After Colorado’s low-scoring, first-round sweep of Los Angeles to a matchup against Minnesota everyone figured would , Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog wondered aloud whether whether games against the Wild would end with scores like 2-1.
鈥淚t鈥檒l be a tight-checking series, I鈥檓 sure,鈥� Landeskog said then. 鈥淲e鈥檙e ready and prepared for whatever.鈥�
No one was prepared what happened in the series opener Sunday night, a show-stopping, with a score when goaltenders wore a fraction of the equipment they do now and got lit up regularly.
This one was less about the goalies being bad and more of a sign about how hockey is being played now. Coaches let skilled players take more chances and there is high-end talent 鈥� 15 Olympians dressed for the opener 鈥� all over the place in this showdown between championship contenders.
Stanley Cup-winning coach Bruce Cassidy pointed specifically to the elite offensive defensemen involved, headlined by Colorado’s Cale Makar and Minnesota’s Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber. Makar and Hughes were among the 14 goal-scorers, the most in a playoff game since 1982.
鈥淧ersonnel drives that as much as anything,鈥� Cassidy said Monday. 鈥淧layers, they shoot the puck better now. They鈥檙e finding different ways to score maybe than a little bit in the past. They can all bring it. Just better offensive skill.鈥�
Coaches are more forgiving in the name of making plays, Cassidy acknowledged, because 鈥渋t鈥檚 not fun trying to win 2-1 every night.鈥� But Minnesota’s John Hynes and Colorado’s Jared Bednar will make adjustments that will likely keep the goal total down in Game 2 on Tuesday night (8 p.m. EDT, ESPN).
“We probably all felt there was a lot of scattered things going on throughout the game, but I do think there鈥檚 some things for us that we were a little out of sorts,” Hynes said. 鈥淚 feel like our team, some of the things that we gave up, are fixable.鈥�
They can’t fix the fact that the Avalanche have Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas and so much firepower. Even depth defenseman Nick Blankenburg, for insurance and only in the lineup because Josh Manson is injured, scored in Game 1.
The Avalanche, whose 233 points from the blue line led all teams during the regular season, got five of their goals from defensemen. They鈥檙e just the third team in NHL playoff history to do that and the first since Los Angeles in 1992.
Fourteen of the 15 goals came with a goalie in net, including the Wild’s Jesper Wallstedt allowing eight on 42 shots. After a season in which the average leaguewide save percentage of .896 , there was something to Wallstedt and Colorado’s Scott Wedgewood not being at their best. Wallstedt said the puck seemed to have eyes.
鈥淚 think if they put them both in and you played the exact same game with the same chances it would be closer to like 5-3.” Cassidy said. 鈥淭hey found their way in. They weren鈥檛 bad goals, but they didn鈥檛 make a lot of saves that they typically do, both in the same night. It鈥檚 kind of a one-off.鈥�
Each of these teams had close to an even split of duties in net during the regular season but has so far stuck to one guy in the playoffs. The Avalanche in 2022 became just the fourth team in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup during the title run.
鈥淵ou do it all year. Why wouldn鈥檛 you rotate?鈥� said Cassidy, who started two goaltenders coaching Vegas to the Cup in 2023, though that was because of injury. 鈥淚t would make some sense to rotate in the playoffs, and not too many teams do it. I don鈥檛 know. That鈥檚 the one thing that hasn鈥檛 changed much is you鈥檙e going with one guy and he鈥檚 the guy, so it鈥檒l be interesting to see how it plays out.鈥�
Players were quick to take the blame for the rapid-scoring affair, and it’s fair to say the game became so entertaining in part because of how wide open it was.
鈥淪ome of those details were lacking from the start of the game and all the way throughout,鈥� Bednar said, acknowledging the Avs were prepared for the Wild to attack off the rush. 鈥淚t was more D-zone coverage, but it starts with your rush coverage and then your arrivals, so you鈥檙e organized.鈥�
Colorado’s first three goals came over a span of 121 seconds, and Minnesota’s response was two goals separated by just over a minute 鈥� all in the first period. After Blankenburg restored some cushion, the Wild got three in a row.
Cassidy thinks the Avalanche could play six more games like that. Minnesota, not so much.
鈥淲ith a team like Colorado, they play to score the next goal a lot,鈥� Cassidy said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 who they are. They鈥檙e an offensive juggernaut and they鈥檝e got three lines and four, five defensemen that can bring it, so why not play that way? That鈥檚 how they鈥檙e constructed.鈥�
Even with that, Colorado defenseman Brett Kulak, who helped Edmonton make consecutive trips to the final, knows he and his teammates need to be better moving forward to have sustained success.
鈥淵ou just got to laugh about it a little bit now 鈥� we鈥檙e able to anyways, that we we came out on the right side of it,鈥� Kulak said. 鈥淪o, we鈥檙e happy with that but certainly not a recipe to win through the playoffs and win the Stanley Cup.鈥�
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AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.
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