The Colorado Avalanche could not have started the Stanley Cup playoffs any better.
The Avs came out red-hot, scored five first period goals and rolled to a 7-2 win over the Nashville Predators in game one of the first round of the postseason.
Colorado's offense was firing on all cylinders from the opening faceoff.
The Avs buried Nashville goaltender David Rittich by scoring three goals in the first eight minutes and 30 seconds of the game. Nathan MacKinnon got things started at 2:20 and then 42 seconds later, Devon Toews made it 2-0.
Andrew Cogliano put home a short-handed goal at the 8:30 mark. But the Avs were far from finished.
Cale Makar's goal at 12:15 made it 4-0 Colorado before Arturri Lehkonen found the back of the net at 15:04.
The rout was on.
"We talked about it beforehand, coming out with a fast start and playing our game," Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "We ended up getting some scoring chances and we were able to capitalize on a lot of them. Obviously, that led to a big first period for us and we carried that through the rest of the game."
Avs goalie Darcy Kuemper was really good when he had to be, making 23 saves.
MORE ON THE AVS WIN HERE
The Avalanche takes a 1-0 series lead with game two set for Thursday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. MDT at Ball Arena in downtown Denver.
Postgame comments from Avs forward Gabriel Landeskog (first to speak) and defenseman Cale Makar.
Postgame comments from Avs head coach Jared Bednar.
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