Avalanche Game 2 Player Grades

EDMONTON, ALBERTA – I haven’t done these in a long time, but I think readers generally like to read them and it’s a good way for us writers to get in other observations you can’t always do in normal stories. So here we go, with my Avs player grades for Game 2 against Arizona:

Gabe Landeskog (C) – I feel like I’m being a bit generous with this grade, but I’m a generous guy (no jokes please). He did get an assist in this game, and it was a nice little “Get out of his way” slip pass to Nathan MacKinnon coming across the Arizona blue line for the first goal of the game. So, any time you get a point in a 3-2 playoff win, you at least get a C. But what’s up with all the bad passes and turnovers? It seems like he still hasn’t gotten his legs under him these playoffs.

Nathan MacKinnon (A-) – This was MacK Daddy Nate, for the most part. Great first goal, and he had the most energy, by far, of any Avs skater it seemed to me. He almost scored a couple of other times. I’d like to see him – and the rest of the Avs – shoot more on the power play, but overall a great game for Two Niner.