"My first playoff game, so I tried to enjoy it. Obviously it's probably the best fans in the league here almost, after Colorado," Rantanen said of his first Stanley Cup Playoffs outing. "But yeah, it's a special environment to play in."
Eight Colorado skaters played in their first game in the NHL's postseason, including forwards Sven Andrighetto, J.T. Compher, Tyson Jost, Alexander Kerfoot and Rantanen. Three of the Avs' six defensemen also made their playoffs debut; Samuel Girard, David Warsofsky and Nikita Zadorov.
Prior to the game, 14 of the 28 players on Colorado's active roster had never participated in the playoffs, and only six skaters had more than 10 contests of postseason experience.
"I think everybody was excited, I didn't see any pressure on anyone. We played the first 40, and I didn't see anyone who was scared to play or anything," said Rantanen. "We were hungry on the puck, we were forechecking them hard and we had a lot of good chances but (Nashville goalie Pekka) Rinne just had a good game. So, we have to find ways to get pucks by him."
Rantanen was also one of six Colorado skaters who played more than 20 minutes, a group that also included Girard. The 19-year-old rookie blueliner finished the contest with five shot attempts and a blocked shot in 22:07 of ice time.
"I thought [Girard] was great, he was really good," said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. "Charging the puck up the ice, was skating it out of trouble, making plays. He did a lot of good things, that was what we expect from him. Obviously he could be better on that one goal, but he was an impact player for us last night in a positive fashion I thought."
It shouldn't be a surprise that many of the Avalanche players do not have much experience in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Colorado ended the 2017-18 campaign as the NHL's youngest team (25.8 average age) and opened the postseason as the youngest club as well.
The youth on the team got the Avs started though as 22-year-old Zadorov quieted the Nashville fans with the opening goal of the best-of-seven series, sending a wrist shot from the right circle past Rinne early in the first period.
"I think we had a better start than we could hope for, I mean for how young we are," said 22-year-old Nathan MacKinnon, who played in his eighth career playoff game. "We handled it really well. I thought we got on the attack, we were aggressive, we weren't second guessing ourselves, which is encouraging.
"I thought we played a strong game. They are a really deep team, they just kind of kept coming at us. I thought it could have went either way in Game 1, but that doesn't really matter. They scored five, we got two, so hopefully tomorrow afternoon we can get the win."
The Avalanche will look for its first victory of the series in Game 2 on Saturday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena.
