Led by Cal McCar’s superb play, the Colorado Avalanche completed a sweep of the first-round series with a 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators Monday night at Bridgestone Arena.
This is the fourth time in its history that Avalanche has won a series in four games, while the Predators are closing in for the first time in their history.
“It was the hardest game for us, we made mistakes and they took advantage of that,” said Avalanche coach Jared Bednar.
Makar, who scored nine points in this short series, Score a great goalIn addition to Valeri Nichushkin’s winning goal set the match at 12:02 in the third half.
“It was a lot of passion. We slipped 3-2 in the third, and the guys responded. It wasn’t our best night. We’ve been better in the previous three meetings, but the result is satisfactory,” McKinnon stated at the end of the meeting.
Colorado took the lead when Andrei Burakovsky’s shot went into the net and was defended by Conor Ingram. The striker’s wrist shot went out of the net and the referees had to be reviewed to confirm the first goal of the match.
One minute before the break, Yakov Trinin then equalized by one timer with a perfect pass from Colton Seasons into the hole.
It was still a 1-1 tie in the middle frame when Cal Makar broke the tie with a fine shot from the wrist. Avalanche took a 2-1 lead over Makar’s third goal in the playoffs. The 23-year-old Makar ranks fourth of all-time among defenders, averaging just over a point per game in the playoffs.
Just over three minutes after Makar’s goal, Yakov Trinin Draw the game again His second goal in the game at the end of the third half. The 25-year-old Russian beat Pavel Francoz with a fine shot as he turned around to get everyone back to square one.
At the beginning of the third, Philip Forsberg He called himself to the score which gave his team a 3-2 lead. He found the Swede pushed by Matthias Ekholm to the back of the net to secure Nashville’s first lead in the series.
Colorado provided the furious response to Devon Toews, who used his wrist shot to tie the game 3-3 with his third goal of the series.
Makar distinguished himself once again by sending a perfect pass to Valeri Nichushkin who did not miss such an opportunity to give Avalanche the lead midway through the third half.
Nathan McKinnon completed the scoring with a blank net, having scored at least one goal in all of his team’s matches in the series.
He was injured in the third inning, and goalkeeper Darcy Comber missed the match. However, his coach Jared Bednar said he is doing well.
Although he missed his team’s morning practice, Gabriel Landskog was on the Colorado team.