Avs Show No Rust in Game 1 Victory

The Colorado Avalanche dispelled any notion that the team might have had any rust after a week off.
Mikko Rantanen opened the scoring with a backhand shot in the first five minutes of Game 1 and the Avs defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 7-1 on Sunday to begin the second-round series in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Rantanen's marker began a five-goal run to start the contest for the Avalanche.
Colorado entered the outing having had a week off, last playing on May 23 when it completed a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Blues. Vegas on the other hand was only 48 hours removed from wrapping up its first round versus the Minnesota Wild, which battled back from a 3-1 series deficit to force a Game 7 on Friday.

"Listen, I think rest is a weapon, especially this time of the year," said Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog. "We've played a lot of hockey, and I think the coaching staff did a good job of managing our rest throughout the week and making sure that we were ready to go. We knew they were coming off of a seven-game series, had one day of rest, coming into altitude, and we wanted to make sure that we had a fast start, and we did."
The Avalanche used the six days between contests to fine-tune parts of its game while staying mentally and physically sharp. After having Monday off, Colorado held two optional skates and three full-team practices before Sunday's Game 1, including sessions with the full squad on both Friday and Saturday.

The Avs looked like the more rested and hungrier team from the get-go. They led 2-0 at the first intermission and doubled their lead in the first 4:03 of the second period.
"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," said head coach Jared Bednar. "The top line set the tone again, but our whole team was involved and playing well and skating well. Our talk before the game was we don't want to come out and wade into this thing… I give our guys a lot of credit that we kept playing the whole night. Maybe a little lapse at the start of the third, which I think is understandable, but guys continued to check and play the right way. It was a good night from us."
Defenseman Cale Makar led Colorado with four points (one goal, three assists), while the team's top trio combined for five goals and eight points. Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon both had two tallies and a helper and Rantanen also had an assist to go with his game-opening marker.
"I think overall our D-corps did a good job of jumping up in the rush and creating 4-on-3s and things like that," Landeskog said. "It's our job (as a line) to lead the team offensively and that's what we try to do on a nightly basis."

The Avalanche leads the NHL with 5.4 goals per game, tallying 27 times in the first five contests of the 2021 postseason. The Avs have now scored five or more goals in four-straight playoff outings, the first time in franchise history it has done that.
Colorado has won five games in a row, the fourth time in Avalanche playoff history it has accomplished the feat and the first since May 11-22, 1999, when it won four straight against the Detroit Red Wings after falling down 2-0 in the conference semifinals and winning the opener versus the Dallas Stars in the ensuing Western Final.
The Avs' current run marks the first time in franchise history the club has victories in each of the first five outings of a playoff year.

MAKAR SETS NEW HIGH

Cale Makar had a career-high four points in the Avalanche's win, contributing three assists before scoring in the third period. He is the fourth NHL player this postseason to have a four-point performance, which includes teammate Nathan MacKinnon in Game 2 of Round 1 (three goals, one assist).
It was Makar's second career three-assist outing in the postseason as he also had that many helpers in Game 3 of the 2020 second round versus the Dallas Stars on Aug. 26, 2020. That was also his previous best for points in a playoff contest. Overall, it was the 22-year-old's fourth career multi-point game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

All three of his assists on Sunday came on the Avs' first three goals, and he became the fourth blueliner in franchise history with four or more points in a playoff contest, joining Risto Siltanen (Game 5 of 1987 DSF), Sandis Ozolinsh (Game 3 of 1998 CQF) and Rob Blake (Game 1 of 2001 CQF).
Makar now has 28 career postseason points (seven goals, 21 assists), tied with Paul Reinhart for the sixth-most by a defenseman through his first 30 career playoff games in NHL history. Only Brian Leetch (36), Bobby Orr (36), Denis Potvin (33), Al McInnis (31), Sergei Zubov (29).

