DENVER – Colorado Avelanche scored five goals in the first leg of a 7-2 victory over the Nashville Predators in Game 1 of the first round of the Western Conference at the Ball Arena on Tuesday.
Nathan McKinnon scored two goals and an assist, Cale McCarthy had a goal and two assists, Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and an assist, and Miko Rantanen made three assists for Colorado, which is ranked No. 1 in the Central Division. Darcy Kumper made 23 saves.
“I had the feeling that we played exactly the way we wanted to play,” said Avalanche coach Jared Bednar. “We used our speed, we were on the puck fast, the boys played hard, we were aggressive and we defended very well. So good effort 200 feet from our boys. It was really nice to score early. “
[RELATED: Complete Avalanche vs. Predators series coverage]
Matt Duchamp scored twice for Nashville, the second wild card of the Western Conference. David Ritich conceded five goals in 13 shots before being replaced by rookie Connor Ingram, who made 30 saves in his fourth appearance this season.
“We lost the game. We weren’t good enough. They were better than us tonight,” said Predators coach John Hines. “I think we get hurt in certain areas that are easy to correct, and I think we have a better game on the ice. We will be better in match 2 than in match 1. “
The second match will be played here on Thursday.
Video: NSH @ COL, Gm1: MacKinnon, Toews scored 22 seconds apart
McKinnon gave Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 2:20 of the first period, scoring with a single shot from Rantanen’s hit in the game by force.
22 seconds later Devon Toews scored from a low wrist shot in the right circle to make it 2-0.
“We talked about it in advance, about a quick start and game of our game, and that was that we won a prize,” Landeskog said. “No one was cheating. We did not depend on the wrong side of the puck, trying to create chances for a goal. We just stuck to our game, we played hard and we played fast and in the end we got some goal positions and we managed to make the most of them. Obviously, this led to a great first period for us and somehow brought that through this game. “
Andrew Collano led 3-0 at 8:30 with a short hand goal. Matthias Eholm missed a pass to anyone in the defense zone, and Coliano received his own rebound and scored near the right post.
“It definitely got us all on our feet,” Makar said. I think this was his first time with us.
Although he increased the lead to 4-0 at 12:15 with a sharp angle shot from Ritic’s mask, which was withdrawn after Arturi Lekonen made it 5-0 at 15:04.
“It’s just kind of a weird pop-up puck and I saw an opportunity to take it down the wall,” Makar said. “Most of the time I don’t try to pick them up, but I just had the feeling I had that opportunity there and luckily it bounced off his helmet. So a little lucky, but funny.
Video: NSH @ COL, Gm1: Makar goes around the defender to score
Landeskog, who was returning after missing the last 23 games of the regular season due to knee surgery, was credited with scoring 6-0 at 14:44 of the second period after Mark Boroviecki scored the free-kick during of power play.
Duchenne scored in a strong game and made the score 6-1 at 18:40.
McKinnon made it 7-1 with a single shot from the point at 6:03 of the third period, and Duchamp scored in the break at 12:26 for the final 7-2.
“We have a lot of character. We have a very great leadership. We are tight,” Duchamp said. “First of all, we are a family and this is one of, if not the tightest team I’ve ever been on. We have much more pride than what we showed tonight. We’ve always been back this year, so I’ll have to do it on Thursday. This is a team out there that wants to win the Stanley Cup and believes it can. We need to stay there much better. “
Video: NSH @ COL, Gm1: McKinnon scored the second goal once
NOTES: Knee left the game in the third period with an injury to the upper body and is day to day. His goal was his first goal with Colorado since it was won in an exchange with the San Jose Sharks on March 21. … The avalanche equaled its record in the playoffs for the most goals per period. They also scored five in the first period of Game 5 of the second round of the Western Conference 2020 against the Dallas Stars. … McKinnon and Tose’s goals were the fastest two to start a playoff game in the history of Avalanche / Quebec Nordiques (2:42). … Landeskog, McKinnon and Rantanen have scored the same goal 12 times in the playoffs, the second most trio in the history of Avalanche / Nordiques, after Peter Forsberg, Valerie Kamensky and Claude Lemieux (14).
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