*Photo from NBC Sports*
Colorado leads series 1-0
Game one between the Colorado Avalanche and the Vegas Golden Knights was supposed to be the start of a close battle of a series. If game one was any indication of how the series is actually going to go, it won’t be close.
Gabe Landeskog scored twice, Nathan MacKinnon scored twice, and the Avalanche routed the Golden Knights with a commanding 7-1 win Sunday night.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said "I love the way our team played tonight, right away, out of the gate, skating, relentless puck pressure, great commitment to our checking game, capitalizing on our chances. I thought the top line set the tone once again, but our whole team was involved and playing well and skating well.”
The top line of MacKinnon, Landeskog, and Mikko Rantanen did indeed set the tone. Rantanen had a goal and an assist, MacKinnon had two goals and one assist, and Landeskog had two goals and one assist. Cale Makar also scored and had 3 assists.
Philipp Grubauer was a force in net for the Avalanche, getting the win in goal. Grubauer saved 24 of 25 shots, for a .960 save percentage, keeping the potent Knights offense at bay.
Landeskog said "We’ve played a lot of hockey, and I think our coaches did a good job of managing our rest throughout the week and making sure we were ready to go. We knew they were coming off a 7 game series and had one day of rest coming into altitude, so we wanted to make sure we had a fast start, and we did.”
After Marc-Andre Fleury starred in net for the first round for Vegas, coach Pete Deboer made a change and sent Robin Lehner in to start game one, his first appearance since May 10. Lehner allowed all 7 goals, saving 30 of 37 shots.
Deboer said "Well, obviously, you know, you’re not feeling good about yourself. But I think we have to put it in perspective, and playoffs are about having short memories and getting ready for the next one.”
There was also some controversy in the game over some questionable hits. Colorado’s Ryan Graves hit Vegas’s Mattias Janmark hard in the face in the second period, and there was initially a high sticking penalty assessed, but eventually overturned.
The bigger controversy came in the middle of the 3rd period. Vegas’s Ryan Reaves cross checked Grubauer after play was stopped, and slammed Graves into a referee’s knee, and then down to the ice, and kept punching him. Reaves was assessed a 5 minute major, a game misconduct, and 9 total penalty minutes, giving Colorado a 9 minute power play, which they scored on to make it 7-1.
Game 2 is on Wednesday night in Colorado, with Grubauer starting for Colorado, and no decision yet from Deboer on whether Lehner or Fleury will be starting.
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