Avalanche cruise past Lehner, Golden Knights in Game 1

DENVER -- Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog each had two goals and an assist for the Colorado Avalanche in a 7-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Second Round at Ball Arena on Sunday.

"I loved the way our team played tonight, right away, out of the gate, skating, relentless puck pressure, great commitment to our checking game, capitalizing on our chances," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "I thought the top line set the tone again, but our whole team was involved and playing well and skating well."
Cale Makar had a goal and three assists, Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, and Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves for Colorado, the No. 1 seed in the Honda West Division.
The Avalanche hadn't played since May 23, when they completed a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Blues in the first round with a 5-2 win.
"Listen, rest is a weapon, especially this time of year," Landeskog said. "We've played a lot of hockey, and I think the coaches did a good job of managing our rest throughout the week and making sure we were ready to go. We knew they were coming off a seven-game series and had one day of rest coming into altitude, so we wanted to make sure we have a fast start, and we did."

William Karlsson scored for Vegas, the No. 2 seed. Robin Lehner allowed seven goals on 37 shots after being Marc-Andre Fleury's backup for all seven games against the Minnesota Wild in the first round.
Teams that win Game 1 are 495-224 (68.8 percent) winning a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoffs series, including 5-2 in the first round this season.
Game 2 is here Wednesday.
"Well, obviously, you know, you're not feeling good about yourself," Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer said. "But I think we have to put it in perspective, and playoffs are about having short memories and getting ready for the next one. Whether you lose 2-1 or 7-1, you can debate the meaning of whether you lose badly or not badly. The bottom line was, we weren't good enough tonight. They were very good. We've got to be better in Game 2."
Rantanen gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 4:55 of the first period with a backhand from the right face-off circle off a pass from Devon Toews after Makar broke up a 3-on-2 rush for the Golden Knights.

Landeskog made it 2-0 at 10:13 after Makar passed from the right point to him in the left slot for a shot into an open net.
"I was just trying to time it," Landeskog said. "With his vision and his skill, I knew he saw me, and he made a great play. I didn't have to do much but put it in. Good play by Cale."
Brandon Saad increased the lead to 3-0 at 1:04 of the second period, and MacKinnon made it 4-0 at 4:03 with a shot from the left circle after a return pass from Ryan Graves.
Landeskog redirected Rantanen's pass on a power play to make it 5-0 at 14:23.
"We didn't play well," Vegas captain Mark Stone said. "They played a good game. They came out ready to go. They'd been sitting there, raring to go. We had to play a smarter first period, a smarter start to the second. You just can't get down like that. But we'll flush this one. We'll see what we did wrong."
Karlsson redirected Max Pacioretty's pass to make it 5-1 at 14:59.
MacKinnon skated with speed into the Golden Knights zone and shot above Lehner's left arm from in close at 17:05 for a 6-1 lead. It was his NHL-leading eighth goal of the playoffs.
"I noticed [defenseman Nicolas Hague] had a loose gap, I gathered some speed below the puck and managed to get around him," MacKinnon said. "It was a great play by [Joonas Donskoi] to dig it out for me."

Makar made it 7-1 at 15:49 of the third period during a 9:00 power play after Vegas forward Ryan Reaves was given a match penalty and two minors at 8:04 for driving Graves to the ice.
"Obviously, such a long power play," Makar said. "We know we have to stay in tune with it regardless of who they're throwing out, if they're mixing it up and whatnot. For us, and especially for me, I had a few giveaways, definitely need to be tuning up."
Golden Knights forward Mattias Janmark left the game at 8:26 of the second period after a hit by Graves, who was assessed an interference penalty. DeBoer didn't have an update.
"Defenseless player," Stone said. "That's a blindside interference. Obviously didn't like the hit. We lost a player. It's an interference blindside hit. We're trying to get those out of the game. But, yeah, 4-0, if we score on that power play, maybe changed a little bit."
NOTES: MacKinnon is the sixth player in NHL history to score at least eight goals through his team's first five games in a single postseason, and the first since Ray Ferraro scored eight for the New York Islanders against the Washington Capitals in the 1993 Patrick Division Semifinals. … Colorado is 19-0-1 in its past 20 games at home, including three wins in the playoffs. … Landeskog has four goals and seven assists during a five-game point streak. … Rantanen has two goals and seven assists during a five-game point streak. … Saad has scored a goal in four straight games. … Colorado forward Sampo Ranta was minus-1 in 7:47 in his NHL debut, replacing Carl Soderberg on the fourth line. … Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo played his 100th NHL playoff game.