Whether its science or playoff hockey, one thing holds true; ice beats fire.
Will Satler | wsatler@msudenver.edu | April 20, 2019
BRIGHTON, COLO. — “The future is bright but the present just got much brighter.”
Those were the words of NBCSN play-by-play commentator, Gord Miller, Friday night after the Colorado Avalanche took down the top-seeded Calgary Flames 5-1 to advance to the second round.
After clinching the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with an overtime win over Winnipeg on the second-to-last game of the season, the Avs overcame a game one loss with four straight wins to win the series.
When the horn sounded in the Scotiabank Saddledome to end game one, the Flames looked like they were on the road to take care of business and ride their explosive offense into the second round.
What happened next was something that the experts could have never seen coming, as the Avs flipped the switch when they stole game two in overtime as Nathan MacKinnon soared in to tie the series at one.
Three goals and eight points later, MacKinnon earned high praise from all, and rightfully so.
“I feel comfortable saying he [Nathan MacKinnon] is the best player in hockey right now,” Barry Melrose said on ESPN Friday night after the game.
MacKinnon’s goal in game two was the turning point in the series but it was the man who assisted his overtime goal that would officially swing the series in Colorado’s favor and give the Avalanche the boost to eventually get past the Flames.
Mikko Rantanen hadn’t played since March 21 in Dallas, but after making his return to the Avalanche lineup for round one, made his impact felt. He netted five goals in the series, including the overtime winner at home in game four, as well as two in the clinching game in Calgary.
“It’s big, but we’re not done yet,” the Colorado forward told NHL.com’s Aaron Vickers after the game five win. “I think everybody’s hungry. We could see even after this game, guys were not celebrating too much. We know we’re not done yet. There’s lots of work to do. This is the first step.”
Rantanen trails only Vegas’ Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty in points in the NHL playoffs so far.
Captain Gabriel Landeskog finally put the opening score in the net Friday after missing out on a handful of scoring chances previously in the series. Colin Wilson added 2 to his previous 13 playoff goals on Friday.
Matt Nieto joined Colorado’s historic record books as he put in two short-handed goals in back-to-back games, the first Avalanche player to do that in the history of the franchise.
Games three and four were largely impacted by the home crowd at Pepsi Center and maybe a bit by the altitude. The crowd was given a boost when Cale Makar, the Homey Baker award (awarded to college hockey’s best player) joined the Avs defense after signing a professional contract with just a day between being eliminated from the NCAA national championships games and scoring his first goal in game three of the NHL playoffs.
While Calgary’s Mike Smith made flashy saves from start to finish and faced a historic amount of shots after pitching a shutout in game one, it was Phillipp Grubauer in the Colorado net that propelled the Avalanche into the second round when he made the saves when he needed to.
A left pad save in early overtime in game four made highlight reels every where and pushed the Avs over the hump to take the series.
On the flip side, Calgary was frozen by the Avalanche throughout the series from top to bottom. A former Homey Baker award winner and arguably Calgary’s best player, Johnny Gaudreau, was shutout after earning an assist in game one.
Gaudreau looked visually frustrated throughout most of the series but none more than when he had three consecutive breakaway opportunities (one was a penalty shot) and failed to score, and then was on the ice for the eventual game winning goal from Rantanen.
James Neal, arguably Calgary’s big free agent signing in 2018, was so bad in the series that he was a healthy scratch for game five. Neal, one of the impact players on Vegas’ golden run last year to the Stanley Cup final, along with captain and probable Norris Trophy winner Mark Giordano, who were impact players for the Flames that didn’t make an impact.
“We couldn’t execute properly. We couldn’t score. We couldn’t make the big plays at the big times,” the Flames captain said. “We were doing it all year. It was tough. It’s going to be a long summer, that’s for sure. It’s going to be a tough one to swallow.”
Flames assistant captain Matthew Tkachuk now enters unrestricted free agency for the Flames which joins their goaltending situation as the biggest question marks after a first round exit after being the top seed going forward.
The Avalanche now await the winner of San Jose and Vegas in the second round who will play in game six with the Golden Knights leading the series 3-2.
Colorado lost all three matchups against the Sharks during the regular season and won two out of three games against the Golden Knights. It goes without saying that this Avs team is much different than when both of these teams matched up in the regular season.
While the Sharks have split four playoff series with Avalanche in history, the Golden Knights have never matched up with Colorado.
Will Satler 