If you didn’t make it through the whole second series Game 1 matchup between the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild, boy, you missed a thriller of a game. It was filled with a lot of cheers but plenty of “what in the world?” moments.
In a game that finished 9-6, the Avalanche took the comeback away from the Wild, just like we expect Colorado to do. Some would say that both teams refused to go down easily.
Though casual hockey viewers would look at the score and laugh at the fact that Colorado put up nine goals against the Wild, you have to look at both sides of the ice. The Wild refused to go down easily, too. That honestly is what playoff hockey should be like.
On the TNT postgame broadcast, former NHLer Anson Carter had perhaps the quote of the night. He stated that both teams refused to die. That was a brilliant way of putting that game. A lot of teams would have folded after a 3-0 deficit, but the Wild kept the Avs on their toes the entire game.
The Avalanche had a much easier opponent in Round 1 with the Los Angeles Kings. This is a whole other animal. The Kings were like a puppy, while the Wild are like, well, a wild animal.
Scott Wedgewood wasn’t at his best but the Wild did make some pretty nice shots. There were a couple of times where the Avalanche defense failed to do its job, but with Cale Makar missing almost the entire first period, that is to be expected. The dropoff from Makar and everybody else is insane, but that’s no disrespect to his teammates. The Avs do have some quality defensemen for sure, but not as good as Makar.
the game felt pretty good after the Avalanche went up 3-0. Surely the Avalanche officially wrapped the game up early with that margin, right? No, absolutely not. Once the Avalanche made it 4-2, Minnesota climbed back and tied the game.
However, heading into the third period, the game was tied again at five apiece. Now, the final outcome would be decided in the final frame, with Colorado being victorious.
Going forward, I would love to see the Avalanche play better defensively. I want them to lock down the Wild so that they can’t get off crazy shots. I want a healthy Makar so that the defensive structure has an easier time.
Offensively, I want to see the Avalanche continue to do exactly what was working for them. Artturi Lehkonen gave the Avs a 3-0 lead with a power play goal. That will be something for them to build off of heading into Game 2 of the series.
The Avalanche had nearly everybody chip in in some way on Sunday night. Of the nine goals, only one player had a multi-goal performance: Makar, which is hilarious since he missed almost the whole first period.
This game proved that Colorado doesn’t have to rely on just their top scorers. They can dominate at times with their depth pieces, as Sam Malinski, Nazem Kadri, Nick Blankenburg, and Jack Drury each had a chance to celebrate after a goal.
As for the goaltending, I don’t think there will be a change on either side. It should continue to be Scott Wedgewood vs Jesper Wallstedt. Now, if either continues to have a bad performance down the line, maybe that’s when their team would make a change.
In the end, the Avalanche were the team that was left standing. They were the team that refused to die.
Kudos to the Wild for a great effort. Onto Tuesday night, Game 2.
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