The Colorado Avalanche were amazed in Game 3 of their series against the Arizona Coyotes, the small 11th seed that could, when the Coyotes managed to rub off a 4-2 victory over the highly favored Colorado roster.
But on Monday afternoon, the Avalanche returned with a vengeance to push the Coyotes to the brink of elimination.
Six different Avalanche skaters – including Nazem Kadri, who twice lit the lamp – were able to defeat a combination of Antti Raanta and Darcy Kuemper, by routing Arizona with a 7-1 victory that led the series to a 3-1 record pressed in favor of Colorado. It took just a combination of 30 shots for Colorado to place their morbid high score, and finally opened up the flooding on the previously impossible to beat Kuemper before making quick work of the back-from-injury Raanta. Add to that a cunning offensive performance for Arizona, which saw the Coyotes take just fifteen shots throughout the entire game, and it was an almost painfully running performance in every possible aspect.
The teams will get a day off before returning to action, but Wednesday could be the day that Colorado finally gets their ticket to the next round of points – meaning they could potentially get a lot of rest before facing their next opponent.
THE RUNDOWN
Colorado looked to be the better team from the get-go, with Matt Nieto scoring his first playoff goal just 14 minutes into the first period on a well-executed cross-ice give-and-go with Matt Calvert:
Oliver Ekman-Larsson let Nieto come under him on the blue line, and a pass to the California-born winger caused Jason Demers to confront a two-on-one from Nieto and Calvert. Coyotes goalie Darcy Kuemper struggled to arrive in time for Calvert’s pass back to Nieto, who was able to tip it over Kuemper’s left path to give the Avalanche their first lead of the game.
From there, things would only get better for the Avalanche, while the Coyotes would desperately struggle to keep even their heads above water.
It was 3-0 by the end of the first period, with a couple of goals from Nazem Kadri who came on at 16:07 and 19:39 on a few power plays. Things did not get much better from there for Arizona; Joonas Donskoi would manage to get his third goal of the playoffs midway through the second period, and the Coyotes’ only goal would come while the team still struggled to shoot double digits in shots at the end of forty minutes .
The only goal Arizona could not achieve was through defender Jakob Chychrun, who showed rare signs of life for his club while on a power play thanks to a powerful shot from the point:
Arizona would try to shake things up in the third period by swapping goaltender Darcy Kuemper for his tandem partner Antti Raanta, but the team’s collective bad play for him – and Colorado’s relentless offensive pressure – made it difficult for the Finns. reliever to get his feet under him after missing the first weeks of postseason play for an injury.
Overall, Raanta allowed three goals in the final period of play on just seven total shots. But perhaps the most exciting goal he allowed for Avalanche fans was it by Cale Makar just nineteen seconds into the third period:
In a fantastic solo effort, Makar stroked Arizona from the puck back through Colorado’s own blue line and hit Arizona’s entire on-ice lineup to score on the first shot that Raanta faced in the postseason.
Matt Calvert would score his own first goal of the post season just two minutes later, joining Makar and Nieto in earning his first tally of the summer, before Mikko Rantanen scored his own elite goal in a late-night power play period managed to make the score 7-1. Arizona would make a handful of narrow efforts to get another point on the board, but it ultimately failed to have a major impact when all was said and done and skated their second ‘home’ game with one of the biggest thrashings from the postseason to now.
TAKEAWAYS
Arizona’s offense has fared well so far, but Philipp Grubauer’s ability to stay focused during a game where his saves were sporadic and unpredictable still deserves a quick round of applause. His only allowed goal was on a powerful shot from Chychrun, and he failed to score any ‘slick’ goals that could easily have come through forcing so much of the game to stand.
However, the real highlight of the game was how round everyone looked in Colorado – even when Cale Makar just had an ‘okay’ game in terms of flash and pizzas. The fact that everyone was offensive, defensive and physical was a sign that the Avalanche is truly collaborating as the kind of unit that can go until the Stanley Cup Final. Take a look at Nathan MacKinnon’s memory of Christian Fischer of Arizona not to be fooled by the Mile High lineup:
It’s hard to get a real read for who was at their best in Colorado because everyone in Arizona was at their worst. But overall, it’s hard to complain about a performance that grabbed such a decisive win for the team – and they just put one more win away from the second round.
