Avs Games 26 Grades: Breakthrough

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – C+

I thought Bellemare was thoroughly overshadowed by his linemates today but that is by no means a knock on him. He played a consistent and effective game. He’s an offensive black hole, though, and his one shot on goal was once again a high-danger chance that did not go in. At some point he has to start finishing.

Andre Burakovsky – A

Speaking of finishing, Burakovsky was one-third of the real three-headed monster today, Colorado’s second line. He snagged an assist on Kadri’s goal and then finished off a great pass down low from Kadri with a nice backhand in front of the net. Great game from him, even if he was more distributor than turret.

Matt Calvert – B

I am a firm believer that Calvert’s energy is a difference-maker because how can you not see the way he plays and want to go out and match that kind of effort? He’s so scrappy and savvy with the puck along the wall. Again no production but some generation and good looks.

Joonas Donskoi – B+

The finish is great. He just goes to the net, finds a puck sitting in the crease, and slams it home. It sounds easy but how many times have we seen the Avs not score on chances where the puck was RIGHT THERE? Hell, Donskoi was even involved in some of those. That third goal was critically important.

Samuel Girard – B

Another good performance from G but I thought this was a quieter effort overall. It’s hard to say anything about the PP work when they had just one chance. His work at evens was solid as always. Nothing really stood out from this game as he just did his job at the expected high level.

Ryan Graves – C+

It was, as it has become common to see this year, imperfect from Graves but there was a lot I liked overall. The big blunder is obviously the terrible penalty in the third period where he falls down and trips a guy at his own blueline. It seems impossible to separate the good Graves provides from the bad but there was still a lot to like today. I loved him shutting down shooting lanes on the PK. He’s really grown comfortable on the left flank next to Toews. Amazing what it does for a player to get into a comfortable role, eh? If the Avs ever get healthy, I still think there’s a lot of good hockey coming from Graves.

Philipp Grubauer – A-

The goal Grubauer gave up was well-screened by Landeskog but otherwise it looked pretty clean to me. I’m not sure if Landeskog skating by should make that level of difference on a puck he should have tracked all the way in. I didn’t like the goal against but had he stopped that and given up a goal on one of the few shots just feet from him, I wouldn’t feel terribly differently about his grade. He was great forcing the Kings offense to be one-and-done as he gobbled up pucks and didn’t give up a lot of rebounds. Maybe a weak goal against but a great overall effort.

Tyson Jost – B+

I’m glad Evan has been the one doing the majority of the grading this year because today felt like a Classic Tyson Jost Game. He’s all over the ice working hard, doing good things and creating some quality chances. He’s also excelled on the PK this year and has arguably become their top PK guy and he kicked ass there today. The only complaint is, you’ll be shocked the learn, that he didn’t actually score. He also loses battles along the boards a little too easily for my taste but not every player is going to be good at that.

Nazem Kadri – B-

The goal and assist are great. That’s exactly why you brought Kadri to Denver in the first place. He can be a second play-driving force when your top line isn’t cashing in on chances. Why the grade then? That second penalty is just so, so, so careless and unavoidable. I expect that stuff from a young kid not accustomed to closing games out, not one of the older players on the team who has been around every situation you can think of in the regular season. Just so undisciplined and unnecessary.

Gabriel Landeskog – C-

Just didn’t notice a lot of him outside of the clear screen on Grubauer on LA’s only goal. He was the only skater not to register a shot on goal today.

Jacob MacDonald – B

I’ll admit I am constantly torn on MacDonald’s play. He’s a ton of fun to watch if you don’t care about structure or decision-making and just want to watch what we all look like when we play Be A Pro mode on NHL 21. Just all over the ice trying to do everything? That’s MacDonald, except in actual NHL games. And it just keeps working for him. I don’t even want to nitpick the stuff I didn’t like today. He’s fun.

Nathan MacKinnon – C+

Effort isn’t a problem with him, but sometimes I can’t help but wonder if he’s over-exerting himself, especially on offense. Anecdotally, it seems like he accidentally makes life too hard on himself as he tries to work out of scoring slumps. As a writer, I have a bad habit of using 10 words when five would do. MacKinnon with the puck feels like that sometimes. A simpler approach might really help him.

Valeri Nichushkin – A

He’s absolutely awesome right now. Engaged physically and mentally, Nichushkin is such a handful to deal with when he’s playing at the level he has the last six or so games. He’s keeping it simple, playing in straight lines, shooting when he should shoot, passing when he should pass, and killing opposing teams on the forecheck and on the PK. He was all of that again today.

Logan O’Connor – A-

The only complaint I have is a lack of finish here but he led the Avs in shots on goal with five and played his heart out, per usual. His speed has a noticeable drop-off in effectiveness when he starts to get up over about 10 minutes of ice time but he’s so reliable already defensively that he’s a guy Bednar already trusts to help close games.

Greg Pateryn – C-

I liked Pateryn’s game today a lot more than most as he was activating offensively, made a couple of smart reads to jump into the action, and then completely undid it with an inexcusably dumb read to try to hold the puck in against Andreas Athanasiou. You have to know the personnel and know that isn’t the guy you take a 50-50 chance with. Play it safe and try to defend him, not give him a 50% chance at a clean breakaway, which is exactly what happened. Aggggghhhhhh.

Mikko Rantanen – B-

I liked his game the most of any of the top line. I thought he was close to a number of points today and was quietly having a really strong game. Happy he got a free assist late in the game. We tend to ignore points on ENGs for obvious reasons but they always start with good defensive work and this was no different. I loved his little re-direct early in the game. He doesn’t score on a lot of those chances but he sees them and goes for it and nearly caught Cal Petersen off guard with it.

Dan Renouf – A

Two points for Dan Renouf for the moment. That’s enough for an A from me. The rest of irrelevant. If they take away the first assist and give it to Saad, it was still one of Renouf’s better games.

Brandon Saad – A-

Could (should?) have two assists but at the moment it’s just the one. That’s okay, it doesn’t matter much to me either way. His commitment to the details is great and he’s doing so many things well throughout games that even though he isn’t remotely a flashy player, he’s consistently effective in all three zones and is a perfect glue guy for his line.

Devon Toews – B+

Solid, steady, unflinching. No major mistakes here but his sudden lack of willingness to shoot the puck on open opportunities is an unwelcome development. It’s not a major problem but it speaks to the team-wide lack of confidence they have in their ability to score goals right now. Toews should be comfortable firing whenever he sees fit. He has a good enough shot to make it happen. His defense is almost boring in his consistent excellence. The perfect rock for this defense.