Adrian Dater
That was a weird one. Avs just kind of beat themselves tonight, losing to the Vegas Golden Knights. One of Vegas’ goals they put in themselves, and they just couldn’t finish anything despite some good chances and flow with the puck.
The grades, as I see them:
Andre Burakovsky (C) – He was bumped off the top line by the third period. He had one decent scoring chance in the first period and that’s pretty much the only time I noticed him.
Nathan MacKinnon (C) – Just didn’t have his normal kind of night. Didn’t have the puck enough, and when he did not a whole lot happened.
Mikko Rantanen (D) – One of the players who was most guilty of being too fancy. Prime example: he came down the right side with the puck early in the third period, with a real good lane to shoot on net. Instead, he flipped a soft pass across ice and it was broken up.
Brandon Saad (D) – Not too noticeable at all out there. Never seemed to have the puck.
Nazem Kadri (B-) – I thought he played hard and had a couple good chances, but things just wouldn’t go in for him.
Joonas Donskoi (B-) – Almost scored a couple of times in the third period. I thought he was strong on his skates all night though.
Gabe Landeskog (C) – He alternated between the first and third lines, and had some nice moments on the Avs’ first power play. Alas, nothing on the score sheet.
J.T. Compher (D) – He just can’t get it going offensively. His line was outplayed by Vegas’ third line tonight.
Tyson Jost (C) – Worked hard, skated hard. But he, Landeskog and Compher don’t seem to have a lot of chemistry right now.
Valeri Nichushkin (C) – Not much time with the puck. Had it stripped a couple times from him too easily, too.
P.E. Bellemare (B-) – Had a couple of good chances, and skated hard. He and Matt Calvert had a couple strong shifts together.
Matt Calvert (B-) – Same kind of game as Bellemare. Wasn’t his fault tonight.
Devon Toews (B) – Nothing too bad out there that I could tell. He was steady with the puck. Maybe not as involved offensively as anyone would like, but that’s his normal game.
Cale Makar (C-) – Just not a Cale usual kind of night. Only got to direct one power play. He was caught running around a bit on Vegas’ second and third goals too.
Bo Byram (D) – Just a rough night for the kid. Kicked a puck in his own net that made it 2-0, and was beaten on the third goal. Also took a weird interference penalty in the third.
Conor Timmins (C) – Turned the puck over once or twice, not too involved either it didn’t feel like.
Ryan Graves (B) – I thought he was solid in his own end, for the most part.
Sam Girard (B-) – Not too involved offensively, but overall he carried the puck well I thought.
Philipp Grubauer (B) – He made some good saves, among his 25 overall. Can’t fault him for too much tonight.