Weekly Grades: Road Winnin’ Edition

The Avs took two Ws on the road this week – but were they any good?

We’re back with the Colorado Avalanche weekly report card! This week Colorado extended its winning streak to seven games with two more road wins over the Edmonton Oilers and St. Louis Blues. But were they any good?

THE GAMES

Saturday @ Edmonton: 3-2 W
Tuesday @ St. Louis: 4-2 W

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Yakov Trenin: 0 Points

I had a really hard time picking a player of the week this week – not because no one was good, but because the two games were so different. Against Edmonton the team defense was phenomenal, the top line dominated but couldn’t score, and Sean Walker and Artturi Lehkonen came through on the offensive end to secure the win. In St. Louis, the team was defensively leaky, the top line struggled, and Mikko Rantanen casually put 3 goals past Jordan Binnington anyway.

The one constant? Nathan Mackinnon picked up an assist in both games to extend his current points streak to 16. The other constant? The penalty kill was entirely perfect, and Trenin was a huge part of that. Not only does he put in excellent work taking away lanes and pressuring out high, he wins draws and frees up pucks for defenseman to clear consistently.

He’s a workhorse out there, and not just shorthanded – Trenin was among the team leaders in expected goals for at even strength in both games and created scoring chances consistently. If he could finish, he’d be a top six player and never would have been allowed to leave Nashville. He can’t, but this week he showed his value in all other aspects of the game and deserves recognition for it. A+

STAR WATCH

Nathan MacKinnon: 2 Assists

He couldn’t put the biscuit in the basket, but boy did he look good not doing it against the Oilers. Head to head with McDavid and Draisaitl, Nate broke even in scoring chances and expected goals, but he made Edmonton’s top pair of Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm look like boys who haven’t gotten 2 men yet – 10 scoring chances, 4 of which were high danger, all while giving up zero high danger chances and just 4 shots. That’s dominance.

The St Louis game was a little bit of a comedown, as Nate clearly geared up for the big game in Edmonton and didn’t have the same juice for the pesky Blues. The top line of Nate with Mikko and Val got caved in in every metric and were routinely hemmed in their own zone, but of course when they got their rare opportunities to shoot the pucks went in.

If you’re St. Louis, you want Binnington to stop that. But no one was gonna stop Nate down the wall on this play – that play was MacKinnon’s game this week in a nutshell – great effort to start it off, a simple smart pass to Mikko, and a little luck to end up with a point on the play. A-

Cale Makar: 2 Assists

By the eye test Cale also had a great night in Edmonton and a rough go in St Louis, and the metrics back that up – the top pair put in dominant work shutting down McDavid (though Draisaitl got the better of that matchup), followed by a real struggle against Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou. Weird.

Extra weird? He played sick in Edmonton – watch him cough up a lung trying to celebrate the OT goal:

He was supposed to be back to normal in St. Louis, but maybe was still fatigued from the illness. We’ll see if he can shake that off tonight against Columbus. B+

Valeri Nichushkin: 2 Assists

Ooo the powerplay looks good with him back on it! It didn’t score on one attempt in Edmonton, but Val picked up a secondary assist working the puck to Drouin before JD set up Mikko’s second goal of the night in St. Louis.

In Edmonton, Nuke rocked defensively and was as usual a beast on the forecheck. In St. Louis, not so much. Kind of a theme here. B+

Mikko Rantanen: 3 Goals

Mikko put in work defensively against Edmonton. He was really, really good in all three zones and just wasn’t rewared for it with points. I can’t think of many other games with multiple memorable defensive breakups from Rantanen, and while I couldn’t find clips of any there were three high IQ reads he made that prevented scoring chances from developing. Love to see that.

He got rewarded for it in St Louis, when almost everything just seemed to go in for him – 3 goals on 5 shots is pretty good!

Was he responsible defensively? No. Did he drive possession? Nope! Did he look like the same engaged player who shut down McDavid and Draisaitl a couple nights before? Of course not! But he got three goals though. That’s Mikko, baby! A

MINDING THE NET

Justus Annunen:

I loved his game in St. Louis – not because it was dominant (it wasn’t), not because he stole the game (he did not), and certainly not because he outdueled Binnington (he did but that’s not hard). I loved it because he showed the mental fortitude you need to be an NHL starter. He followed up a rough rebound that resulted in a Toropchenko goal with this beauty on the penalty kill.

