DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon scored a goal and assisted on two more as the Colorado Avalanche rolled through Minnesota’s newest netminder, Filip Gustavsson, on their way to a 5-2 win over the Wild on Tuesday night, grabbing a 2-0 lead in the second-round playoff series.
The Avalanche have now won six straight postseason games, which ties the 2021 squad for the franchise’s longest win streak to begin the playoffs.
This game featured a little more defense than the 9-6 eruption in Game 1. The 14 goals for the Avalanche are the most in the first two games of a playoff series since the Calgary Flames had 15 against the Los Angeles Kings in 1988.
Martin Necas, Gabriel Landeskog and Nicolas Roy all scored their first goals of the series. Valeri Nichushkin added an empty-netter in the closing seconds. Twelve different Avalanche players have scored in the series, an NHL record for the first two games of a series.
“It’s great. I mean, right now, that’s what you need,” defenseman Cale Makar said. “You need everybody contributing and we’re finding ways to do that. There’s a lot of jelling minds right now.”
Scott Wedgewood made 29 saves on a night where he drew contact — he was knocked into the net on one occasion — and took a puck off the mask, leading to some quick repairs. It was a bounceback performance after giving up six goals in Game 1.
“He’s been unbelievable for us,” Roy said. “You can feel the confidence he’s got and it bleeds through the lineup.”
The Wild went with Gustavsson in net after Jesper Wallstedt gave up eight goals in the 9-6 loss. Gustavsson got off to a rocky start by giving up goals on the opening two shots of the first period and the first shot of the second. He settled down and finished with 18 saves.
“Just fine. Nothing special,” Gustavsson said of how he felt Tuesday. “Not bad, not good.”
The series shifts to Minnesota for Game 3 on Saturday.
The Avalanche are 18-2 in best-of-seven playoff series when winning the first two games since moving to Denver in 1995-96.
Kirill Kaprizov and Marcus Johansson had goals for the Wild. Tempers flared in the third, with Parker Kelly getting into a scuffle with Matt Boldy and hitting the linesman with his glove. No penalties were called.
Colorado weathered a late rush by the Wild after they pulled Gustavsson for an extra skater late in the game. Boldy took a big hit from MacKinnon along the boards.
The game boiled down to special teams. The Avalanche were 2 of 5 on the power play while the Wild finished 0 of 2.
“It’s not good enough,” said Boldy, whose team is missing two big pieces with forward Joel Eriksson Ek and defenseman Jonas Brodin sidelined by lower-body injuries. “We know that. It’s on us. We’ve got to make adjustments and be way better.”
Necas gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead in the first period but just six seconds later Kaprizov tied it. The six-second gap between the goals was tied for the fifth-fastest two goals by both teams in postseason history, according to NHL Stats.
Landeskog later added a power-play score on a pass from MacKinnon, who notched two assists in the first period for his 21st career multipoint playoff period. He passed Hall of Famer Joe Sakic for the most in franchise history.
“Just excited to play playoff hockey,” said MacKinnon, whose team has scored five or more goals in three straight postseason games for the fifth time in franchise history. “Obviously, the best time of year.”
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