Landeskog leads Avalanche through Binnington wall in Game 1 win

“Playoffs, you start over, right? Your stats from the regular season don’t matter. In fact, your postseason stats don’t matter at all. For us, it’s about wins and losses.”

Colorado Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog started his postgame presser by throwing the numbers from Colorado’s 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues in Game 1 out the window entirely.

Coming from the guy who had just the second Gordie Howe hat trick in Avalanche playoff history, I suppose it’s probably easier for him to dismiss stats. After all, it was his first-period fight with Brayden Schenn that got Ball Arena rockin’ and a three-point third period to help lead the Avs through the wall Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington erected tonight.

Despite Landeskog’s assertion, some of the stats from tonight were pretty eye-popping. Colorado outshot the Blues 50-23 in the game and in a third period that began with the game tied, the Avs buried the Blues in an 18-7 barrage.

In fact, the Avs outshot St. Louis in all three periods but because of Binnington’s brilliance, the Avs just couldn’t shake the Blues on the scoreboard. They weren’t giving in to the Blues in any facet of the game but remained stuck on one goal through the first two periods.

It was a perfect recipe for the underdog to steal Game 1 right out from under the Avalanche.

Landeskog and friends then took that recipe and made it look like one you’d find used at a party where Lindsay Bluth was the chef for the evening.

That’s to say Colorado’s top line tore the Blues apart in the third period, going from having a single assist via Mikko Rantanen on Cale Makar’s first-period goal to having a combined eight-point night.

It happened immediately as Colorado’s top line, led by a defensive sequence by Landeskog, cycle the puck hard in the offensive zone and Rantanen found Nathan MacKinnon alone in front of Binnington for a one-timer.

I’ll repeat: Nathan MacKinnon was alone in front of Jordan Binnington. You reap what you sow, right?

After Ryan O’Reilly’s comments last week acknowledging the Avs as a “challenge” and adding the Blues were going to win the series, you’d think a better defensive performance from him was in store.

Instead, O’Reilly was the nearest spectator on MacKinnon’s goal as he never picked up MacKinnon, who drifted into the offensive zone late and sat down in a soft spot in the defense.

O’Reilly was also the nearest Blues player on Colorado’s third goal, a one-timer from the blueline from MacKinnon tipped by Landeskog.

As the third period got into its later stages, O’Reilly’s line struggled to even get the puck out of their own zone and to center ice.

Needless to say, his comments from last week and his Game 1 performance didn’t exactly align. Through two periods, he was winning the matchup against MacKinnon (though he did get called for the penalty that led to Makar’s power-play goal) but couldn’t sustain.

This was a perfect example of the difference having an elite player or two makes in the postseason. In the case of Landeskog, you have one of the most well-respected leaders in the league stepping up and helping to drive the play. MacKinnon’s play elevated but so did his linemates and everyone remembered exactly why this line has played together for three full seasons and is widely viewed as one of the very best trios in the NHL.

With no David Perron, the Blues’ leading scorer, to help keep the St. Louis offense afloat, the Avalanche just ran away from St. Louis in the third period. Binnington did yeoman’s work and finished with 46 saves but couldn’t get his team over the hump.

If 46 saves from Binnington isn’t enough in Game 1, you have to wonder how much fun O’Reilly & Co. are really going to have the rest of this series.

TAKEAWAYS

• So much ink has been spilled the last few years about Colorado’s three-headed monster at forward. That line is exceptional and it’s extremely rare that one line stays together as long as these guys have. They’re incredible. MacKinnon seemed like he hadn’t quite geared it up yet and Rantanen had a few high-profile problems in this game and then the third period happened and you don’t think about any of that anymore. MacKinnon rose to the occasion and continued his almost comical playoff production. He’s up to 57 points in 41 playoff games now, which is 1.39 PPG, currently behind only Wayne Gretzky (1.84) and Mario Lemieux (1.61). Mikko Rantanen’s two points give him 41 points in just 34 playoff games and his 1.21 PPG is also in the top ten in NHL history. Pretty pretty pretty good.
• What separates the Avs this year from previous years, however, is their defense. The Girard/Makar/Toews combination was incredible tonight, with all three players doing their thing. Makar got the game’s first goal, Toews was all over the ice and led the rush that ended in Colorado’s third goal (assisted by Girard, too), and Girard was the Dikembe Mutombo of the Avalanche defense as he just erased mistake after mistake and kept the Blues out of dangerous scoring chances. Their numbers are outrageous. At 5v5, the trio combined for an 85-45 shot attempt advantage. Makar and Toews mostly did their damage together but Girard is extremely impressive because his success is spread out all over the place. He was +6 with Graves, +1 with Makar, +1 with Timmins, +2 with Toews, and +3 with Nemeth. He had at least two minutes of ice time with each of those players and was positive with each. Colorado’s ability to have a top pairing (tonight it was Toews-Makar) and then use a third guy (Girard in this case) as the versatile gap-filled next to other guys is an enormous tactical advantage that we can expect Bednar and Pratt to continue pushing until the Blues come up with a solution or the series ends, whichever happens first.
• Lost in the hype of Binnington’s great night was a rock-steady performance from Philipp Grubauer. I don’t blame Binnington for challenging Grubauer to a fight at the end of the game. He probably wants to get into a body-switching movie with Grubauer right now because backstopping the Avs sure seems like an easy (and potentially very lucrative) gig in comparison. Grubauer had some great saves of his own tonight, though Colorado’s best save of the night actually belonged to the stick of Ryan Graves, causing a significant tweet pile-up in the rush to be the first person to tweet “Ryan Saves.” Well done, internet. You’re a dad now!
• I’m not sure what Brandon Saad’s priorities will be come free agency but you have to think he absolutely loves the job he has right now. Playing next to Tyson Jost and Val Nichushkin, those three are a buzzsaw of forechecking chaos looking to ruin the shift of any opposing puck carriers. They attack and attack and attack and attack. It was not a surprise to see that trio absolutely shredded the Blues tonight. Jost had the kind of line you’d expect from Nazem Kadri, who had a very tough night. If Kadri doesn’t turn things around quickly, we might see Jost become the de facto 2C on more nights than just this one. That third line was straight-up nasty tonight as they combined for 12 shots on goal and multiple close calls. Against a team like the Blues, one that has to beat you with its depth, Colorado getting the level of play they did from their third line tonight is something the Blues have to curtail immediately or else they’re going to be in a bigger hole than down just one game.