The Colorado Avalanche are one game away from the Western Conference Final.
After falling behind by a goal on Monday, Colorado bounced back to beat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 in Game 4 at Grand Casino Arena, shifting the series back to Denver with a commanding 3-1 series lead. It was the exact type of response the team needed following a Game 3 loss.
“For me, the biggest change from last game to this game is we were a more determined group,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “To a man, just more determined and committed to playing the right way. I didn’t hate our details last game but I thought that we got outcompeted in that game a little bit. Tonight we kind of swung it back in our favor and guys went to work. Relentless all over the rink — we just looked quicker.”
Nazem Kadri, Ross Colton, and Parker Kelly scored for the Avs, who got two past Wild netminder Jesper Wallstedt in the third period. Nathan MacKinnon and Brock Nelson added empty netters, and Martin Necas had two assists.
The Avalanche gave the nod to Mackenzie Blackwood in goal, and he had an incredible performance. He didn’t see a lot of shots in the first half of the game, but finished the night with 19 saves as Colorado had a 34-21 shot advantage.
“He was great. I think he went in the net and did exactly what I was hoping he would do,” Bednar said.
With the game tied at 2-2, the Avalanche’s fourth line got to work in the offensive zone. Eventually, Jack Drury fed a pass to Kelly from above the circles, and he blasted a one-timer up and over Wallstedt for his first career playoff goal. It couldn’t have come at a better time.
“Doesn’t come as a surprise to us within this locker room,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog said of Kelly’s goal. “We’ve seen it all season.”
The Avalanche came out flying from the opening drop of the puck. They were the hungrier team for most of the night and passed the eye test. It took more than a period and a half for the Wild to find any kind of scoring chances at 5-on-5. But they still got the first goal on the power play on a sequence that could’ve ended up far worse for Colorado.
Forward Michael McCarron hit Josh Manson along the boards. After the hit, the two wrestled each other down to the ice with no penalties called. At the conclusion of the scuffle, Manson appeared to butt-end McCarron around the ear. McCarron argued it to the offical, and it went to a review.
Rather than call it a five-minute major and a game misconduct, the officials gave Manson a double-minor. That meant Manson could stay in the game, rather than play a man down for more than 50 minutes.
The Avs killed off the first two-minute segment. But 39 seconds into the second part, Brock Faber’s point shot was redirected past Mackenzie Blackwood by Danila Yurov. It was his first career playoff goal, giving Minnesota a 1-0 lead that carried into the intermission. The Avalanche outshot them 10-4 in the first frame.
The second was far better for the Avs. Just like the first, they had the jump and were hungrier on the puck. But unlike the first, they were creating far more dangerous opportunities. Jesper Wallstedt made a number of huge saves to keep the Wild ahead.
The Avalanche got their second power play of the night because Yakov Trenin closed his hand on the puck. They wasted very little time to make something of it. Martin Necas knocked Faber off the puck, sent it to Kadri in the slot, and he took not one, but two shots on Wallstedt before beating him clean.
Kadri’s second goal of the playoffs evened the score at 6:08, just seven seconds into the PP. Colorado had a 10-0 shot advantage in the frame before the Wild got their first with a little more than seven minutes remaining. From that point on, Minnesota had eight of nine shots but couldn’t solve Blackwood again. That included another power play the Avs successfully fended off.
Colorado was 3-for-4 on the penalty kill, going a perfect 2-for-2 in four minutes of PK time after the opening goal. The Avalanche also finished 1-for-2 on the power play.
Right before the intermission, an errant puck caught MacKinnon in the face, bloodying Colorado’s superstar center with 1:07 remaining in the middle period. MacKinnon returned for the third after getting cleaned up.
The Avalanche finally got their first road lead of the series in the third. And it came from a new-look line of Brock Nelson, Nic Roy, and Colton. The trio cycled the puck well, with both Roy and Colton battling in the crease, causing havoc for Wallstedt while looking for opportunities to tip pucks.
Eventually, the puck came to Roy, and Colton separated himself from Daemon Hunt and got open for a one-timer behind goal behind the play. It was 2-1 Colorado at the 6:56 mark.
“I was net front, and just tried to kind of push off my guy, and fortunate that [Roy] saw me,” Colton said. “Just an unbelievable pass. It was just up to me to get it in.”
Minnesota didn’t take long to respond. And it came from an unlikely forward in an unlikely situation. Former Av Nico Sturm, on a setup from Quinn Hughes, gave the Wild their first goal at 5-on-5 in two games. And it happened at 9:15.
The Avalanche instantly regained momentum. They had dominant shifts and spent a lot of time in the Wild zone from both the Nelson and MacKinnon lines.
Eventually, the fourth line was the one that found the back of the net. The empty netters both came in the final 33 seconds of regulation.
Good: The Response the Avalanche Needed
This was exactly the type of game the Avs knew they could play, and it’s why they weren’t concerned and didn’t feel like the pressure was on them after Game 3. Aside from a couple of silly penalties that really could’ve hurt them, the Avalanche dominated. They out-hit the Wild throughout the night and made better decisions with the puck.
The pressure now is entirely on Minnesota. They have to win three straight games to keep their season alive — two of which are scheduled to be played in Denver.
Bad: The Depth Is Getting Tested
The bad news came right before puck drop. The team announced that Sam Malinski and Artturi Lehkonen were both out with upper-body injuries. They both took part in morning skate, Malinski was even running PP1 drills without Cale Makar skating. The Avalanche shook up all four of their lines and used several different combinations throughout the night. The depth is very much being tested.
So far, it has responded well.
Kadri’s goal was just his second of the postseason, while the tallies from Colton and Kelly were their first of the playoffs.
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