Avalanche Player Grades Game 5: Coyote Ugly

Four down, 12 more to go for the Colorado Avalanche their quest for the Stanley Cup.

Much like the did the game prior, Colorado cruised past the Coyotes in a similar 7-1 fashion. They put up a good fight in Games 2 and 3, but my oh my, did the wheels fall off for Arizona. The Avalanche move on to Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Another easy game to grade, given the dominant nature of the outcome.

FORWARDS

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare:

B

He was great in the series, doing his job as a fourth-line center. He was great on the PK and really moved the puck well. Today he wasn’t all that noticeable, but he didn’t have to be.

Andre Burakovsky:

B-

Burakovsky is really starting to hit his stride lately. He made a hell of a play to get the puck to spring a streaking Nazem Kadri to the breakaway for the third goal of the game. Minus points for that unnecessary holding penalty in the third though. The three giveaways hurt him too.

Matt Calvert:

B+

Calvert showed a lot of pep in his step today and nearly worked his way around an Arizona defender to make it a 6-0 game with about six minutes to go in the second period. I love the energy he plays with every night. Like Erik Johnson, he’s probably the most stable and reliable Avalanche player on a nightly-basis. That just comes with the territory of being a veteran, I suppose.

He also played the second-most minutes (behind Kadri) among Avs forwards. It’s safe to say coach Bednar appreciates his wily veteran too.

J.T. Compher:

B

Compher had really strong outings up until like Game 3. Since then, he’s kind of just been invisible…at least to me. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, he’s never really been a flashy player. He works hard behind the play, that’s how he gets his paycheck. He roofed one late in the game, too, so props to him there for showing up on the scoresheet.

Joonas Donskoi:

B

I thought he did a pretty good job on both PK’s and led the team with three blocks. A pretty average, decent game from Donskoi.

Tyson Jost:

C-

I didn’t see as much from him as I would’ve liked to, as I did in his last game when I thought he was great. And I have to give him some minus points here for the silly penalty he took holding the stick of Arizona’s Alex Goligoski to start the third period.

Nazem Kadri:

A+

I’m running out of good things to say about Nazem Kadri’s game these days. He opened the scoring again on yet another power-play goal. He has really really stepped it up in these playoffs and each and every time he’s out on the ice, you can just see how badly he wants it. He’s a lot like Nathan MacKinnon in that sense…and that’s obviously high-praise there.

Pierre McGuire may have said it best at the end of the NBC broadcast: “I wonder what they’re thinking (in Toronto) seeing Kadri run through the handshake line.”

The shade. I love it.

Gabe Landeskog:

A

Landy made a nice one-touch pass in front to Kadri on the game’s first goal. Smart, heads-up play. You got to feel for the guy though. He had so many golden opportunities, especially in the first period, to score but couldn’t cash in. The poor guy just can’t buy one in the bubble. Overall, though, nothing bad to say about his game in this one, and great Corsi numbers.

Nathan MacKinnon:

A+

Night-in and night-out with this guy. His two goals in 58 seconds during the middle frame put the final nail in the coffin in Game 5. It’s just really unfair for the rest of the NHL that he gets to play in this league. He makes his teammates on the ice that much better while making the opposition look like a bunch of drunk beer leaguers.

Four more points for the man who will win the Hart Trophy.

Val Nichushkin:

B

Val did a great job of screening Kuemper on Sam Girard’s goal, and that’s something he needs to do often. He’s a big boy and he’s even big enough to block the hulking Darcy Kuemper. He made smart, defensively-sound plays too, which is something he does often. He led the team with five hits too.

Matt Nieto:

B

I like the speed and energy he was playing with all night. His net-front presence was great too and he almost poked a couple through Kuemper. He had some not-so-great CorsiFor numbers, but that comes with the territory of starting in the defensive zone more than just about every Avalanche forward.

Mikko Rantanen:

A

Pretty solid game for Mikko tonight, adding two more assists to his playoff totals. You can tell he’s been getting somewhat frustrated with his play at times though. I’ve spotted him a couple of times throughout the last couple games where he was slamming his stick on the ice or banging it on the glass…even though his team is up 4-0. He’s a competitor though, what can you say.

DEFENSE

Ian Cole:

B

He was a physical force in his own zone. He earned some props on a number of occasions from the NBC broadcast crew for his stability in his zone and making the smart, safe plays.

Sam Girard:

B+

A rocket of a shot earned him his first playoff goal of his career. On the defensive side of things, I thought he did a nice job of casually poking pucks out of dangerous areas in his own zone. It’s maybe not something you notice often, but I see it.

Ryan Graves:

B-

I have noticed much of Graves at all throughout a majority of the series. Usually him and Makar are quite the dynamic duo on the backend for the Avalanche, but I’m definitely noticing more of Makar than Graves these days.

Erik Johnson:

A

Another quiet, put-your-head-down-and-work, blue-collar game from EJ. He only allowed four shots against his goalie when he was on the ice, the lowest of any Avalanche D-man.

Cale Makar:

A

Somehow, he only managed just a secondary assist in this game. He played a fantastic game in the offensive zone though, as evidenced by his plus-3.

Nikita Zadorov:

B-

Good on him for showing up on the scoresheet. He played a pretty above-average game in my eyes. That’s why he didn’t get a “C” from me like he usually does. He was out there crushing Coyotes today. His five hits tied a team high.

Philip Grubauer:

A-

Another relatively easy game for Grubi again. He didn’t really have to face many high-quality chances. But then again, that’s not really Arizona’s MO. It’ll only get harder from here on out as the competition begins to elevate.