Avs Player Grades from Win over Wings: Landy a “Beast” (+)

“It ain’t no party like a Detroit party, cuz a Detroit party don’t stop”

Jack Johnson: B – 17 minutes played for JJ, a Michigan guy. Good rebound game for the veteran after a bad day in Boston.

Erik Johnson: B – Avs were 2-for-3 on the penalty kill tonight. Johnson played over 15 minutes and was a plus-1. Strong game.

Devon Toews: X – A performance so good it was obscene. A plus-4 and two assists tonight. Honestly, he is a Norris Trophy candidate.

Cale Makar: B –  He juggled the puck at the blue line that led to the Red Wings first goal of the game. He usually doesn’t make mistakes like that. Oh well, we all can’t be perfect. Added an assist. Still a good game.

Valeri Nichushkin: B+ – Played hard and fast to the front of the net. It’s really hard to stop a train when it’s coming right at you. He was rewarded with his 14th of the season. 

Nicolas Aube-Kubel: C –  He didn’t do anything to put himself further into the dog house but also didn’t do anything to get out of it. 

Tyson Jost: B – The team is going to need depth scoring the rest of the season and most certainly during playoffs. Solid game by Jost tonight, with his seventh goal.

Alex Newhook: A – Had two assists tonight, when he really needed a good game. Jared Bednar had called out his third- fourth-line guys a bit before the game, and he responded.

Logan O’Connor: B – I really liked his line tonight. They came out with energy and played well in the offensive zone. LOC was a big part of that. 

Kurtis MacDermid: B –  Night in and night out, he’s doing his job and it’s hard to complain. Many still do, but he’s doing his job.

J.T. Compher: C+ – Saw some time on the first power-play unit and it seemed to have added a little spunk to his game. 

Darren Helm: B – Always heartwarming to perform well against your old team. A little over 10 minutes played, with an assist on the first goal, when he was given a nice tribute by Bednar of starting the game on the first line.

Sam Girard: B- He’s been a bit quiet of late in all areas, but overall he was fine tonight.

Nazem Kadri: A – Pretty slick stick-handling tonight and got his 22nd goal of the season.

Gabe Landeskog: X – He’s so good in front of the net. Defenders can’t seem to cover him and he seems to be ok to taking a bruising. Two goals for the Captain tonight.  Jared Bednar said he was a “beast” tonight. Agreed.

Andre Burakovsky: A- – He was the first-line center tonight with MacKinnon out and he didn’t look half bad. Great pass to Nichushkin in front of the net. 

Mikko Rantanen: B- –  He wasn’t really noticeable tonight but still got an assist and three shots on net. I wish my off days were still productive like this. 

Pavel Francouz: B – He had a good game. Made the saves he needed to and got lucky when he needed to. Everyone did their job tonight and it paid off. He made 32 saves tonight and got the much-needed rebound W.