The goals by MacKinnon and Toews were in the first 2:42, making it the fastest pair of goals to start a playoff game in Colorado/Quebec franchise history. “I thought Connor looked good,” Predators coach John Hynes said. He was replaced by Connor Ingram, who had appeared in only three NHL games before Tuesday. Lehkonen's score to make it 5-0 with 4:56 left in the first and put an end to Rittich's night. The sleek move of the game was turned in by Makar, who zipped around Tanner Jeannot with a nifty move near the blue line, skated down the left side and banked in a shot off the mask of Rittich. He took advantage of a Mattias Ekholm turnover with the Predators on the power play and lined it in through a small window.Ĭogliano later left the game with an upper-body injury. “We responded well tonight.”Ĭogliano scored his first goal for the Avalanche since being acquired from San Jose on March 21. “It’s not something we’re shying away from,” Landeskog said of the physical play. In the third period, the game got even more chippy with Mathieu Olivier drawing a misconduct penalty. Close by, Luke Kunin shoved down Nazem Kadri, who got a shot in before being pulled away. Philip Tomasino got into it with Lehkonen. Things turned chippy after the horn to end the second period. “You can’t be against that team because that team comes at you fast and you've got to think fast and defuse them when they’re playing at their best.” “We were a little nervous, a little tight,” Duchene said. The Avalanche outshot the Predators by a 45-25 margin.
On the flip side, the Predators are 0-7 when starting a best-of-seven series with a road loss.Ĭolorado scored virtually every way imaginable: On a power play (MacKinnon), short-handed (Cogliano), opposing player kicking it in on another power play (Landeskog got the credit for a puck knocked in by defenseman Mark Borowiecki) and, of course, even strength (Toews, Makar, Lehkonen and MacKinnon again). Since moving to Denver, the Avalanche boast a 17-6 record in best-of-seven playoff series when they win the first game. Game 2 is Thursday, which also happens to be Kuemper’s 32nd birthday. “We've got to be a lot better and push back a lot better than we did tonight," said Duchene, who was a first-round pick of Colorado in 2009. It trails only Wayne Gretzky (1.84) and Mario Lemieux (1.61), with a minimum of 40 games. MacKinnon scored his second goal of the game in the third period and, coupled with an assist, raised his playoff points per game average to 1.41. Just the way the night went for Colorado. Landeskog built the lead to 6-0 when he was credited for a goal in the second period that was kicked in by a Nashville player. Rittich was stepping in for 38-game winner Juuse Saros, who’s sidelined with a lower-body injury.Īndrew Cogliano, Cale Makar and Artturi Lehkonen also scored in the first. The five goals tied the team playoff record for a period and chased Nashville's backup goaltender David Rittich from the game with 4:56 remaining in the first. "If the results aren't going your way, then you try to impact the game in a different way. “No team wants to get blown out, whether it’s at home or on the road,” Landeskog said.
“We were just sticking to our game, playing hard and playing fast." “We talked about it beforehand - about coming out with a fast start,” said Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog, who made his return after undergoing knee surgery in mid-March.
Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews scored 22 seconds apart in a five-goal first period, sending the Avalanche to a 7-2 win over the Predators on Tuesday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. “This isn’t about ego,” Jared Bednar said. But through all those pushes and shoves, the Avalanche maintained their composure. DENVER (AP) - The fast, scoring-spree start by Colorado led to some feistiness later on with Nashville.