Another game, another blowout win for the Avalanche.
It’s on to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs following another 7-1 wipeout of the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday in Game 5 of the best-of-7 series at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the hub city for the Western Conference.
The Avalanche will get a few days off now, having dispatched the gritty but overmatched Coyotes, who gave them fits in the first three games behind goalie Darcy Kuemper before wilting under a relentless attack and power play.
Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and two assists, Nazem Kadri scored twice and Philipp Grubauer made 23 saves.
While Kuemper received plenty of well-deserved credit for his play against Nashville in the Qualifying round and in the first three games of this series, Grubauer won all four of his starts against Arizona while allowing a total of four goals. He went 1-0-1 in the round-robin portion of this postseason. The second-seeded Avalanche will play the second-lowest remaining seed in the second round.
“We feel like our team has arrived,… said MacKinnon, who had 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in the series, and has a playoff-leading 13 points (four goals, nine assists) along with an eight-game point streak. “We haven’t won anything, but winning this series, we’re a hungry group, a group that really cares about one another.
“We have great chemistry, there’s a good vibe to our team, so it’s great to get this playoffs off on the right foot. We played hard in all five games and we’re ready for whoever we play in the second round.…
********************
Western Conference first round results: Game 1, Avalanche 3, Arizona 0 Game 2, Avalanche 3, Arizona 2 Game 3, Arizona 4, Avalanche 2 Game 4, Avalanche 7, Arizona 1 Game 5, Avalanche 7, Arizona 1
********************
The 14 goals by the Avalanche were the most in the final two games of a playoff series since Los Angeles scored 18 (9-4 and 9-6) against Calgary in the Smythe Division semifinals in 1993.
“The last couple games we just had really good starts,… coach Jared Bednar said. “The power play capitalized and our big guns were firing on all cylinders. It was almost a mirror image tonight of the other night.… J.T. Compher had a goal and an assist, Samuel Girard and Nikita Zadorov scored, and Andre Burakovsky, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen each had two assists.
The Coyotes took three penalties in the first period and the Avalanche scored on two of them.
Kadri opened the scoring at 4:39, scoring from the slot off a pass from Landeskog, and Girard made it 2-0 at 8:29 with a shot through a Valeri Nichushkin screen.
Kadri extended the lead to 3-0 at 18:32 when he beat Kuemper five-hole on a breakaway.
“Obviously a great start,… said Kadri, who had seven points (five goals, two assists) in the series and has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in eight games. “The power-play opportunities helped. Just looking to stay hot. We just kept it simple and played the way we want to play.…
Kadri’s four power-play goals against Arizona matched the franchise record for power-play goals in a series, and he has a playoff-leading five power-play goals, the most since Joe Sakic had five during Colorado’s Stanley Cup championship run in 2001.
The Avalanche scored three more goals in the second period to put the game away.
MacKinnon scored twice 58 seconds apart, converting on a one-timer from the right circle at 9:51 off a Rantanen pass and a power-play goal at 10:49 for a 5-0 lead.
“I got a good bounce on the first one and I just tried to keep shooting it,… he said. “Not everything was going in, but as a line I think we played the game in a great way, not just scoring goals but both ways we were solid. Obviously it was nice to get a few.… Zadorov made it 6-0 at 18:16 when he redirected in a pass from MacKinnon.
Grubauer lost his shutout at 6:51 of the third period on a goal by Clayton Keller, and Compher closed out the scoring at 15:19.
“It’s been amazing to watch,… Grubauer said. “I think we found our rhythm here and now we got to make sure we move forward with the same effort in the next round.…
Avalanche forward Vladislav Namestnikov missed his third game in a row with an undisclosed injury. He was hurt in a collision with MacKinnon in Game 2. Now he’s got more time to recover.