Avs Game 5 Grades: The Future is now

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – C-

Quite literally nothing happened with Bellemare on the ice tonight. He took the penalty late in the game, which quite frankly was hard to tell if he really did anything too egregious, but for a fourth-line center, I’ll take a quiet game.

Bowen Byram – B

Honestly, I thought there were some rough moments for Byram in this game, particularly early. But that third period…holy cow. The assist to Rantanen is one thing, the dismantling of Getzlaf’s ankles is another, but what really stood out was his first shift of the period, all alone with one forechecker on him and another one coming in, and he maneuvers a soft pass between the two to MacKinnon for a perfect breakout. It was a super risky play but worked out incredibly. Bednar wanted Byram to be himself. That’s who he is.

Matt Calvert – C

Calvert got bumped up to the “third” line for this game, and maybe it was the linemates, but the fit just wasn’t there. By the third period, he was back out there a bit with Bellemare and Jost again.

J.T. Compher – D

I’m already kind of sick of bagging on Compher, but it just is what it is. One shot attempt all night, and outside of a burst on the penalty kill in the third period, completely non-existent. It’s a problem.

Joonas Donskoi – C

Donskoi hasn’t looked great really at any point this year, but at least he’s on the scoresheet a little bit with three points in five games. He did get bumped up to the “second” line in the third period, so the staff must have been happy.

Samuel Girard – B

Sam gets extra bonus points for the acting that unfortunately was necessary on the penalty he drew in the second period that upset someone on the Ducks bench. The pass to Donskoi was great on the goal, and he looks natural on the half wall. I also love that he got a shot on the penalty kill tonight, and looked good there.

Ryan Graves – F

Just an all-around atrocious night for Graves. He was on the ice for one shot on goal for the Avs, and was directly responsible for the two Ducks goals. The turnover was bad enough on the first one, but the pinch on the second goal, considering the game situation, was brutal. He ended the game with the least even strength time on ice for defenders, and deservedly so.

Philipp Grubauer – A

Grubauer was fantastic from start to finish, and his rebound control was on point for most of the game. I really loved his save on the penalty kill when Bellemare had a broken stick, where he was able to just catch the one-timer with his chest and get a whistle. The crazy save bonanza in the first period will end up on the highlight reel.

Tyson Jost – C

Back to back games with penalties, kind of rough. But when he’s on the penalty kill, he looks tremendous. Another night with zero shot attempts, so you just have to hope that at some point, the hard work will lead to something at the other end.

Nazem Kadri – D

I just don’t know what to say at this point. Kadri looks off, and he and Saad have zero chemistry whatsoever at this point in time. That line was, again, on the ice for two goals against.

Martin Kaut – D

He came out with good energy, but the penalty in the first killed it, and he barely played after that. My hope is that he gets another chance on Sunday to get a little more comfortable, assuming Burakovsky can’t play.

Gabriel Landeskog – A

Just an all-around great game from the Captain, starting early when he sprung Rantanen for a breakaway. The overtime goal was kind of shifty skating by him to shuffle around the net, and just a play coaches will love in that he stopped after his initial shot was stopped rather than continuing behind the net. Otherwise, he’s not scoring.

Nathan MacKinnon – A-

A rare game where he didn’t end up on the scoresheet, but very easily could have, hitting the crossbar in the first period, and having Gibson just make his penalty shot look easy. Poor Shattenkirk broke his ankles trying to defend MacK.

Cale Makar – B-

It’s wild that I can think something is off for Makar, and then look at the fancy stats, and they are out of control good. On the ice for 28 shot attempts for the Avs, and only six against. That’s crazy. Great read on the overtime goal and acceleration, considering it was a long shift for him.

Valeri Nichushkin – C-

Nuke was a dog on the puck in the first period and then faded away pretty badly. Pucks are dying on his stick as well. He’s bounced around on several lines already this year but is going to need to provide some offense at some point.

Greg Pateryn – C-

Again, I thought he played pretty well on the PK, but once they put him and Graves together, things went sour. Neither can move the puck well enough to help the other. A two on one is difficult to stop, but it looked a little easy for the Ducks to get that pass across.

Mikko Rantanen – A

Another dominant effort from Rantanen. Not only did he score a great goal that he helped create with his hustle, but he drew two penalties, including the one that led to Donskoi’s goal. When he’s on his game like he was tonight, you simply can’t stop him because of his size, skill, and skating.

Brandon Saad – D+

Well, he nearly picked up an assist on a nice pass to Nichushkin on the powerplay, but Gibson was up to the task. I did feel like he was around the puck a bit more tonight than he was against LA on Thursday.

Devon Toews – A

I said it on the podcast, but I can’t remember a single mistake that Toews has made this year. He’s playing mistake-free hockey and logging heavy minutes, with another 26-minute performance. Just a fantastic pickup and he makes it all look so easy.