As expected the Edmonton Oilers and Colorado Avalanche put on a show in the opening game of the Western Conference Finals.

The 'Avs took game one by a score of 8-6 and while there was plenty of offense to go around the defense was at a premium. Simply put, there was no defense.

Each club got contributions from its big guns and the NHL got what they hoped for with this matchup - two gifted goal-scoring teams going shot for shot, goal for goal. The 14 combined goals were the second-most in one game in Conference Finals history.

The game was a wild 80's style shootout as I had predicted.

J.T. Compher stayed hot with another pair of goals. Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon, and Gabriel Landeskog each had a goal and an assist.

Cale Makar broke out of his mini-funk with a goal and three assists. He had just three assists against the Blues in the second round.

Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists. Evander Kane and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had a goal and an assist for the opposition.

The game even featured four different goalies.

Mike Smith started for EDM and allowed six goals on 25 before he was replaced by backup Mikko Koskinen. Koskinen made 20 saves of his own.

Colorado's starter Darcy Kuemper made 13 saves before leaving the game midway through the second period with an "upper-body" injury. He took a couple of pretty good shots to the head before finally leaving the ice. His status is uncertain for game 2 and beyond.

Pavel Francouz came into the game and made 18 saves in relief.

Edmonton's porous defense was not all that shocking but Colorado's effort of D was a bit alarming TBH. I did notice some of the same defensive lapses in the St. Louis series. By the end of game five Colorado's D looked more like traffic cones at a construction site than an NHL defense. I saw similar things in game one. Noticeably Makar was caught flat-footed in front of his own net a few times.

Way too much puck watching going on.

So much so that the game's greatest offense player, Wayne Gretzky, was calling for both teams to play defense - any kind of defense. During the second intermission on the TNT broadcast a dumbfounded Great One said the following:

"I wish I could've played this kind of playoff hockey in my day," Gretzky said. “I was the most offensive player that maybe ever lived, but you gotta play defense, man, that's how you win Stanley Cups."

I'm right there with you Wayne.

Lastly, Makar's goal was a bit of a headscratcher. Val Nichushkin appeared to be caught offside as Makar carried the puck into the zone and scored.

The Oilers challenged for offside and it looked like a cut and dry case. However, Makar was ruled to have lost control of the puck as he entered the zone, which allowed Nichushkin to tag up and get back onside.

Makar does not touch the puck again until Nichushkin tags up. They both then enter the zone. This is deemed onside! pic.twitter.com/ZUew4T0FUt

— Tim Peel (@TimCPeel20) June 1, 2022

It was just another wild moment in a wild game.

Who else can't wait for game 2?

Thanks for reading,
Steve

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