The Colorado Avalanche took a 2-0 series lead with their 6-3 win over the Blues in Game 2 of their best-of-7 opening round Stanley Cup Playoff Series, Wednesday night at Ball Arena. The Blues made things interesting in the 3rd period, as a Power Play Goal from Brayden Schenn cut Colorado's lead to 1 with 9:34 left. 4 minutes later Nathan MacKinnon put the Avs up 4-2, but just 46 seconds later, the Blues answered with a Mike Hoffman goal. The Blues emptied the net at 2:18, but Colorado won the face-off, Tyson Jost shoveled a pass to Brandon Saad who spun around and fired a shot from beyond center ice that lit the lamp, and that was a wrap on Game 2. MacKinnon shook free for another empty netter and what would be his 3rd goal of the game with just 12 seconds left to put the game away.
MacKinnon now has 7 points in the first 2 games, 5 of them being goals. Donskoi knows how big MacKinnon has been in the post-season, "he’s obviously one of our leading players, like I said before our 1st line has been massive. I know that about him, he usually gets big in the playoffs, and that’s what he’s done here, and that’s great for our team, Donskoi said."
MacKinnon becomes the 3rd fastest player in franchise history to score 60 points in the post-season, reaching the mark in 42 games. Peter Stastny did it 40 games, and Mac's boss, GM Joe Sakic got there in 41 games.
The Avs have to be poised to lose forward Nazem Kadri who's game misconduct, 5-minute major for a shot to the head of Blues Defenseman Justin Faulk, not only got him sent off, and set up the Schenn goal, it also almost certainly means he'll likely miss time to serve a suspension.
Head Coach Jared Bednar said postgame he didn't see all of the angles of the hit, but acknowledged the league would look at it. If Kadri can't got, veteran Carl Soderberg could be thrust into action with either the 3rd or 4th line. Bednar also said he wasn't happy with his team's effort for the last 30 minutes or so, "I loved our first, liked the start of our 2nd, but then we stopped working and stopped checking...it is what it is, the guys found a way to get the job done."
The series now shifts to St. Louis for Games 3 and 4. Puck Drop Friday, 7:30 from Enterprise Center.
One other note, it felt liked a packed house for the 2nd straight game, and the crowd was very, very loud. But the Avs fans had at least one fan in attendance that got a pretty big rise out of the crowd when they showed him late in the 2nd period.