That’s Justus basically getting beaten by a perfect pass from Thomas that Neighbours should have buried, but he got a great push off, found his positioning quickly, then reacted to the puck in his feet just enough to kick it out for Manson to clear. Finding his position and then reacting all in essentially the same moment is high end goalie stuff, and you love to see it. A

Alexandar Georgiev:

The Edmonton game became a goalie duel rather than a scoring race between Art Ross contenders largely because Stuart Skinner stifled the Avs at nearly every turn, but Georgiev won the duel and looked great doing it.

That save rocked, and obviously the Avs don’t win without it. It capped off a stellar night in the crease for Georgie that absolutely has to get him an A+

ROLE PLAYER HONOR ROLL

Artturi Lehkonen: 1 Goal, 1 Assist

Lehkonen’s passing in the Edmonton game was unbelievable! Truly fantastic work to spring Sean Walker on this goal:

It’s a little thing, but he drew in two defenders, took a hit, and feathered a perfect sauce pass to unleash Walker. That wasn’t even close to his best pass of the night either, as he set up Middlestadt on a similar look earlier in the game and found Drouin through traffic to spring another chance, but neither guy finished.

But I mean, we all know we’re here to watch this replay again and again and again and –

What a brilliant finish, and what fantastic effort to get to the net with basically no time left on the clock. Draisaitl thought it was over, but Lehky played to the buzzer and got rewarded for it. That’s why Colorado has a Cup and Edmonton doesn’t.

He disappeared in St. Louis, but most guys did so I won’t knock him too much. A

DUNCE CAP IN MY DOGHOUSE DUNGEON

Ross Colton: Colton’s defensive zone effort is becoming a problem, and Bednar sees it too – Rosco only skated ten minutes in St. Louis. Trenin has outplayed him consistently since he arrived in Denver and while he’s technically the fourth line center, Colton’s minutes are dipping as Trenin’s are climbing. Something to monitor.

That’s a floaty little play from a guy who was brought in to be an effort leader. I know he’s not a wing, but covering the point is hockey 101 stuff. I love Colton’s game in general, but there have been too many little lapses like this of late. C-

THE REST

Andrew Cogliano: The old man looks rejuvenated with Trenin centering the fourth line. Rumors of his demise may have been greatly exaggerated because he was skating with a couple anchors on his line pretty consistently this year. C+

Jonathan Drouin: Was by far the best Avalanche forward in the Blues game by both the eye test and the metrics after a solid effort in Edmonton.

Nice to see his agent loves him too. A-

Brandon Duhaime: The perfect PK has a lot to do with Brandu, but even strength play for his line in St. Louis was brutal. B

Sam Girard: The worst version of himself against the Oilers, the best against the Blues. What a roller coaster. C+

Jack Johnson: He and Walker are an awesome pair, this Walker goal only happens because of JJ’s brilliant pinch:

Love it. They were solid in St. Louis too! A-

Josh Manson: Very solid in both games, and wrecked Vincent Desharnais. I’m not a big fight proponent, but when a dude takes liberties it’s good that Manson can show him up. B+

Casey Middelstadt: The Avs got 100% of the high danger chances that happened when he was on the ice against the Blues and out chanced them 7-1 overall. In Edmonton he broke even in chances in 13 minutes against McDavid and Draisaitl. Very promising! A

Zach Parise: Great to see he’s recovered from what looked like a potentially scary knee injury, but he’s clearly playing through pain. His speed is not what it was before Colton got pushed onto his leg, and its limiting his effectiveness. Still solid though! C+

Devon Toews: I liked him both games, but the metrics were rough in St. Louis. B-

Sean Walker: I’ve talked him up all column, he DOMINATED the Oilers. It wasn’t just the two goals – he was excellent defensively and led the team in all my go to metrics on the night. Only decent in St. Louis though. A

Miles Wood: Not particularly impactful, but good defensively and part of the excellent PK B

TEAM GRADE

I’m gonna keep it short, because the Avs made it easy. They trucked through a great team in Edmonton:

Then lucked past a mediocre Blues team:

Both these games had playoff implications, and both ended up Colorado wins on the road. That’s a good week! A