DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews scored 22 seconds apart in a five-goal first period, sending the Colorado Avalanche to a 7-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
The five goals tied the team’s playoff record for one period and sent Nashville’s backup goaltender David Rittich out of the game with 4:56 remaining in the first. Rittich was filling in for 38-game winner Juuse Saros, who is sidelined with a lower-body injury.
Andrew Cogliano, Cale Makar and Artturi Lehkonen also scored in the first. Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog built a 6-0 lead when he was credited with a goal in the second period. He was returning from knee surgery that had sidelined him since mid-March.
MacKinnon scored his second goal of the game in the third period and, along with an assist, raised his playoff points-per-game average to 1.41. He is only followed by Wayne Gretzky (1.84) and Mario Lemieux (1.61), with a minimum of 40 games.
Matt Duchene scored twice for Nashville. Darcy Kuemper finished with 23 saves.
Game 2 is Thursday, which is also Kuemper’s 32nd birthday.
Since moving to Denver, the Avalanche have a 17-6 record in best-of-seven playoff series when they win Game 1. On the other hand, the Predators are 0-7 when they start a best-of-seven series with a road loss.
Colorado scored in just about every way imaginable: on a power play (MacKinnon), foul hands (Cogliano), an opposing player kicking (Landeskog took credit for a downed puck by defenseman Mark Borowiecki) and, of course, even strength (Toews, Makar, Lehkonen and MacKinnon again).
The Avalanche outscored the Predators by a 45-25 margin.
Things got ugly after the buzzer to end the second period. Philip Tomasino messed with Lehkonen. Nearby, Luke Kunin took down Nazem Kadri, who fired a shot before being pushed away.
In the third period, the game got even more complicated with Mathieu Olivier receiving a penalty for misconduct.
Cogliano scored his first goal for the Avalanche since being acquired from San Jose on March 21. He took advantage of a Mattias Ekholm fumble with the Predators on the power play and scored through a small window.
Cogliano then left the game with an upper body injury.
The game’s elegant play was transformed by Makar, who dodged Tanner Jeannot with a nifty move near the blue line, skidded down the left side and banked on a shot that took Rittich’s mask off.
Lehkonen’s score to make it 5-0 with 4:56 left of the first and end Rittich’s night. He was replaced by Connor Ingram, who had appeared in just three NHL games before Tuesday. Ingram had 30 saves.
The goals from MacKinnon and Toews came in the first 2:42, making it the fastest pair of goals to start a playoff game in Colorado/Quebec franchise history. The previous mark belonged to Valeri Kamensky and Peter Forsberg, who scored in the first 2:54 during Game 2 of the 1998 conference quarterfinals, according to NHL Stats.
Makar became the third defenseman in team history to record three points in one period during a playoff game. He was joined by Sandis Ozolinsh (April 13, 2000) and Risto Siltanen (April 14, 1987).
Reference-nypost.com