A week after sweeping the LA Kings, the Colorado Avalanche were back in action hosting the Minnesota Wild in a pivotal second round opening matchup. And how this game unfolded didn’t disappoint those high expectations with 14 different goal scorers including five defenseman to arrive at the 9-6 win for the Avalanche.
The Game
Minnesota may have had a couple early shots on goal but it was all Avalanche after the halfway point as they scored three goals within two minutes. First Sam Malinski took advantage
of some open space in the offensive zone to get the home team on the board. Second, Jack Drury deposited the puck in the net after a hard working shift from the fourth line. After that goal Gabe Landeskog and Brock Faber got into a scuffle and the Wild got the extra penalty. So on the ensuing power play Artturi Lehkonen took advantage of a wide open cage to put Colorado up by three.
At that point Colorado could have cruised to an easy victory but the Wild proved why they made it to the second round as they put up their own two-goal barrage just two minutes later. Both were caused by less than pristine coverage by the Avalanche. First, Marcus Johansson snuck a puck through a jumbled mess at the net front and then Ryan Hartman beat the coverage down low to put the puck past Scott Wedgewood. After all that action, Colorado held a 3-2 lead at the first intermission.
The fun didn’t stop in the second period as the Avalanche first extended their lead on a nice individual effort goal from Nick Blankenburg. But what the depth defenseman giveth must also taketh as he got beat to the front of the net by Vladimir Tarasenko just over two minutes later. The Wild weren’t done in the period either as Quinn Hughes took advantage of some slow coverage from the third line to tie the game 4-4.
That wasn’t excitement enough as Nathan MacKinnon drew a penalty but the Wild were the ones to score on a shorthanded 2-on-0 rush and nice finish from Marcus Foligno. To run out rest of the time on the man advantage Jared Bednar put his second unit on the ice and right after it expired Devon Toews wired a puck through traffic to tie the game once again. The score was 5-5 at this point going into the second intermission.
It took all of three minutes for there to be a score in the third period. For the third time it was Colorado striking first in the frame. On a faceoff play Cale Makar skated to his favorite spot at the top of the right circle and didn’t miss. Two minutes later Ross Colton spotted Nazem Kadri cherry picking and fed him a pass for a breakaway which Naz buried on Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt.
After 12 goals were scored it seemed that was enough action for one game but Minnesota had one last gasp at four minutes left with Mats Zuccarello deflecting a shot that went up off of Wedgewood’s glove and over his head. Any last bit of uncertainty in this game lasted for one minute until Makar got his second goal of the game picking the corner over Wallstedt again. The Wild went with the extra attacker and it took seconds for Nathan MacKinnon to shoot a the puck long range and into the empty net to arrive at the exhilarating 9-6 final score for the Avalanche to take Game 1.
Takeaways
Cale Makar missed most of the first period nursing something after a big early hit but returned to make his impact on the game in this win. Sam Malinski also missed time in the second period after taking a puck to the face but he also finished the game. No real update on Makar was given after the game so we’ll see how he feels in the days moving forward.
Surely the Avalanche will take a win in this best-of-seven series any way it comes but the Wild did a much better job than the Kings did in exposing some weaknesses. Colorado’s third line looked slow and we’re on the ice for three goals against. Still missing Josh Manson and the early Makar absence didn’t help the defensive core but they too got exposed on too many plays at the net front and with lack of speed. A few things to work on in upcoming days off.
Upcoming
Game 2 between Colorado and Minnesota back at Ball Arena on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. MT on ESPN.
