Avalanche jump out to 2-0 series lead following Cale Makar's overtime heroics

The stage was set following an unforgettable 7-2 win at home in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Ball Arena on Tuesday. Though a goal wasn’t scored two minutes into this contest like last time, it wouldn’t take Nathan MacKinnon much time at all to get the Avs on the board 5:25 into the first period. He led the rush into the Preds’ zone and fired a shot from the circle and in.

It’s not without solid efforts from Erik Johnson and Logan O’Connor. Johnson kept the puck on his stick despite pressure from an incoming Mathieu Oliver and got it to O’Connor at the blueline. From there, O’Connor was able to chip the puck to the conductor, Nathan MacKinnon, who was already anticipating the transition and MacKinnon gave the Ball Arena crowd something to cheer for on Colorado’s first shot on goal.

After a performance from David Rittich that left much to be desired in Game 1, it was not surprising to see Connor Ingram get the start tonight. He stopped 30 of 32 shots after coming in as relief after Rittich allowed 5 goals on 13 shots. Also notably absent from the Predators’ side was Phil Tomasino and Matt Benning – two players who gave the Avs some grief physically in Game 1.

Benning if you’ll recall, is responsible for Andrew Cogliano’s UBI that kept him out tonight after a crosscheck in Tuesday’s game. Though I am only speculating, I’m sure disciplinary concerns influenced this decision after Nashville allowed the Avs 5 powerplay opportunities – 2 of which they capitalized on.

In Cogliano’s place, O’Connor was given the nod on the fourth line, a comfortable position to be in compared to health woes from years past. Kurtis MacDermid took warmups, but it was O’Connor who would play as expected from observations at morning skate.

About midway through the first, Nathan MacKinnon took a roughing penalty after knocking the helmet off of Filip Forsberg during a crowded board battle. Darren Helm, Logan O’Connor, Erik Johnson, and Josh Manson led the charge on the penalty kill to keep their one-goal lead intact. It was a successful kill, but like many of us expected, this would not be a 5-goal blowout first period like we saw in Game 1.

With about 5 minutes remaining, Carrier sent the puck along the boards to Roman Josi who saw Yakov Trenin waiting in the neutral zone for the outlet pass. Sam Girard read the play and tried and go to one knee to stop the puck but it bounced past him and Trenin beat Kuemper short side to tie the game.

The first period highlights: the Avs successfully killed two penalties, Darcy Kuemper saw little action stopping 10 of 11 shots, and they would begin the second period tied at one goal apiece.

This could be something that does not matter at all in the end, but I’m a big believer in the process and the Avs won 58% of faceoff battles in Game 1. After the first period, the Avs were having an abysmal time at the dot winning only 28% of their draws.

To start the second period, the Predators’ Alexandre Carrier experienced  Problems™. First, it was the hand pass he wanted to insist wasn’t a hand pass, then it was the hooking penalty on Mikko Rantanen. About three minutes later, Forsberg took a tripping penalty (also against Rantanen) to the benefit of the Avalanche…kind of? They were unable to capitalize on both of these powerplay chances, but it did help to keep the Predators out of their zone for a spell and the Avs were able to close in on the shot differential which was a close 11-8 (Preds) from the first.

The penalties continued and Nashville would go on their third penalty kill of the second period after Dante Fabbro headed to the box for shoving Nathan MacKinnon after the whistle. It was another effective penalty kill for them and the Avs were now 0-3 on the PP.

With two seconds left in the period, a chaotic sequence wherein Fabbro pushed Lehkonen into the net immobilized Ingram while a Nichuskin tip-in went through. It’s true, Lehkonen was in the crease in the first place, but it was the shove that kept him trapped.  It was deemed no goal on the play and after review, the call on the ice was upheld. Fabbro was really in his villain era in more emotional displays of frustration than I’m used to seeing.

The unsuccessful challenge of the waived goal would result in a delay of game penalty that would leave the Avs shorthanded to start the third period.

In many ways, the Avs were lucky to find some of the jump that they did during the second period. The shots were now 29-16 (Avs) and they were winning more faceoff battles (40.5%). Much of this can be attributed to spending 6 minutes on the powerplay which proved a weak spot for them.

To kick things off in the third, with Andre Burakovsky in the box serving the delay of game following the failed challenge on Nichushkin’s disallowed goal, Nichushkin also joined him for a high sticking call and the Avs would have to withstand 5-on-3.

Not only did they make it out unscathed, they were also able to generate some shorthanded scoring chances and continued to build on the momentum when Nichuskin was released. Nashville was only able to get one shot on net in their golden opportunity and Forsberg hit the post in what would be Nashville’s best scoring chance of the final three periods of the game.

The final 5 minutes of the third period felt a bit haunted. The Avs had one of the best-looking powerplays of the game after a Luke Kunin crosscheck but were stopped at every chance despite MacKinnon looking like a man possessed. The Avs had 3 shots on net and two additional missed shots. At its expiration, Nichuskin was worked off the puck, Girard fell, and the puck took a weird bounce off of Byram (and that’s just within about a minute span).

I thought the Avs played with a lot of energy, but the looming overtime enhanced any failures or flukes in a big way. The Avs outshot the Preds 13-4 in the third for an overall 42-20 differential as overtime became official.

I’m writing about the overtime period after media availability has wrapped up and I still haven’t fully processed it. It was everything you’d expect overtime hockey to be. Back-and-forth chances and little room for error. Perhaps my summary of the game could best be wrapped up here: overtime relied upon a huge save from Darcy Kuemper who stopped 25 of 26 shots in a near-perfect performance.

But beyond that, Makar, Kuemper, and Bednar acknowledged a persevering faith in in every line and pairing that was rolled out tonight. Kuemper felt confidence in the players he had in front of him, and Makar credited the players alongside him for the opportunity to score the game-winning goal through traffic.

It was the definition of a team effort. MacKinnon and Makar ended up the goal scorers, but it is not without the efforts of a resilient penalty kill unit, solid goaltending, and a team wherein all but two players clocked over 10 minutes of ice time. The overtime period did affect those totals a bit – Makar and Toews saw 31:37 and 29:57 of ice time respectively, but it was a demonstration of the Avs’ ability to win in a very different way from Game 1. Even in the absence of Cogliano from their first game of the series, the adjustments made were effective.

Takeaways:

• Not lost in all of this is a stellar performance from another AHL to NHL goaltending story (See: Logan Thompson) involving Connor Ingram for Nashville. With Saros out and Rittich untrustworthy, Ingram had a huge opportunity tonight. Though he had some tough showings in his games against the Eagles earlier this season, he finished 13th in the AHL with a .915 save percentage. Tonight he gave the Predators a fighting chance stopping 49 of 51 shots in this low-scoring, high-intensity overtime affair.