Weekly Grades: Bring Back My Rantanen Edition

The Avs went 2-2 this week, but were they any good?

We’re back with the Colorado Avalanche weekly report card! This week Colorado snapped a nine-game winning streak with back-to-back losses at home. But were they any good?

THE GAMES

Saturday vs Nashville: 7-4 W
Monday @Columbus: 4-1 L
Thursday @ Minnesota: 5-2 W
Friday @ Edmonton: 6-2 L

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Nathan MacKinnon: 3 Goals, 5 Assists

The NHL’s Second Star for the month of March continued to dazzle to start the week with four points in the comeback against Nashville. He became just the fifth player in the last 30 years to reach 130 points in a season with his assist in Edmonton, joining Nikita Kucherov, Connor McDavid, Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, and Wayne Gretzky. That is amazing, and sometimes he makes it look easy:

But he also was unable to produce in Columbus despite a strong effort, as Daniil Tarasov put up 45 saves in a near-shutout that may have been the nail in the coffin of the Avs Division Championship hopes. After a seemingly casual three-point game in Minnesota, his night in Edmonton looked mostly like this:

That’s not to say the loss there was on Nate or anything, he was good, and watching 29 and 97 go at it all game was incredible television, but things just wouldn’t go his way – and when Nate’s not getting his, the team probably isn’t either. I can think of only one bounce that went Colorado’s way all night, and it got MacKinnon his assist. We’ll get to it in the Drouin section.

Overall, it was a very strong week from MacKinnon but the Avs needed just a little more from him in the losses, particularly on the power play. A-

STAR WATCH

Cale Makar: 1 Goal, 4 Assists

Five points in four games is great for most defensemen, but for Cale, it’s just an average week – especially considering the power play he quarterbacks continued to struggle mightily. He did snipe a PPG to tie the Nashville game though!

Love to see him creating shots for himself with the man advantage – that’s a part of the power play that has clearly not been a team focus, but it’s essential to keep defenses honest. Cale was shooting a ton that game and in Columbus, and somehow barely got any chances on the man advantage to keep that up in Edmonton.

Defensively, his even strength metrics were bad to mediocre all week, with his strongest showing coming in that dreadful Blue Jackets loss and his worst in the beatdown in Edmonton. He got shelled that night, which honestly is not entirely on Cale as the whole team was playing with dead legs, but it’s not a good look for the likely Norris runner-up. B–

Valeri Nichushkin: 0 points

Val didn’t play until the Edmonton game, where he looked like a guy coming back from injury. I’ll give him a pass for that, and just reiterate that the power play looked completely broken without him. B

Mikko Rantanen: 1 Goals, 4 assists

Well, first and foremost he took a huge hit in Edmonton and didn’t return.

I’m no doctor but I know a concussion when I see one. Hopefully, it’s the kind the Moose can recover from quickly. Prior to that unfortunate incident, Mikko had a week similar to Cale’s –good numbers, including goal number 40 on the season:

But not the kind of consistently impactful play that he’s capable of. His metrics rocked vs Nashville, tanked in Columbus, bounced back to the middle of the pack in Minnesota, and then obviously didn’t paint a complete picture in Edmonton but were strong before the injury.

All that matters right now is his health, but he still gets a grade and it’s a B.

MINDING THE NET

Justus Annunen:

In his starts, Justus struggled early against Columbus and didn’t get any goal support, then gave up another early goal in Minnesota but got enough goal support to overcome it. Of the 5 goals he gave up, it’s safe to say he’d like at least 3 of them back.

But he was perfect in relief against the Predators and afforded the skaters in front of him the freedom to press up the ice and come back from down four to win. He needs to find a way to start games with the mindset he had in Nashville, as he looked unbeatable from the moment he took the crease. B

Alexandar Georgiev:

To be frank, he was god-awful against the Predators. 4 goals on 13 shots is unacceptable, and only one of them truly deserved to find twine. He was much better in Edmonton and still gave up six – only a few were really his fault, but that says enough, doesn’t it? D

ROLE PLAYER HONOR ROLL

Jonathan Drouin: His multi-point games in Nashville and Minnesota were driving forces in both wins, he also tallied in Edmonton, and he was nominated for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy – an award given to the NHL player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.

For a guy who struggled with mental health issues earlier in his career, finding his love for the game again in Colorado and been huge and this is a wonderful recognition of that. Plus he’s on his way to a career year. This goal may have gone of McDavid, but you love to see JD shooting his shot like that:

That goal brought his total for the week to four goals and two assists. He’s playing like a true top-line winger, not just on the stat sheet but with a phenomenal backchecking night in and night out and an excellent combination of skill and grit in net front and board battles.

