Game 1 Recap: Avalanche Dominant in 7-2 Win over Predators
Colorado claimed Game 1 with a convincing 7-2 win over Nashville on Tuesday night
By
Sasha Kandrach
Nathan MacKinnon (2G, 1A) Cale Makar (1G, 2A) and Mikko Rantanen (3A) paced the Avalanche victory with three-point outings each.
Devon Toews, Andrew Cogliano (shorthanded), Artturi Lehkonen also scored as did Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog, who returned to the lineup for the first time since March 14 and handed out an assist in addition to his second-period power-play goal. Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves on 25 shots in the victory.
For Nashville, Matt Duchene scored twice against his former club.
David Rittich made 8 saves on 13 shots through 15:04 minutes before he was pulled. In relief for Rittich, Conor Ingram made 30 saves on 32 shots for the Predators in 44:56 minutes.
GAME SUMMARY:
Dialed in from puck drop, the Avalanche took a 2-0 lead on their first three shots of the game and scored both strikes in the span of 22 seconds and finished the opening frame with a commanding 5-0 lead.
The Avs were awarded their first power play of the game when Samuel Girard was hi-sticked by Mathieu Olivier at 2:08. On the power play, Nathan MacKinnon sniped a shot from the right faceoff circle over Rittich's glove at 2: to score the first Avalanche goal of the postseason. Before MacKinnon's goal was full announced in the arena, Toews doubled up Colorado's lead 2-0. The defenseman jetted up the ice, drove to the net and beat Rittich far side and past his stick.
When Nashville was awarded its first power play of the game - and had the opportunity to shift the momentum - the Avs continued their dominance and countered with a shorthanded goal from Cogliano. The veteran intercepted a Nashville passing sequence in the low slot and tucked his backhand past Rittich to extend Colorado's lead 3-0 at 8:30.
Colorado's avalanche of goals continued as Makar made a shifty move past Nashville's Tanner Jeannot at the blueline, drove to the net, went forehand-to-backhand and banked his shot off Rittich's helmet to bump Colorado's lead 4-0 at 12:15. The first-period scoring didn't end there as the Avs made it 5-0 at 15:04. Two defenseman pinched on a Nazem Kadri zone entry, which allowed him to play Lehkonen all alone in the slot. Lehkonen walked in and fired off a quick shot short side of Rittich to end his night between the pipes.
While the play leveled out on both sides in the second period, intensities heightened. Even as the chippy game was exchanged, the Avalanche took advantage of their fourth power play of the night after the Predators took a too-many-men penalty at 14:04. Colorado's extra-man unit went to work and benefitted from having Landeskog back in his office at the net-front as the Avs captain redirected a pass from MacKinnon to further his team's lead 6-0.
Late in the second period, the Predators robbed Kuemper of the shutout at 18:32 as Bowen Byram took a cross-checking penalty at 18:32. Roman Josi unleashed a slap shot from distance which Kuemper made the initial stop on, but the rebound kicked out to Duchee where he scored on the exposed net eight seconds into Byram's penalty.
The Avalanche restored their six-goal lead six minutes into the final frame as Samuel Girard tee'd up MacKinnon at the blueline. MacKinnon unleashed his long-range slap shot past Ingram for his second goal of the game at 6:03 to put Colorado up 7-1. Despite the skewed score, the Predators fully let up. Duchene scored his second of the night to trim Nashville's deficit down 7-2 as he executed a backhand-to-forehand move and lofted his shot over Kuemper's glove at 12:26.
IN NET:
After going 0-0-2 in the regular season against Nashville, Kuemper came up with an assertive performance as he played in his first playoff game since 2020 and made 23 saves.
Kuemper came up with an extraordinary save in the first period when the Colorado held a 4-0 lead as he sprawled out and reached his arm to hold off a look from Michael McCarron with just under seven minutes left in the opening frame.
Following a light workload of just six shots in the first period, Kuemper was solid in the second period and allowed only one power-play goal.
In the final period, Kuemper only faced eight shots and only allowed the breakaway goal.
NOTEWORTHY:
NEXT GAME:
The Avalanche and the Predators continue the First-Round series on Thursday night at Ball Arena with a 7:30 p.m. MT puck drop.
