Ball Arena welcomed Avalanche fans (and some Wild fans) for game two of the second round series between the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild, and those supporting the home club would head to the lot happy once again.
The Avalanche scored first and last tonight, and despite Matt Boldy, Quinn Hughes, and Marcus Johansson’s best effort, Colorado’s star power and physicality won the night.
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Nathan MacKinnon had three assists and a goal, Gabe Landeskog scored on the power play, and the Avalanche were the aggressors in the checking department.
Scott Wedgewood made some clutch saves on the kill and looked good in his 6th consecutive playoff start and victory.
On the other hand, Filip Gustavsson gave up two goals on his first two shots and didn’t appear all that comfortable for the Wild.
The Avs have Minnesota in a must-win situation now after snagging a 5-2 victory.
Let’s take a deeper look at the action of game number two!
The Game
I hardly get a bold prediction right on the Mile High Hockey Lab, but today I actually earned a ding as Martin Necas was indeed the first goalscorer of the evening. I mentioned on the program that I felt he’d been plenty creative and was due for a goal rather than a setup.
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Nathan MacKinnon broke in and found Martin Necas on a drop pass, who broke toward the net and sent a backhand shot through traffic that beat Filip Gustavsson.
In the intermission report, Mark Messier said, “You need a save there,” when recapping the tally that would give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead.
That lead would last all of six seconds as a broken play leading to Devon Toews and Cale Makar both covering the same Wild player.
Martin Necas was left to pick up Kirill Kaprisov, but didn’t really stand a chance in that regard.
Kaprisov would break in all alone and beat Scott Wedgewood with ease. We were tied at one.
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The Colorado Avalanche power play dominated the conversation throughout the regular season (not in a good way). Still, it was on point tonight, starting with the third goal of the first period logged by Gabe Landeskog.
The tape-to-tape passes from Kadri to Makar to Necas connected with Nathan MacKinnon, who one-touched a pass from the net side to Landeskog in the bumper position. Landy left no doubt with the finish. 2-1 Avalanche, and that’s how the first period would end.
The Avalanche got an early second-period goal from deadline addition Nicolas Roy on a feed from Ross Colton to give the boys in burgundy a 3-1 lead.
Good to see Rosco get on the board for the first time this playoffs, and Nic Roy now has 4 points in the six playoff games this postseason.
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Colorado hasn’t lost a game all season where they’ve held the lead heading into the third, and would add another notch to that log on the back of another power play goal, this time from Nathan MacKinnon.
Nate did well to find himself some open ice and got a fortunate bounce as his one-timer went off Yakov Trenin’s shin and in. The Avalanche would extend their lead to 4-1.
We saw a little pushback from the Minnesota Wild, who got a third-period goal from Marcus Johansson. I thought Johansson was among the Wild’s best players, and so I wasn’t surprised that he finally broke through, bringing the score to 4-2.
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In the end, a not-so-smart cross-check from Karpisov would tranquilize the Wild’s comeback effort, and inevitably, Val Nichushkin would loft a puck the length of the ice and into the empty net.
The Avalanche win 5-2 in a professional, workman-like effort and improve to 6-0 in the playoffs, taking a 2-0 series lead heading to Minnesota for game three.
Takeaways
The Wild have to be disappointed in a couple of things tonight, but I’ll start with the penalties they took. Ryan Hartman’s trip in the second and Kaprisov’s cross-check to Makar’s face were killers tonight.
Hartman’s didn’t end up in a goal and neither did Kaprisov’s, oddly enough, but they did kill some much-needed momentum on completely avoidable infractions.
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The Avalanche pulled the uno-reverse card and outhit the Minnesota Wild with more than a few memorable and crunching hits.
Brock Nelson caught Ryan Hartman reaching, Nathan MacKinnon bowled right over Quinn Hughes, and pasted Matt Boldy to the boards. I expect a response from the Wild in this regard in game three, so it will be important for Colorado to make the most of those three days’ rest.
Minnesota went with Filip Gustavsson tonight as a surprise replacement for Jesper Wallstedt, and it seemed to backfire a bit.
A couple of Colorado’s goals, you’d like your goalie to make a save, but Gustavsson hasn’t had a start since March and was making a habit of giving up four or more back then, so I’m confused as to what sort of jolt John Hines was expecting from that move.
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It’s so shockingly odd that it leads me to speculate that something was wrong with Wallstedt. It could be as simple as he just needed a night off. Speculation aside, I’d bet the Wild go with Wallstedt for the rest of the series.
Colorado’s top guns were flying around tonight, and when that’s the case, they are a tough team to beat. It felt like the Lehkonen — MacKinnon — Necas line could score on any shift, and Gabe Landeskog still seems to find another level this time of year.
Colorado did recommit defensively, and outside of that lapse that led to Kaprisov’s goal, they were back to shutting things down. What you just read may be true, but make no mistake: Scott Wedgewood did his thing yet again.
Upcoming
The Avs will head to Minnesota for a Saturday night game three at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul for a 7 p.m. MT start time.
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Let us know what you thought of this contest in the comments!
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