Avalanche stave off elimination in shocking comeback win

The last time the Colorado Avalanche faced elimination, it brought out the best of an injury-ravaged group. Their performance in game 82 against the St. Louis Blues propelled them into the final playoff spot and reinforced what a resilient group this has been all season.

And once again facing their own mortality, the Avalanche raged against the dying of the light in game five against the President’s Trophy-winning Nashville Predators. Down three games to one in the series, the Avalanche rolled into one of the NHL’s most hostile buildings in Bridgestone Arena.

With no Semyon Varlamov all series and then Jonathan Bernier going down to injury during game four, third-string goaltender Andrew Hammond was pressed into a starting role in the playoffs for the first time since his memorable run in Ottawa that anointed him “The Hamburglar.”

As Nashville was looking for the knockout blow early, Hammond did his part in staving off Predator pressure and the Avalanche took a few minutes to find their stride despite receiving the game’s first power play. Once they did, however, they settled in and the game turned into the kind of defensive slugfest this series had not had until tonight.

The teams traded a handful of chances but the first period saw them skate to a stalemate as neither Hammond nor Pekka Rinne conceded any goals. Nashville had an 11-8 advantage in shots but Colorado had arguably the best chance of the period when Sam Girard, returning to the lineup for the first time since game one, hit the post on a one-timer.

The second period had the Predators begin on the power play but they were unable to generate much of anything and the game resumed its five-on-five play. The goaltenders continued to be the story as the period wore on as Rinne made his best save on Sven Andrighetto and Hammond shut down a strong push late in the second period.

Nashville continued to press like crazy and it generated a goal-mouth scramble but Hammond kept the puck out despite Nikita Zadorov committing a penalty in the mayhem. They began the period on the man-advantage and they ended it with another chance but Hammond and the Avalanche successfully killed it off, pushing the game to the third period with zero goals scored in the game.

Colorado would be the recipient of an early power play in the third period but the best scoring chance actually came for Nashville when Mike Fisher broke in on a two-on-one chance but Hammond stoned him. Colton Sissons also had a breakaway but the penalty eventually ended when Colorado was called for too many men on the ice, a ridiculous penalty to take when up a man.

There would be a brief four-on-four before Nashville got their own power play. Naturally, nothing came of that but Nashville continued to push the pace of play. It eventually paid off when Colorado’s top line lost an offensive zone faceoff and Nick Bonino came down the other way and deflected a rebound off his skate and into the net.

The goal was initially waved off on the ice but after being reviewed the goal ultimately counted and at 10:18 of the third period, Nashville had a 1-0 lead.

Now really facing the end of their season, the Colorado Avalanche did what they’ve done all season every single time they’ve had to – they rose to the challenge and met the moment.

On a chaotic sequence in front of the Nashville net, Nathan MacKinnon outwaited everyone, including a desperation dive from P.K. Subban, and found Gabe Landeskog in front of the net for an easy tap-in to tie the game at 15:49.

The obituary for this Avalanche team had to wait another day as Colorado wasn’t finished in this ridiculous season.

J.T. Compher and Sven Andrighetto found themselves on the right side of some terrible Nashville decision-making as they broke in on a two-on-one. Rinne stopped Compher’s initial shot but Andrighetto banged home the rebound with just over a minute to play and suddenly Colorado had the lead.

It was a lead they did not relinquish and Andrighetto’s goal held up as the game-winner. The series moves to 3-2 in favor of Nashville but game six is Sunday night in Denver where the Avalanche will once again look to delay the end of this magic carpet ride.