Avs/Stars Game 5 Grades: Not dead yet

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – A

Heck of a game from Bellemare, who got the party started early in the first period and the Avs never looked back. Great play by him to one-time that across his body, and not let Bishop get set coming across. He was buzzing all night long.

Andre Burakovsky – A

That’s one way to stick around on the top line for a few more games. Never really fancied Burky as a slapshot guy, but he wired the second one past Khudobin, who forgot how to play goaltender for a half-second on that shot. Great pull up and delay to hit Girard for the goal towards the end of the first.

Ian Cole – C

The penalty in the third period was a little ticky tacky but the refs basically decided they wanted to call everything at the end. Made a really nice play defending Benn in the third period.

J.T. Compher – C

Nice of JT to make an appearance in this series. Great pass to hit MacKinnon for his goal. He still did not attempt a 5 on 5 shot in this one, but at least made a bit of an impact offensively. I still do not like him on the ice on the 5 on 3.

Samuel Girard – A

Sammy had some swag in this one, didn’t he? If the game was any closer, I would have been more upset about his penalty, but I thought it was hilarious coming from G, and it really seemed to frustrate Comeau. Nice of him to attack offensively at the end of the first, as he usually pulls up or looks for an extra pass.

Ryan Graves – D

What is going on here? He’s getting overplayed, and with EJ out and Z banged up, it happens, but this is not the guy we saw in the regular season. He played a pretty major role in all three of Dallas’ goals, and not really sure what he was doing on the first one. Really good stretch pass on MacK’s goal, though.

Michael Hutchinson – C

Safe to say I’m not very confident moving forward with Hutchinson in net, but if the Avs are outshooting the Stars by like 25 in the second period of Game 6, I’ll feel a lot better. He seemed to calm down in the third a little bit, which makes sense because he saw more shots, but a little shaky and looked behind him a few times. At this point, the goaltending situation is held together by duct tape, so go get ’em.

Tyson Jost – C

Other than getting into a scrum in front of the benches in the first period, I honestly don’t remember a whole lot from Jost. I’ll take that over his penalty that changed last game.

Nazem Kadri – B-

He played a strong game and looked a lot better with Landy back on his line to help him out, but the undisciplined play in the second period just cannot keep up. The Stars were wanted that, and they got it out of Kadri. Just something he needs to look out for next game, because that’s how the Stars want to play.

Gabriel Landeskog – B+

Just a tank all over the ice. Good work digging around on Kadri’s goal in the first, but probably his best game of the series. Just an all-around solid game from the Captain.

Nathan MacKinnon – A-

Superstar ‘gon superstar. He’s already got 23 points, which is the most anyone had in the postseason last year, so it would be a shame if this run just sort of ended in the second round. He didn’t want that to be the case tonight. Powerplay needs to be a heck of a lot better next game, though.

Cale Makar – A-

Forget anything else he did on the ice, which there was mostly good and the only bad was the power play. He gets bumped up to the A tier for tossing Perry on his rear end in the second period. You love to see it.

Vladislav Namestnikov – C

Another guy, who, like Jost, just sort of existed tonight, which is a big upgrade on taking bad penalties at inopportune times.

Valeri Nichushkin – B+

Doing the dirty work, tying up bodies in front of the net on the Kadri goal. Another strong game from him, as he seems to be getting some mojo going after looking rough most of the postseason. He was built for a grind line, and that’s what he was on tonight.

Matt Nieto – B+

Okay, it’s not much, but I’ll miss a lot of Nieto’s smart decisions if he really does leave in unrestricted free agency. He makes some really smart passes in the defensive zone to get the team out of trouble, and a great net drive on the opening goal, understanding his role on that rush.

Logan O’Connor – A

I didn’t know O’Connor had that pass in him on the Bellemare goal. I was expected him to wrist one at the net, so a real pleasant surprise there. He was buzzing again in this one, and has provided some energy into the bottom six.

Mikko Rantanen – B

The power play has just got to be better in game six, but nice to see Mikko get something going at even strength. I thought he might have jammed in the fifth goal, so nice to see it get changed to him. All this dude does is rack up points, even if it doesn’t look pretty.

Conor Timmins – C

Loved his first period. Lots of smart, quick passes to get the puck out of the zone. After that, it seemed like the pace caught up to him a bit. Considering the guy he replaced was taking too many penalties, seeing Timmins in the box twice isn’t great. First career playoff game after a six month layoff…not bad.

Nikita Zadorov – B

Had a few nice plays in the offensive zone to get the puck through traffic on net, including on the Kadri goal. The concern here is just how healthy he is. He barely played in the third period and hasn’t been near as physical the last two games. Just something to watch on Wednesday.