Defenses reverse roles as Avs defeat Wild, 9-6
Colorado Avalanche's Cale Makar (8) brings the puck across the blue line against Los Angeles Kings during the first round of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Sunday. (AP Photo)
DENVER (AP) — A tight game was expected. A game featuring 15 goals between two of the top defensive teams? “If you scripted that one,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said, “I don’t know how you do. I can’t explain it.” Cale Makar scored twice in the third period after returning from an earlier injury and the Avalanche overcame blowing a three-goal lead to beat the Minnesota Wild 9-6 on Sunday night in a wacky Game 1 of their second-round playoff series. Makar, who left in the first period with an undisclosed ailment, scored his second goal of the game with 2:54 remaining to make it 8-6. Nathan MacKinnon added an empty-net goal with 2:08 remaining to seal it. This was the 10th playoff game ever with at least 15 combined goals and just the second since 1994. There were five goals in each period. “Just a weird game,” Makar said. “I don’t think we’re going to see that again. It’s probably a one-off, but glad we were able to stick with it and find a way to win.” Who figured this? A high-scoring affair between two of the stingiest teams in the league with two elite goaltenders. There were 14 different players who notched a goal in a game that turned into a track meet. It’s tied for the second-most in a playoff game. “It’s nice to be able to win games like this,” captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “Not necessarily a coach’s dream or a player’s dream — we don’t want to give up six goals. It’s good to win this one but we’ve got lots of things to clean up.” The Avalanche improved to 72-1 since moving to Colorado in 1995-96 when leading a playoff game by three or more goals. The lone loss was Game 5 against St. Louis in a season they went on to win the Stanley Cup. A well-rested Colorado team led 3-0 with 6:47 left in the first period. But the Wild steadily climbed back and took a 5-4 lead on a short-handed goal from Marcus Foligno late in the second. Devon Toews tied at 5-apiece in the second period. It was just the fourth Game 1 in playoff history with both teams scoring five or more goals through two periods. “Listen, the game was helter-skelter,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “We lost the game. There are certain areas we’ve got to clean up and be ready to clean up. If you lose a game, you’ve got to take the lessons out of it, move on.” Both goalies struggled, but made some timely saves, too. Scott Wedgewood, who had the league’s best goals-against average this season, allowed one more goal than he did in the entire sweep of the Los Angeles Kings in Round 1. He made 30 saves while Jesper Wallstedt stopped 34 shots. “He’s great. He’s going to bounce back,” Marcus Foligno said of Wallstedt. “He’ll be fine next game. He’s a beast. This wasn’t on him. I mean, there’s a lot of things, (but) we got to play a little bit faster for him.” Game 2 is Tuesday night in Denver. The Wild were without forward Joel Eriksson Ek and defenseman Jonas Brodin. They’ve been ruled out of Tuesday’s game as well. Makar took a scary hit along the boards from Foligno early in the first period. The Avalanche defenseman’s right leg flew into the air before falling to the ice. Makar tested out his skating with some twirls at the end of the first and returned for the second. He had an assist on Nick Blankenburg’s goal. “I was just trying to get back and feel good,” Makar said. “It’s not fun when you kind of tweak something, but it happens. Got to be ready for it. Had to check a couple things out, make sure it was good to go.” CANADIENS 2, LIGHTNING 1 TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Montreal Canadiens made the most of their limited opportunities. Alex Newhook broke a tie with 8:53 left and Montreal — with only nine shots on goal — outlasted the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 7 on Sunday night to end the thrilling first-round series. The Canadiens will face the Buffalo Sabres in the second round after finishing off their first series victory since losing the Stanley Cup Final to Tampa Bay in 2021. Game 1 is Wednesday night in Buffalo. Rookie goaltender Jakub Dobes made 28 saves and Nick Suzuki got his first goal of the series for Montreal. The Canadiens are the first team to win a playoff game with fewer than 10 shots on goal since shots were first tracked in the 1959-60 season. “Sometimes you win the game and not the score,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “When it’s Game 7, there’s no moral victory.” Each game of the series was decided by one goal and four went to overtime. The score was tied or within one goal for all but six minutes in the seven games. “It’s a tough building to play in, it’s a chaotic environment out there,” Suzuki said. “We’ve been a good road team all season. We knew we had to come in here and anything can happen in a Game 7.” The Lightning were eliminated in the first round for the fourth straight season after falling two wins short of a Stanley Cup three-peat in 2022. Tampa Bay’s tough defense held the Canadiens without a shot for nearly 27 minutes from the first period into the third and just four through two periods. Brandon Hagel made an outstanding, sliding stick save with an open net in the final minute but the Lightning couldn’t get the tying goal during a 6-on-5 and 6-on-4 for the final six seconds. Montreal got a couple lucky bounces to score twice on its first eight shots on goal. After Lane Hutson fired a slap shot that went wide and bounced back out, Newhook backhanded the puck out of the air and in off Andrei Vasilevskiy’s pad and his backside. “Great hand-eye coordination by Newy,” Suzuki said. “He’s been a big-game player. I’m definitely happy for him.” Playing in front of their 461st consecutive sellout crowd and hundreds more fans watching from Thunder Alley outside Benchmark International Arena, the Lightning lost for the 11th time in their last 13 playoff games at home, including three times in this series. “You can’t lose three at home,” Hagel said. The Canadiens didn’t have a shot on net in the second period despite two power-play chances. They became the first team to have zero shots in a playoff period since Pittsburgh in Game 1 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals against Nashville. Dominic James tipped in Charle-Edouard D’Astous’ one-timer from just inside the blue line to tie it at 1 on a power play in the second period. Suzuki opened the scoring 1:21 left in the first. After scoring 29 goals in the regular season, Suzuki needed a lucky bounce to get one. His redirection of Kaiden Guhle’s slap shot was heading wide but the puck hit Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser and went in. Montreal’s Martin St. Louis, a Hockey Hall of Famer whose No. 26 is retired by the Lightning, became the fifth player to appear in a Game 7 for a team and coach against them in another.