OK, everyone who expected the Avalanche to bring this playoff series back to Denver raise your hands.

Yeah, right.

But here we are, getting ready for Game 6 on Sunday at the Pepsi Center following the Avalanche’s come-from-behind 2-1 win against Nashville on Friday at Bridgestone Arena.

The Predators remain in the driver’s seat with a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven first-round series, and it’s hard to fathom them blowing it by losing three games in a row, especially with Game 7 at home if the Avalanche avoid being eliminated again on Sunday.

Then again, who could have predicted a 44-save performance from third-string goalie Andrew Hammond – aka the ‘Hamburglar’ -- in his second NHL start of the season and first in the playoffs in three years?

Regardless of what happens the rest of the way, full marks to the Avalanche for what has been a remarkable season and postseason up to now.

Nick Bonino scored Nashville’s lone goal when the rebound of Mattias Ekholm’s shot hit his foot and caromed into the net for a 1-0 lead with 9:42 left in the third period.

The Avalanche’s top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen came through after that. The trio combined on Landeskog’s tying goal with 4:11 to play.

Then, after Predators goalie Pekka Rinne, a Vezina Trophy finalist, made a save on J.T. Compher on a 2-on-1 rush, Sven Andrighetto converted the rebound with 1:28 left for the 2-1 lead.

Back to Hammond.

That three-team trade with Ottawa and Nashville that general manager Joe Sakic pulled off on Nov. 5, sending Matt Duchene to the Senators, just keeps getting better and better.

The Avalanche wound up with defenseman Samuel Girard, who played 22:21 Friday after missing three games with a lower-body injury, two prospects and three high draft picks.

Oh, and Hammond, who was considered a throw-in at the time.

He spent most of the season in the AHL with Belleville and San Antonio, was recalled for the fifth time March 28 because Semyon Varlamov and Jonathan Bernier were injured, and made 31 saves that night in a 2-1 loss to Philadelphia after traveling that day.

There’s no way anyone could have imagined in November that Hammond would be thrust into action in a playoff game to determine whether the Avalanche season would end or continue.

That was and remains the case, assuming Bernier can’t go Sunday because of the lower-body injury he sustained in the second period of Game 4.

“(Hammond) was just so calm and steady all night long, and the one they do get in at the end, it's a tough bounce and a good rebound shot and it goes in off their skate," Landeskog told reporters. "But even after that, he is so calm and just keeps working, keeps playing. With a 2-1 lead there with a minute and a half left, they found some scoring chances and he was just so solid. It's fun to see."

"I said it (Thursday), you want to play meaningful hockey," Hammond told reporters. "When the games mean more, I think I try to take my game to another level ... I was able to do that.

“The guys just kept battling and didn’t waver. Even when we get down 1-0 late, to win it in regulation, I think it speaks to the character we have here and we don’t quit. That’s the same approach I expect in Game 6 now, to keep grinding away."

Should be a heck of a game.



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