t good enough from him.

Nikita Zadorov – B-

I liked Z a lot in this one, but he took a few penalties, which he’s avoided for a long time now. The physical one I think you live with, because Z needs to play that way, but the sticks ones aren’t great. I thought the call was ticky tacky, but it still got called. Made a really strong breakout pass on Burakovsky’s game-winner, though.