Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – C Didn’t love the fourth line today. It wasn’t a bad game, just a pedestrian one. Bellemare was at his best in the faceoff circle, where he won nine of his 13 draws. He was solid on the PK and had a clean breakaway but couldn’t finish. An average night for PEB. Andre Burakovsky – B Didn’t…...

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – B- I liked his game. It was completely fine. Jump right from the hop set the tone for the game. That’s what you want from the fourth line. Seriously, though, some production would be nice. No complaints about PEB today. Andre Burakovsky – C- In a game where the Avs were swarming the Wild for about 85%…...

Andre Burakovsky – B The first assist wasn’t too much and benefited on a great play by Saad, but the second assist was a thing of beauty to Compher, threading the needle across the royal road to hit him for an easy goal. We’re now sitting here with him well over a point per game to start his season. Bowen…...

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – B Really solid game from Bellemare, and that line really went to work down low in the third period, killing the puck on the cycle and not giving the Stars any chance to break out. As bad as the Avs were in face-offs in the first, guys like Bellemare turned it around to even it up in…...

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – D The fourth line was missing a big part of it today, and it showed. They failed to grind out anything offensively and Bellemare looked a little slow. As you’ll see with these grades, he certainly wasn’t alone… Andre Burakovsky – F Sloppy all over the place. The second line was a negative pretty much all evening,…...

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – A The fourth line was incredible. Consistent offensive zone time, and grinding away every shift. Bellemare, through two periods, wasn’t even on the ice for a shot attempt against at even strength. Just a great performance from him, including a backdoor setup to Graves in the first that hit iron. Andre Burakovsky – B- Burakovsky’s ice time…...

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – B- Solid throughout, I didn’t really have any complaints from Bellemare. He won his share of faceoffs (63%), had a shot on goal (more than one would be nice) and was positive in pretty much all of the shot metrics you care about. He was fine. Andre Burakovsky – C- I didn’t notice him a lot offensively…...

Pierre Edouard Bellemare – B Bellemare is pretty consistent from night to night. He was again a solid cog in the middle of Colorado’s best depth line. He does a ton of little things well, especially offensively, that are easy to overlook but it’s no accident he’s in the middle of a line that cycles well. Tonight, that grit-and-grind mentality…...

Erik Johnson – D Sometimes guys have tough nights in the box score when they really didn’t do a lot to earn it. This is best represented by plus/minus and the way people try to use it to interpret how good or bad a player was during that game. Tonight, Johnson earned the negative two by playing key roles in…...

Erik Johnson – C- Johnson’s turnover trying to fire a puck through traffic in the neutral zone directly led to the second Pittsburgh goal and that continues to be a problem that plagues him. There were some good moments from him, though, just not enough to make up for his big mistake of the evening. Cale Makar – B I…...

Gabriel Landeskog – A Landeskog is already on the familiar PPG pace he set last season. Tonight, he got the game-winner by standing backdoor and letting Rantanen find him with a great pass. That top line has picked up where it left off last year. Nathan MacKinnon – A- Kind of? MacKinnon had two assists but seemed a little more…...

Tyson Barrie (C-) – I liked his game defensively more than offensively. That’s never a good thing because Barrie needs to be dynamite offensively. He just wasn’t tonight and is activation through the neutral zone wasn’t as impactful as we’ve seen the rest of the playoffs. Gabriel Bourque (C) – Some big hits in the series but you can’t get caved in…...

Tyson Barrie (C+) – He got crushed in shot metrics tonight. Absolutely crushed. But the eyes told me he played a vital role in attacking San Jose’s system and his willingness to jump into the play and skate aggressively up the ice opens up options and freedom for teammates to make plays. He is largely responsible for Colorado’s success in attacking…...

Sven Andrighetto (D) – Got back into the lineup and the shot metrics look good but I thought he looked awfully rusty. The speed was there but he was hesitant with the puck and one of his best attributes is he’s trigger-happy when he gets it. He was a little turnover prone because of his tentativenes and just looked ineffective overall.…...

Sven Andrighetto (C) – This is a totally neutral grade because I don’t have an opinion on his game either way. He had a silly penalty early on but beyond that was relatively quiet throughout. It looked to me like Bednar used the early game to get some practice in for a potential 11-forward lineup. Tyson Barrie (B+) – He had an…...

Tyson Barrie (D) – The QB of a PP that wasn’t even competitive despite four bites at the apple. The guy who was so good at the end of the regular season needs to stick around if Colorado is going to compete in this series. Gabriel Bourque (C) – Outside of his scoring chance in the first period, I honestly don’t have…...

(x) Sven Andrighetto – Doesn’t matter. Made the playoffs! (x) Tyson Barrie – Doesn’t matter. Made the playoffs! (x) Gabriel Bourque – Doesn’t matter. Made the playoffs! (x) Derick Brassard –  Doesn’t matter. Made the playoffs! (x) Matt Calvert – Doesn’t matter. Made the playoffs! (x) Ian Cole – Doesn’t matter. Made the playoffs! (x) J.T. Compher – Doesn’t matter. Made the…

Sven Andrighetto (B-) – I liked his game again tonight and thought he was one of the few guys who found a little space out there at times with his speed. I have no problems with him being the third shooter with Rantanen out and no clear-cut obvious choice to take that spot. He had Binnington beat, too, until the…...

Sven Andrighetto (B-) – I again thought Andrighetto was involved in a positive way and his speed caused problems for Arizona’s depth guys when they got matched up. I’d have preferred he got a shot off on his best scoring chance of the night but we all want things in life, I suppose. Tyson Barrie (C+) – I thought he was aggressive…...