Game 44 Grades: Not a fan of New York

Pierre Edouard Bellemare – D

Bellemare took a beating in the face-off circle, winning just four of the 12 he took overall. He got his stick on the pass that went to Zibanejad on the tying goal in the first period, but wasn’t able to get all of it.

Andre Burakovsky – C+

Burakovsky isn’t scoring goals like he was earlier in the year, but he’s at least creating some goals. He did well on the opening goal by showing some patience, and helped create the second Compher goal by taking it to the net.

Matt Calvert – D

Just a quiet game where you really did not notice Calvert all that much. I’m not sure that’s really a good thing for him, but he’s not going to be superman every night.

Ian Cole – F

I felt like this was a rough one for Cole. He was sloppy all night with the puck on the breakout. He dove a little bit in the second period to draw a penalty, but the only reason it was still in the zone was that he turned it over. He got caught covering no one on the game-winning goal.

J.T. Compher – B+

It was nice to see him get a few goals and hopefully that builds some confidence here. He did lose the face-off on the game-winner and screened his goal on another, but overall, he’s one guy that it’s really hard to complain about. Both of his goals were pretty similar, just battling in front of the net.

Joonas Donskoi – INC

I did not like the hit, and I sure hope Donskoi is going to be OK.

Samuel Girard – B-

Sam was probably the Avs most passable defenseman in this one. He did well to corral a bouncing puck on the opening goal of the game, and picked up yet another assist. I believe he was on the ice for all three goals by the Avs, so not much to complain about there.

Ryan Graves – F

I felt like Graves had a rough, rough night. He was a mess in the first period, and he seemed to get caught quite a bit on pinches in this one, including at the very end of the first period. When he’s taking risks like that, he tends to get himself into some trouble. He had a chance to clear the puck on the opening goal by the Rangers but just didn’t get enough on it.

Philipp Grubauer – D-

There’s just no consistency in his game right now. He has one good game and follows it up with a below-average game. Tonight, he just didn’t make a big save when the team needed him too. The third goal, he was completely guessing and left half the net open. His puck tracking has been an issue.

Erik Johnson – C-

I don’t feel like EJ really pushed the play in this one but he wasn’t bad. He got caught on the ice a long time on the second goal of the game by the Rangers and rushed out to try to cover the defenseman before it entered the slot. I would rather see him stay home on that one.

Nazem Kadri – B

Sure is tough to grade Kadri when he sat out half the game, but he’s going to get a decent grade if only because he stood up for his teammate on a hit that sure didn’t look legal to me, and did so with authority.

Tyson Jost – D+

With Donskoi hurt and Kadri out half the game, Jost had some ice time to make an impact. He did some decent things, including a rush where he got around a defender and took it to the net, but didn’t get much on the shot. The production is just lacking, even if the process isn’t all that bad.

Gabriel Landeskog – F

Landy sure seemed missing at even strength in this one. Most of his shot attempts came on the power play, but at 5 on 5, there just wasn’t enough from the Captain. I think it’s pretty interesting that he played almost four full minutes less than MacKinnon and Rantanen at even strength.

Nathan MacKinnon – D

He got a bit of a gift on his goal in this one, as the Rangers just overskated the puck for an easy breakaway, but it was a nice finish, that’s for sure. After that, there wasn’t a ton of danger from him, and the power play was just ugly, once again.

Cale Makar – F

Things are just not working for Makar right now. He was on the ice way too long for a few goals against tonight and took a rare penalty behind his own net. That pair had a tough time all night long, it seemed.

Valeri Nichushkin – C+

It rarely feels like Nichushkin has a bad game. He expends a lot of energy on the ice in all ends, and he did that again tonight. He picked up yet another assist with some good forechecking on Compher’s second goal.

Matt Nieto – D

Nieto was one of the guys who got outmuscled down low on the tying goal by the Rangers in the first period, and his guy ended up playing a big role in the goal.

Mikko Rantanen – F

So in around 31 minutes of even-strength ice time since his hat trick, he has zero shots on net and has only attempted one shot. What’s up with that, Mikko? Just simply not good enough. Just too many nights right now where you almost don’t even notice the guy.

Nikita Zadorov – D

We’re back to Z having pretty much no role on the team, and we’ve seen in the past he doesn’t succeed in that spot. He played almost two minutes less than every other D at even strength. He had a good first defensively, but tailed off after that, and seemed to hurt himself at the end of the game. He iced the puck on a set play off the face-off that the winger didn’t get to, and the game-winning goal happened right after.