Avs Round 2, Game 6 Grades: Demon slayed

Nicolas Aube-Kubel – D

This was the game where I think you look to pull him in round three. He’s nowhere near his spot along the wall on the first goal by St. Louis, and he has consistently struggled to clear the puck out of his zone. Burakovsky has always been better on the right wing, but he can’t play there if NAK is in.

Andre Burakovsky – C-

Gets credit for the zone entry and delay to Manson on the big opening goal for the Avs, but barely noticed him do anything offensively beyond that. Zero shot attempts at even strength. Thought he might come out shooting but that did not happen.

Bowen Byram – A

We got glimpses of it before he got hurt, but we might look back at this series as his breakout. Another primary assist, and constantly jumping into the play. By the end of the game, he was spending a lot of time with Cale Makar on a pair. Huge series.

Andrew Cogliano – B+

This was his most effective game of the series, and the fourth line bounced back in a big way after a rough game five. Great diving clear on one penalty kill, and a lot of heavy work on the forecheck.

J.T. Compher – A

They didn’t even need him to take many faceoffs tonight because that line got sheltered big time, but he picked a pretty dang good time to make his appearance offensively in the series. The goal in front of the net was great, but the snipe at the end of the powerplay was something he shows flashes of every once in a while. Big-time performance.

Darren Helm – A

Big goal aside, he played a great game and wasn’t on the ice for a single shot on net by the Blues. But uh, yeah, that goal was pretty big. Like huge. Massive. One of the biggest goals in recent Avs memory. From a dude that has really cranked it up a big in the playoffs.

Erik Johnson – B

EJ could have just played it safe with only a few seconds left. He looked pretty tired leaving the zone but kept going to push the play. It ended up being a huge decision, and the right one, to put the dagger in his former team. Happy for him because he’s played so well.

Jack Johnson – D-

The play on the second Blues goal was awful, there’s no getting around it, and the backcheck, or lack of, was bad. Barely played after that. Have to wonder if he starts next series or if Murray gets a chance.

Nazem Kadri – B

Of the guys with high-end chances, he may have had the most of them all. Some good looks, including one in the third where he just couldn’t lift the puck over Husso. A game-winner by Kadri would have sounded really nice, but you take the victory no matter what.

Darcy Kuemper – C

I still don’t like the first goal at all, and who the heck knows what he was doing when Manson saved his bacon in the second period, but he settled down a bit in the third period to make the saves he had to make. Big test with McDavid and Co. next.

Gabriel Landeskog – B+

Huge screen on the game-winning goal (with some help from the Blues), and an all-around really good game. He was dominant in the face-off circle, many times against O’Reilly head to head.

Artturi Lehkonen – B

He almost made the play of the game, where he fought off three Blues players to nearly get the puck to Landeskog for a mini-breakaway, but it was broken up at the last second. I do think he killed a few rushes offensively, as he doesn’t have the creativity of the other guys, but he was solid again on the forecheck.

Nathan MacKinnon – B+

He looked a little slow early in the game but picked it up as it went on, and the Avs dominated the O’Reilly line with MacKinnon out there. He loves to get up for big matchups, and there’s no bigger matchup than McDavid.

Cale Makar – B+

Maybe he’s not scoring goals or picking up points like he was in round one, but the Avs, again, dominated with him out there, and he started the breakout on the game-winning goal. Defensively it was a nice bounce back for him after the third period in game five.

Josh Manson – B+

The penalty kind of stunk, but I get that he was timing the hit for the pass, which just somehow didn’t get there. Huge play on the first goal to show some patience, but maybe the play of the game was the shot block on Kyrou with Kuemper halfway to Denver out of the crease. We may look back at that play in a month as the changing point.

Valeri Nichushkin – D

Now two games in a row where he’s really struggled to get pucks out and also get pucks in, which is what he excels at. The tank needs a few days off.

Logan O’Connor – A

Great forecheck work all night, and even though he didn’t hit Helm directly on the game-winning goal, you could tell that he saw him. The fourth line has provided some big moments in the postseason.

Mikko Rantanen – D

He actually looked decent in the first period, to the point where he got close to scoring a few times. Then he really fell off, and him just falling over himself at the blue line in the third period was more sad than funny. No idea what’s going on here. I can’t even speculate about injury.

Devon Toews – B-

A rough first period with the puck, but settled in after that, and a nice pass to spring Byram on the game-tying goal. With him taking a maintenance day here and there and fumbling pucks a bit, wonder if he’s also nursing something.