Avs Game 56 Grades: FIN

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – A

Another goal banging away in front of the net, like a lot of his goals are. Finishes the season with a nice Cy Young year, with nine goals and just two assists.

Andre Burakovsky – B+

Brutal play at the blue line to give up the only goal of the game. Yeah he got hacked but looked like he lost an edge after that. And then he more than made up for it the rest of the night, with a classic Burky goal in the slot, making another goalie look silly.

J.T. Compher – A

Another solid game from Compher. The third line was buzzing all night long, even if they weren’t able to really bury any of their chances. He was right in front of the net on the first Jost goal, which got things kick-started.

Joonas Donskoi – A+

Donskoi was flying through the Kings defense all night, and the only thing stopping him was the Kings goalie with the glove. It took a mid-air tap in for Donskoi to get on the board, and it was a well-earned goal for the Finn.

Sam Girard – A

Are we sure he actually had a leg injury? Sure doesn’t look like it. His skating hasn’t missed a beat. Just unbelievable.

Ryan Graves – A

Solid night all-around from Gravy, and gets extra points for rasslin’ Brendan Lemieux to the ice after a big (clean) hit on Girard. You could see the anger in Graves’ eyes from the press box.

Jonas Johansson – B+

Tough to get into a game when you barely do anything in a period and then get a breakaway. He didn’t challenge that shot much, but bounced back real nicely and looked pretty comfortable in the second and third periods.

Tyson Jost – A+

Fitting that the guy who had one of the most important breakouts on the team helps spark the team to the President’s Trophy. Both goals were just massive, and when MacKinnon gets back, he can go back down to the third line where he’s at his best, and where he’s filled one of the biggest holes on the team coming into the year.

Nazem Kadri – B+

Picked up an assist and generally looked good again, even trying so much as to try to score from the red line and nearly taking out the ref in the process. Was back-checking hard even late in the game with the game in hand.

Gabriel Landeskog – A

Another great game from Landeskog, and like Rantanen, was trying to feed Jost to get him the hat trick. From Captain of a team that only put up 48 points in a year to leading a team to the President’s Trophy, it’s got to feel good for the leader o the squad.

Cale Makar – A

Toews and Makar put on a show for most of the game until the game was in hand. The Kings could not take the puck away from them and generated quite literally nothing with them on the ice. A point per game season as a defenseman. Wild.

Jayson Megna – B

Well, he picked up an assist crashing the net in the second period and had a chance in the third in the slot. Has actually shown pretty well in his games, but let’s be honest…no one hopes to see him in the playoffs.

Patrik Nemeth – B

Really has settled down of late. Made a great play defensively early in the game on a near break for the Kings. Took a penalty late but it didn’t matter. Still looks like he’s skating in mud, but at least his positioning is better now than a few weeks ago.

Alex Newhook – A-

Loved his game tonight, and would say it was his best performance. The puck was finding him all night long, which wasn’t the case previously. It was his most dynamic game and even got a chance to play penalty kill late. Donskoi had to direct him on the ice where to go, but a sign the coaches are really happy.

Valeri Nichushkin – B+

Funny seeing the game towards the end, everyone trying to pass to Jost for the hat trick, and Nuke just put his head down and trucked it to the net for a goal of his own. I’m sure he’d like one, given his only goal recently was Burakovsky smacking his stick with the puck on it. He’s played well other than that.

Mikko Rantanen – A+

Just a freakish performance from start to finish, and made the Kings look like children a lot of times while he was on the ice. Even late, he was manhandling them and playing keep away all night long. What a specimen he is.

Kiefer Sherwood – B

When the Avs were still down 1-0, Sherwood had a hard-working shift in the offensive zone where he kept the puck down low and threw a big hit. Not saying that sparked the team, but might have helped get some more energy.

Conor Timmins – A

Hate seeing him leave the game in the third period, but great performance in the first two periods. Beautiful vision and assist on Jost’s second goal, and was dancing in the offensive zone. His emergence has been huge for the defense.

Devon Toews – A+

Dominant performance from him. It took the Kings over 30 minutes to even register a shot attempt with him on the ice, and it was a weak wrister from the wall. Never looks tired on the ice, but he deserves a good day off.