The postseason slogan is “Find A Way.”
The Avalanche found many ways to humiliate Nashville on Tuesday night in the first full-capacity playoff game at Ball Arena in nearly three years. The start of the Stanley Cup-or-bust playoffs was a sight to see for Avs fans, who created an electric atmosphere watching their Western Conference No. 1-seeded club dismantle the No. 8 Predators, 7-2.
The Avs scored five goals in the first period, tying a club record for goals in a postseason period. Healthy for the first time all season, it was no contest.
Game 2 is Thursday night before the series shifts to Nashville.
Star center Nathan MacKinnon led the way with two goals and three points. His power-play goal began the early barrage, Andrew Cogliano’s shorthanded goal made it 3-0, and two even-strength goals — one apiece by defensemen Devon Toews and Cale Makar — had the Avs ahead 4-0 just 12:15 into the game.
Artturi Lehkonen added a breakaway goal for a 5-0 lead as the hosts outshot the Preds 17-6 in the first period.
“It was awesome,” MacKinnon said of the atmosphere. “Coming out first period, to get up 5-0, we don’t do that without our fans here. A lot of fun, but whether you win 2-1 or 7-2 or whatever it was, we got to get ready for Game 2 and get a stranglehold of this series.”
Makar also had two assists in the frame to become just the second Avs defenseman to have three points in a playoff period (Sandis Ozolinsh in 2000).
Colorado forged a 6-0 lead at 14:44 of the second period with Gabe Landeskog’s power-play goal. Landeskog, the team captain, was returning after missing the final 22 games of the regular season because of knee surgery.
Former Avalanche forward Matt Duchene scored a power-play goal late in the second period to ruin the shutout for Avs goalie Darcy Kuemper. But MacKinnon unleashed his lethal one-time slap shot early in the third for a 7-1 lead.
Duchene added his second goal with 7:34 remaining, but it was far too little, too late.
“The playoffs are fun. You’re so in the moment. You need everybody’s best and I think we learned from last year’s playoffs to not take our foot off the gas,” MacKinnon said. “We’ll be ready for Game 2 as well.”
MacKinnon began the early scoring spree 2:20 into the game. He one-timed a short feed from Mikko Rantanen. Twenty-two seconds later, Toews collected an indirect feed from Rantanen off the right-wing wall and buried a wrist shot for a 2-0 lead. The lead grew to 3-0 during Nashville’s first power play when Cogliano jumped on a Mattias Ekholm turnover and scored on his rebound.
At that point, Nashville starting goalie David Rittich had a .500 save percentage, stopping just three of six shots. Rittich, the normal backup, was replaced by rookie Connor Ingram after Lehkonen’s tally.
It was the first full-capacity playoff game at Ball Arena since May 6, 2019 — a 4-3 Game 6 overtime victory over the San Jose Sharks. The Avs went on to lose 3-2 in Game 7, and then again lost in a second-round Game 7 in 2020 to the Dallas Stars in Edmonton’s playoff bubble.
The Avs fell in six games to the Vegas Golden Knights in a second-round series last year; Ball Arena was scheduled to go full capacity for Game 7 but Colorado failed to force it.
Footnotes. Colorado also scored five goals in the first period of Game 5 of the 2020 second-round series against Dallas on Aug. 31, 2020, in Edmonton. … At full strength for the first time this season, including four trade-deadline additions, the Avs’ healthy scratches were important players in the 82-game regular season. Forwards Logan O’Connor and Alex Newhook played 71 and 81 games, respectively, and defensemen Jack Johnson, Kurtis MacDermid and Ryan Murray played 74, 58 and 37 games. Practice goalie Hunter Miska was also officially a healthy scratch.
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