Avs Game 50 Grades: Sloppy out of the Break

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – C

I liked a lot of what Bellemare had to do on the penalty kill in this one, but not at even strength. He has good chemistry with Calvert but not sure it’s there with Compher.

Andre Burakovsky – A-

It really felt like Burakovsky was flying in this one, and he picked up two points for his troubles. He had a lot of speed through the neutral zone and was creating chances. It’s a little unfortunate he was not rewarded with more ice time, as he had the third-lowest even strength total up front. His only problem was that ugly kneeing penalty.

Matt Calvert – C

A solid game from Calvert, and it could have been a lot different if he had buried the great feed from Johnson on the opening shift of the game. Calvert didn’t pick up a shot on goal after that one.

Ian Cole – C+

Cole was fine overall in this one, but there were a few moments in the offensive zone where he tried to do a little too much, going to his backhand and attempting some blind passes. Neither of them reached anyone, and it wasn’t something you expect to see.

J.T. Compher – C+

Compher had a lot of good chances in this game but was not able to bury the puck. He had a breakaway right after the Avs had scored in the third period, and had a chance to tie the game up but Lyon bested him. I didn’t like him passing up a shot when he was alone in front in the first period.

Joonas Donskoi – B

For his first game in almost a month, Donskoi had a lot of jump and didn’t look terribly rusty. His legs were moving all night and he was great exiting and entering the zone.

Samuel Girard – B+

For me, Girard’s pair was easily the best on the Avs in terms of the eye test, and the shot metrics back it up big time, as the Avs controlled 79% of the attempts with him out there. He missed the net a few too many times in this one but made a lot of smart short passes on the breakout tonight.

Ryan Graves – D-

Outside of 10 blocked shots, a lot of which came on a strong PK game from him, Graves had a rough night, capped off by the brutal giveaway on the game-winning goal for the Flyers. I also did not like Graves gap control on the Flyers’ third goal, as he was backed in too far in the zone and allowed Couturier to enter the zone with a lot of speed.

Philipp Grubauer – D

Grubauer did make some high end saves, including a crazy left pad stop in the second period, but we’re looking at another three-plus goals given up, and a few of them were ugly. The shorthanded goal at the end, it seemed like he was just guessing on high glove and left too much space five hole.

Erik Johnson – B

A really good game from EJ. He was moving pretty well and did a lot of good things. Did a great job on the opening shift of the game jumping up and created a great chance for Calvert.

Nazem Kadri – B

A solid night for Kadri, who made some decent breakups defensively and picked up the primary assist on Rantanen’s goal, with some great vision.

Tyson Jost – B

The fourth line had a good night in this one, as they were only out there for one shot attempt against, and Jost had plenty of chances to break it open in the first period. That’s kind of been the story of his season so far. Some good process but no results.

Gabriel Landeskog – C

Landy did pick up an assist on the Rantanen goal but we’re still seeing someone whose struggling to get it going offensively at even strength. He still gets his shot attempts but his rate of production is really down.

Nathan MacKinnon – C-

Even though he took a double minor, he did manage to draw two penalties in this one. The big thing with MacKinnon is it seemed like he was passing up some opportunities to shoot, including one in the third period where he tried to get too fancy.

Cale Makar – F

That was a rough one for Makar. Beyond getting burned on the Flyers third goal, he gave the puck away just prior to the shorthanded dagger and looked a little off all night long.

Valeri Nichushkin – B

He’s great at celebrating pucks that pretty clearly didn’t go in off him and selling it. Even though he didn’t get it, his net crash on the Zadorov goal caused some havoc, and he did it again on Burakovsky’s goal.

Matt Nieto – B-

Nieto did a lot right at even strength in this one, as there just wasn’t a lot happening in his own end when he was on the ice. The biggest issue I had with him is he failed to clear it just prior to the Flyers second goal.

Mikko Rantanen – C+

I felt like we saw a little bit of the Mikko of old in this one, and it was nice to see him one-time a puck into the net. He’s still a little selective with his shot attempts but there were some good signs in this one.

Nikita Zadorov – B

Quietly Z has six points in his last five games, after picking up a goal and an assist in this one. There were still some questionable moments in this one with the puck, but he’s chipping in offensively after not doing a whole lot for most of the year on that end of the ice.