Rapid Recap: Avalanche 7, Coyotes 1 (Game 5)

The Colorado Avalanche scored seven times for the second game in a row to defeat the Arizona Coyotes 7-1 on Wednesday afternoon. The victory was the Avs' fourth of the first-round matchup and advances the squad to the second round, defeating the Coyotes 4-1 in the best-of-seven set.
Nathan MacKinnon scored twice in 58 seconds, the fastest two goals in the playoffs by one player in franchise history, and added two assists to tie his postseason career high. Three of his points came in the second period, tying the franchise playoff record for points in a period (14th time, last: MacKinnon in the first against Calgary on April 15, 2019).
Nazem Kadri also scored twice in the outing, the sixth player in Avalanche/Nordiques history to record a multi-goal outing in consecutive playoff contests. He also had an assist in the contest.

Nikita Zadorov scored his first of the 2020 postseason while J.T. Compher had a goal and an assist. Andre Burakovsky, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen recorded multiple points in the outing as well with each forward registering two helpers apiece.
Philipp Grubauer made 23 saves in the outing and Joonas Donskoi, Matt Nieto and Cale Makar each added an assist. Clayton Keller scored Arizona's lone goal at 6:51 of the third period.
Colorado went 3-for-4 on the power play in the outing, the second-straight game that the team scored three times with the man advantage. The Avs went 7-for-20 on the power play and 14-for-15 on the penalty kill in the series.
Colorado advances to the second round and could face the Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues or Vancouver Canucks in Round 2.
Highlights
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Photo Gallery
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Statistics
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Postgame Notes
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Avs Advance to Round 2
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Video: Coach Bednar
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Video: Landeskog, MacKinnon & Zadorov
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Video: Girard, Grubauer & Kadri

THE GOALS

1st Period
4:39 COL (1-0) - PPG, Nazem Kadri scored from the slot after some crisp passing on the power play. Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon assisted on the goal.
11:31 COL (2-0) - PPG, Samuel Girard tallied his first postseason goal with a shot from the point while Valeri Nichushkin was screening Arizona goaltender Darcy Kuemper.
COL (3-0) - Nazem Kadri scored his sixth goal of the postseason on a breakaway.
2nd Period
9:51 COL (4-0) - Nathan MacKinnon scored with a one-timer from the right circle that went far side.
10:49 COL (5-0) - PPG, Nathan MacKinnon tallied again less than a minute later while on the power play.
18:16 COL (6-0) - Defenseman Nikita Zadorov cut through the slot to deflect Nathan MacKinnon's shot into the net.
3rd Period
6:51 ARI (6-1) - Clayton Keller got the Coyotes on the board by deflecting a shot from Jason Demers.
15:19 COL (7-1) - J.T. Compher scored near-side from the right circle after receiving a pass from below the goal line.
Final: Avalanche - 7 | Coyotes - 1

3 STARS

Selected by NHL

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 3 for 4
Arizona: 0 for 2

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer started his fourth game of the series and made 23-of-24 saves
Arizona: Darcy Kuemper was between the pipes and stopped 24-of-30 shots in the first two periods. Antti Raanta played in the third and stopped five of the six shots he faced.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

MacK Attack Continues: Nathan MacKinnon scored twice and added two assists to match his postseason career high that he set during his rookie year with four points in an outing. 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. His four-point performance tied Claude Lemieux's four-point outing in Game 6 of the 1997 conference quarterfinals for the most by a player in franchise history in a potential series-clinching game.
MacKinnon has a point in all eight games this postseason and is the first Avalanche player to start a playoff year with a point streak of at least eight games since Milan Hejduk and Peter Forsberg (also eight) in 2000-01. MacKinnon's streak is tied for the second longest in franchise history to begin a playoff year.
It is the longest streak 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 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).

NOTEBOOK

MacKinnon and Nazem Kadri each scored twice in the outing, tying 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 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)… Kadri's five power-play goals leads the NHL this postseason… Samuel Girard scored his first Stanley Cup Playoff goal to become the first defenseman in franchise history to record his first postseason goal in a series-clinching game, joining Erik Johnson (Game 7 of the 2014 First Round) and Quebec's Dave Pichette (Game 7 of the 1982 Division Finals)... Cale Makar had an assist to bring his playoff total to seven points (two goals, five assists) this postseason and set a new franchise record for scoring by a rookie defenseman in a single playoff year... Colorado went 3-for-4 on the power play in the outing, the second-straight game that the team scored three times with the man advantage. The Avs went 7-for-20 on the power play and 14-for-15 on the penalty kill in the series... The series with Arizona marked Colorado's 34th playoff series since relocating from Quebec, and the team now has a 21-13 record in postseason sets… The franchise is now 24-19 in 43 best-of-seven series. The Avalanche/Nordiques own a 149-132 all-time record in 281 playoff contests.

QUOTABLE

Goaltender Philippp Grubauer on his team's offense: "It's been unbelievable to watch. I mean first game, second game, like you watch those guys compete down at the other end--that's the way we want to play, and it's been amazing to watch. I think we found our rhythm here, and we got to make sure we move forward with the same effort in the next round."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Ready to Play.

ROSTER REPORT

Colorado utilized the same lineup it did in Game 4 on Monday, with Ian Cole on a defensive duo with Samuel Girard and Erik Johnson paired with Nikita Zadorov. Philipp Grubauer started in net for the fourth time this series.

INJURY UPDATE

Andre Burakovsky played after leaving Game 4 early in the third period after blocking a shot… Vladislav Namestnikov did not play and remains day-to-day after leaving Game 2 in the second frame last Friday.

UP NEXT

After the No. 1 seed Vegas Golden Knights won their Round 1 matchup with the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, the No. 2 seed Avalanche will face the higher of the other two teams that advance to 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.
LINE COMBINATIONS
Based on start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
95 Andre Burakovsky - 91 Nazem Kadri - 72 Joonas Donskoi
17 Tyson Jost - 37 J.T. Compher - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 11 Matt Calvert
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 28 Ian Cole
16 Nikita Zadorov - 6 Erik Johnson
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
39 Pavel Francouz