Avalanche Secures Round 1 Win with Another Strong Offensive Performance

The Colorado Avalanche was tasked with facing a strong defensive team in the first round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but its offensive abilities were also on display as the team earned a series victory to become the second club from the Western Conference to advance to Round 2.

The Avs defeated the Arizona Coyotes 7-1 on Wednesday afternoon in Game 5 of their series at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, to secure the 4-1 win in the best-of-seven set.

Though Colorado outscored Arizona 14-2 in the final two games of the series, the Avs and Coyotes battled in much closer outings in the first three matchups. The Avalanche won the first two contests but dropped Game 3 despite outshooting the Yotes 51-23.

The only game that Arizona outshot Colorado in was the second contest last Friday. the Avs came out with a 3-2 win in that affair, but head coach Jared Bednar says his team had room for improvement after that outing and the Avs showed how they progressed as the series went on.

"I really liked our Game 1 and Game 3, it was Game 2 that I was a little worried after. We were able to come up with a victory in that game, but Arizona played so well and came after us and we didn't handle it properly. And then after looking at the video we knew that there were some things that we had to cure that we just kind of got away from," said Bednar. "After that meeting and seeing that and going through the loss in Game 3, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for us because I thought our guys really dug in. Just a great focus on what we need to do and the things that we stressed that kind of play to our identity, and eventually the last couple games we just had really good starts and earned some power plays and those power plays capitalized.

"Our big guns were firing on all cylinders the last couple nights, especially on the power play early in the game, so we kind of take advantage of those power plays and end up earning a couple key victories for us. Almost a mirror image tonight of the other night in my opinion with the start of the game."

The Avs earned identical 7-1 victories in Games 4 and 5, the first time the squad has scored seven in consecutive playoff contests in franchise history. Only four other teams in the last 34 years have tallied seven times in back-to-back postseason games.

It is just the second time in Colorado/Quebec Nordiques history that the squad has scored seven or more goals twice in a single postseason (also: April 14, 1987, Division Semifinals vs. Hartford, Game 5; April 20, 1987, Division Finals vs. Montreal, Game 1) and the first time the club has done it in a series.

"Obviously, they competed very hard and I thought especially early on in the series it was real close games and we were able to find ways to outshoot them by quite a bit, and [Arizona goaltender Darcy] Kuemper played well," Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog said of the series. "But I thought for the most part, we stuck to our game plan and I thought even though we lost Game 3 we came back at them and just kind of kept playing our game. Eventually in the end, you know, we kept saying early on in the series we were going to wear them down and that was kind of our game plan and we stuck to it. Its obviously nice to get contribution from all throughout the lineup these last two games for sure."

The Avalanche tallied on its first two power-play opportunities of the game and went 3-for-4 overall in the contest, the second-straight outing that the team scored three times with the man advantage. The squad finished the series going 7-for-20 on its chances with an extra skater, scoring its most man-advantage tallies in a playoff series since the 2000-01 Western Conference Finals against the St. Louis Blues.

The third Colorado power-play tally came off of Nathan MacKinnon's stick, one of his four points in the contest. His performance marked his second career four-point game in the playoffs and his first since his rookie season in 2013-14.

MacKinnon said that prior to the contest he was reflecting on his first campaign and how the mindset of the squad toward the playoffs has evolved in the past seven years.

"From my first year it is just Gabe, [Erik Johnson] and myself left, and things have changed a lot since then. I think we were just trying to claw into the playoffs (after his first year) and then the last two years it was just a celebration to make it to the playoffs," MacKinnon said. "We lose to Nashville and then last year it was a huge deal that we beat Calgary. I think the message from training camp a year ago now I guess was to win. We felt like our time has arrived, and we haven't won anything, but it is definitely a different feel after winning this series.

"We know we are a hungry group. We are a group that really cares about each other. I know everyone really says it, but we really feel we have a great chemistry and there is a good vibe to our team. It is great to get this playoffs [started] on the right foot. We played hard in all five games, and we are ready for whoever we play in the second round."

If the Dallas Stars, who lead their best-of-seven set 3-2, defeat the Calgary Flames then the Avs will play the Stars in Round 2. If Calgary wins that series, then Colorado will face the winner of the St. Louis Blues-Vancouver Canucks series.

MacK'S 4-POINT GAME EXTENDS STREAK

Nathan MacKinnon scored twice and added two assists to match his career high for points in a playoff game (April 19, 2014 versus Minnesota). He is now the second player in Avalanche/Nordiques history with four points in a series-clinching contest, joining Claude Lemieux who had a goal and three assists in Game 6 of the 1997 conference quarterfinals against the Chicago Blackhawks.

"I got a good bounce on the first one, and I was just trying to keep shooting it," MacKinnon said of his tallies. "Not everything was going in, but I think as a line we were impacting the game in a great way, not just scoring goals, but I think both ways we were solid and obviously it's nice to get a few."

The Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native recorded his two goals 58 seconds apart, setting a new mark for the fastest two tallies by one player in franchise history. Three of his points came in the middle frame and tied the franchise playoff record for points in a single period (14th occurance).

MacKinnon's performance extended his playoff-opening point streak to eight games, tied for the second-longest in franchise history to begin a playoff year. He is the first Avalanche player to start a postseason with a point streak of at least eight games since Milan Hejduk and Peter Forsberg each also did so in eight games in 2001.

His streak is the longest in the NHL so far this postseason and tied his playoff career high that he set last year. Only two other active players have had a streak of that length or longer over the last 15 years: Los Angeles Kings forward Anze Kopitar (10 GP: 4-11-15 in 2014) and Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin (8 GP: 3-11-14 in 2013).

MacKinnon leads the league with 13 points (four goals, nine assists) this postseason. He has matched his career high for playoff points and surpassed his previous career best for assists (eight in 2013-14).

KADRI SCORES TWICE, AGAIN

Nazem Kadri and MacKinnon each scored twice in the outing to tie the mark for the most goals by an Avalanche/Nordiques player in a potential series-clinching game. It had been accomplished 13 times prior, including twice during the 2019 First Round (Mikko Rantanen and Colin Wilson).

Kadri's first tally was his fifth power-play goal of the postseason, the first Avalanche player to score five man-advantage tallies in a playoff year since Joe Sakic in 2001. Only two other players in Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history have tallied more in a single postseason (Michel Goulet, 7 in 1985; Sakic, 6 in 1996)

The London, Ontario, native is tied for the league lead with six goals this postseason and his five power-play markers lead all skaters.

MORE NOTES

Samuel Girard notched his first career playoff goal. He is the third defenseman in Avalanche/Nordiques history to score his first postseason goal in a series-clinching game, joining Erik Johnson (Game 7 of the 2014 First Round vs. Minnesota) and Quebec's Dave Pichette (Game 7 of the 1982 Division Finals vs. Boston).

Andre Burakovsky recorded two assists and now has a career-high five helpers this postseason, surpassing his previous best (four) set during the 2017-18 playoffs with Washington. Burakovsky now has eight points (three goals, five assists) in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, a new career best that surpasses his previous high of six set during both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 postseasons.

Cale Makar finished with an assist and now has a postseason career-high seven points (two goals, five assists) in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, surpassing the six points he tallied during his first postseason run in 2018-19.

Nikita Zadorov's second-period goal is his first playoff tally since scoring in his Stanley Cup Playoff debut on April 12, 2018 at Nashville (Game 1).