Rapid Recap: Avalanche 3, Coyotes 2 (Game 2)

Andre Burakovsky buried a shot into an open net in the closing minutes of the third period on Friday afternoon to give the Colorado Avalanche a 3-2 victory and a 2-0 series lead over the Arizona Coyotes in the first round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Nazem Kadri's outside shot redirected off a Coyotes player and right to Burakovsky, who snapped the puck into a wide-open area of the goal with 2:53 left in regulation in the first contest of the day at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.

The Avalanche took a one-goal lead twice in the contest, but the Coyotes responded each time. Nathan MacKinnon opened the scoring 3:40 into the first period with his second tally of the postseason before Clayton Keller was the recipient of an Arizona tally with 3:11 left before the first intermission. Tyson Jost, who was playing his first game of the series, recorded his first marker of the playoffs early in the second period to get Colorado back the lead, but Michael Grabner tied the contest once again less than 90 seconds later.
Colorado goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 30 saves in the victory while Darcy Kuemper stopped 25 shots for Arizona. The Yotes outshot the Avs 32-28.
Gabriel Landeskog, Cale Makar, J.T. Compher and Matt Calvert all recorded assists in the contest as well.
The teams meet again on Saturday for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round. It's the Avalanche's first back-to-back set in the playoffs since 2008.
Statistics
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Highlights
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Photo Gallery
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Postgame Notes
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Video: Coach Bednar
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Video: Grubauer
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Video: Burakovsky, Jost & MacKinnon

THE GOALS

1st Period
3:40 COL (1-0) - After taking a loose puck at the blue line, MacKinnon drove to the net from the left wing and unleashed a low shot into the back of the cage to open the game's scoring.
16:49 ARI (1-1) - Clayton Keller's shot found its way loose in the crease and the puck was inadvertently knocked into the net.
2nd Period
3:37 COL (2-1) - Tyson Jost redirected Cale Makar's shot from the point into the back of the goal while stationed in front of the Arizona goalie.
5:06 ARI (2-2) - Michael Grabner skated to the slot from the corner and scored on a wrist shot that went glove-side.
3rd Period
17:07 COL (3-2) - Andre Burakovsky rifled a shot into a gaping net after Nazem Kadri's shot caromed off a Coyotes player and right to the his wide-open teammate.
Final: Avalanche - 3 | Coyotes - 2

3 STARS

1. Philipp Grubauer (COL): Made 30 saves in the win
2. Nathan MacKinnon (COL): Scored the game's opening goal
3. Andre Burakovsky (COL): Tallied the game-winner

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 0 for 4
Arizona: 0 for 4

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer stopped 30 of the 32 shots he faced, including 15 in the second period and all eight in the third.
Arizona: Darcy Kuemper made 25-of-28 saves.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Nathan MacKinnon and Nazem Kadri both extended their point streaks to five games, recording at least a point in every contest in the Avs' 2020 postseason (both have two goals and four assists). It's the longest streak to begin the playoffs for the team since Peter Forsberg's seven-game run and Joe Sakic's six-game stretch in 2004.

NOTEBOOK

J.T. Compher is on a three-game point streak after assisting on Tyson Jost's second-period goal… Jost has now scored a goal in four of his last five postseason games he's played dating back to the 2019 Second Round versus San Jose… Colorado was playing in its first back-to-back in the playoffs since Games 3-4 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals on April 14-15, 2008 versus the Minnesota Wild… Colorado/Quebec improved to 9-11 all-time in the first half of consecutive-day sets in the playoffs; the franchise is 10-9 in the second game. The Avs won their first-ever game of a playoff back-to-back since moving to Denver for the 1995-96 campaign, improving to 1-4 all-time in such sets... Andre Burakovsky's goal marked the 10th time in Avalanche/Nordiques franchise playoff history that the club has scored a go-ahead, game-winning goal in the final three minutes of regulation. This is the first time in franchise history it has scored multiple such goals in a single postseason (also Nazem Kadri in SCQ vs. STL). Colorado is the third team in the last 10 postseasons to achieve the feat multiple times in a single playoff year, following St. Louis (3x in 2019) and Tampa Bay (2x in 2016)… It was Burakovsky's second game-winning postseason goal of his career and his first since May 6, 2015 versus the New York Rangers.

QUOTABLE

Andre Burakovsky on his late goal:"It's important to get pucks to the net. Sometimes they'll bounce down on you, and that's what happened tonight. I wasn't fully prepared on it and got lucky that it went post and in. I think it's really important to get goals like that at the end. I think they were pressuring us a lot and to take advantage of it and kind of kill their buzz a little bit and then got the game."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Up and over.

ROSTER REPORT

Tyson Jost played his first game of the series and replaced Joonas Donskoi on a line with Andre Burakovsky and J.T. Compher. Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen were reunited as the team's top line, while Vladislav Namestnikov moved to a trio that included Nazem Kadri and Valeri Nichushkin. Joonas Donskoi did not play.

INJURY UPDATE

Head coach Jared Bednar said after the game that Joonas Donskoi was unfit to play. Vladislav Namestnikov appeared to get hurt in the second period and didn't finish the outing. Bednar said postgame that Namestnikov was a bit "dinged up" and is considered day-to-day.

UP NEXT

The Avalanche and Coyotes meet again in less than 24 hours as the teams conclude their back-to-back set with Game 3 on Saturday at 1 p.m. MT. Arizona will be designated as the "home" team for the contest, which will be televised locally on Altitude Sports and nationally on CNBC in the United States and Sportsnet 360 and TVA Sports in Canada.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
90 Vladislav Namestnikov - 91 Nazem Kadri - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
95 Andre Burakovsky - 37 J.T. Compher - 17 Tyson Jost
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 11 Matt Calvert
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
16 Nikita Zadorov - 28 Ian Cole
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer (starter)
39 Pavel Francouz (backup)