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Avs player grades in 3-2 OT win over Montreal

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When I think about those nights in Montreal, I get the sweetest thoughts of you and me…

Avs grades from 3-2 OT win, 15 in a row at home

Jack Johnson: B – Good work in his own zone especially in the corners and grinding it out. Can’t say too much about the Johnson and Johnson line beside: “steady.” And, if JJ not one of the great PTO pickups of the offseason? Who wants to argue with me?

Erik Johnson: B – Almost took out Kuemper late in the second but had another consistent game with three shots and four hits. Comeback Player of the Year in the NHL to this point.

Devon Toews: A – Girard’s and his passing on the power play was a thing of beauty. Just another night of No. 7 adding three assists. He now has 23 for the season. He’s a serious candidate for the Norris Trophy – just like his partner, Cale Makar.

Cale Makar: B – Cale is like a Great White shark out there, kind of always sashaying around in stealth mode, until he powers out of nowhere to destroy prey. Tonight wasn’t quite that kind of night for No. 8, but he was still a worrisome presence out there for Habs defenders.

Mikhail Maltsev: C – Only 7:08 minutes tonight and a couple of shots. Not costing the team with mistakes at least.

Valeri Nichushkin: A – Come on ride the train, it’s the choo choo train! Big Val is back. Big Val scores, and dishes up that sweet, sweet sauce to Landy for the OT winner. He is such a big presence in front of the net and just punched it in for his marker. This man is going to get paid this summer.

Nicolas Aube-Kubel: C – He was late getting back on the 2-1 that led to the Canadiens first goal of the game. That explains the C.

Tyson Jost: C – Coughed up the puck in his own zone a few times tonight. He was a minus-1 and only had one shot.

Alex Newhook: A – Beautiful shot on the power play. Just keep it going now. He had four shots on net and played with intensity.

Logan O’Connor: D – Late on the backcheck on the Suzuki tying goal. A bit off tonight for some reason. He’ll get his groove back.

Nathan MacKinnon: B – He makes entering the zone look so easy, with his hippity-hop steps. It doesn’t matter who the team is, he gets into the zone. Led the team with seven shots on net and drew a high-sticking call.

J.T. Compher: C+ – Finished with almost 15 minutes and one shot. 

Sam Girard: A – Looked like the touch pass to Newhook is something they might have practiced a time or two. He kept his head up on the second goal of the game as well getting the pass to Nichushkin. Make that 19 assists now on the season for La Tornade.

Kurtis MacDermid: B- He had some good defensive plays out there tonight. He’s seeing an uptick in ice time, but Bednar limited him to just under eight minutes tonight. No dance partners tonight. 

Nazem Kadri: C – His double-minor proved costly. First average game in a while. Hey, he’s human.

Gabe Landeskog: B – Fairly quiet night from the Captain – until the team needed him most in overtime, and then he became Captain, Oh My Captain again. 

Andre Burakovsky: C – His pass on the offside goal was great, had it counted. Besides that not much offense from him.

Mikko Rantanen: C+ – Average night for the Moose, but that’s still better than most players.

Darcy Kuemper B – He almost had that odd-man rush goal, but there wasn’t much he could do on the second goal. The Canadiens started peppering him with 30 shots on net and Kemps came up big in the end. 

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