The knock on him this week is his disappearance in Columbus – he has shown that when Nate and Mikko aren’t going he can take the wheel and drive for a little while, but he just can’t do that consistently and he didn’t against the Jackets. A-

DUNCE CAP IN MY DOGHOUSE DUNGEON

This being a goal:

I’m never going to understand this call. It seems undeniable that Ekholm’s skate(s!) hit Georgiev’s pad and opened his five-hole for the puck to slide through. His right skate hits Georgiev’s skate, pushing his leg once. Then his left skate hooks the top of Geogiev’s pad and pulls it. That has to be what goalie interference is.

I’m at a loss. But also, when it happened I said out loud “That’s so obviously goalie interference, but they’re definitely gonna call it a goal.” Because that’s hockey, I guess. The rules just aren’t clear enough even when they’re actually really clear.

This goal and the ensuing penalty kill just tanked whatever minimal juice the Avs had going after a tough first period. The reffing on the whole in Edmonton had me singing that one CeeLo Green song – and not the radio edit, either. F

THE REST

Andrew Cogliano: When he gets to play with Trenin and Duhaime he looks good! And oddly with Jean-Luc Foudy. But with Wagner and Kiviranta against Minnesota, things did not go well. C

Ross Colton: What a phenomenal goal in Edmonton!

His underlying play was excellent all week despite his line’s struggles to score before he potted that one, but took a dive as the Edmonton game went on. B+

Brandon Duhaime: Looks good no matter where he is in the lineup, and the penalty kill has been near-perfect with him on the ice. Hasn’t found a goal yet, though. C+

Jean-Luc Foudy: Bednar clearly doesn’t trust him yet, but the underlying numbers were good in his four minutes against Columbus. B

Sam Girard: G posted atrocious underlying stats against the Predators and Wild, but absolutely dominated his minutes in Columbus and was pretty good in Edmonton. He seems to pretty often go against the grain like that. C+

Jack Johnson: Never stood out except when Ekholm refused to fight him after the Rantanen hit and JJ got sent to the box for trying to get him to go. I won’t knock the old man for that. C+

Artturi Lehkonen: The only Av with points in every game this week, Lehky looked like the best player on the ice in Columbus but only managed one assist. I love him and Mittlestadt together – that chemistry is blossoming and with Nichushkin back healthy there’s a lot to like with the second line. A-

Joel Kiviranta: Nice that he’s not sick anymore. C

Josh Manson: Very active week for Manson, laying the body and bullying people all over the ice. The metrics stunk though. C

Casey Mittlestadt: Just need more production. The underlying stats rock. B

Zach Parise: He’s struggling to produce but doing good work all over the ice. His knee injury seems to be fully in the rearview as the speed is back in his game. C+

Devon Toews: Pucks keep finding a way to go in off of him in front of the net. McDavid’s stupid wraparound goal sucked so much. It’s not really Toews’s fault – these things happen in hockey – but he’s got to find a way to make up for those plays with offense at the other end. B

Yakov Trenin: Played feisty against his old team on Saturday, then missed the bulk of the week with an injury and played feisty again in Edmonton. He’s becoming the key piece of the bottom six. B

Chris Wagner: Picked up a goal and a contract extension on Monday! B+

Sean Walker: He’s finding ways to contribute off the scoresheet now while continuing to find assists here and there and posting decent metrics. B+

Miles Wood: He’s got to finish his breakaways, but the fact that he’s getting so many lately is a positive. C+

TEAM GRADE

I loved a good chunk of the week, from about halfway through the first period against Nashville to about halfway through the second in Minnesota. The Columbus game in the middle there didn’t go Colorado’s way but I thought they were dangerous offensively and dominated possession for nearly seven periods in those three games.

Edmonton on the back-to-back was always going to be a tough ask, and man did a lot of bounces and ref choices go the Oilers’ way, but I just wanted a little more spark from Colorado in a marquee matchup like that. It’s hard to see the boys get beat down like that.

So, 7 good periods out of 12 – the math tells me that a C+ but I don’t think so – they didn’t show up early against the Predators, got lucky that playing down to Minnesota didn’t come back to haunt them, and got tanked in Edmonton, all while they should have been pushing hard to win the Division. That’s a pipe dream now, and while you can argue it doesn’t matter much, it’s certainly disappointing. D