RANTA DEBUTS

Rookie Sampo Ranta made his NHL debut in the contest, seeing 7:47 of ice time in 12 shifts.
He replaced Carl Soderberg in the lineup and skated on the fourth line with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and fellow first-year player Alex Newhook.
"I thought it was a real good night from him," Bednar said. "When you take in that that's his first NHL game and it's against a real good team in Vegas and in the second round of the playoffs, the moment wasn't too big for him and we're going to need a lot of guys.
"I thought to give him a chance at home when I can control the matchups a little bit, see how he handles it, it was a good time instead of if we lose a guy or something as the series goes on, I could be inserting him later on for his first NHL game. So I wanted to get him into this series as early as I can and now we'll reevaluate. We'll make decisions for the second game, see how our health is, see how everyone's doing and we'll adjust the lineup we think will give us the best chance to win on Wednesday."

Ranta is just the fifth player in franchise history to make his NHL debut in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the third since the team moved to Denver, joining Cale Makar in 2019 and Joey Hishon in 2014.
The Naantali, Finland, native wore No. 75 in the contest, and he is the first player to don the digits in Avalanche history. In franchise history, only Walt Poddubny has worn that number previously, back in 1988-89 with the Quebec Nordiques.

CONDOR SIGHTING

Erik Johnson skated on his own prior to Game 1's optional morning skate, the first time he's been seen on the ice since suffering an upper-body injury on Jan. 30 at Minnesota.
It's a positive trajectory in the alternate captain's recovery, but Bednar still doesn't have a clear timeline on the veteran defenseman's return.
"I don't know about him being fully cleared or any of that to actually play, but he's just taking it step by step in his return-to-play protocol basically. As he feels better, he's doing more and it's good to see him starting to get healthy again," Bednar said on Sunday morning. "Guys like having him around, obviously he's a lot of fun and a committed teammate, so we'll see where it goes. But I don't have anything on an imminent return or even him joining our main group for practice."
Johnson missed the final 47 games of the year due to his injury and only suited up in four total after missing the start of the season while in COVID-19 protocol.
It was noted previously during the regular season that Johnson could possibly return in the playoffs depending on his recovery.

MORE POSTGAME NOTES

The Avalanche scored seven or more goals in a playoff game for the seventh time since moving to Denver. The squad has scored five or more goals in four of its five games this season, the most five-plus goal performances of any team in the postseason.
Colorado is undefeated on home ice in the playoffs so far (3-0), and going back to the regular season the Avs have won 12 straight at Ball Arena and are 19-0-1 in their last 20 contests on home ice. The club is one of three teams (Boston and Winnipeg are the others) to have won all of its home postseason contests.
The Avs got seven points (one goal, six assists) from defensemen tonight. The Avalanche blue line has contributed 18 points (three goals, 15 assists) through five games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the most of any team.
Mikko Rantanen has recorded a point in every game of the 2021 playoffs so far, collecting nine points (two goals, seven assist) in that span. Going back to the 2020 postseason, he has recorded a point in 15 consecutive contests, totaling 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists) over that stretch.
With three points tonight, Nathan MacKinnon (two goals, one assist) moves past Michel Goulet (64 points) and Sandis Ozolinsh (65) to take sole possession of fifth place in franchise playoff history with 66 career points (28 goals, 38 assists). MacKinnon, who was tied with Chris Drury (26 goals) entering the game, also takes over fifth place in franchise history with 28 postseason goals.
Philipp Grubauer has won five straight games, a new career-best winning streak in the postseason. It's the longest winning streak by an Avalanche/Nordiques goaltender to start the Stanley Cup Playoffs, besting Patrick Roy's four-game stretch to begin the 2001 playoffs and Dan Bouchard's four-game run for Quebec in 1984. Grubauer has 17 postseason wins as a member of the Avalanche, moving past Mario Gosselin (16) and taking sole possession of second place all-time.
Brandon Saad has scored a goal in four straight playoff games, extending his career-best postseason goal streak. It's the longest such streak by an Avalanche player since Gabriel Landeskog scored in four straight games from April 14-20, 2018. The only players in franchise history with a longer run in a playoff year are Claude Lemieux (seven games in 1997), Joe Sakic (seven games in 1996) and Michel Goulet (five games in 1985).
Gabriel Landeskog extended his point streak to five games and registered his fourth multi-point outing this postseason, collecting 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in the playoffs so far.