Well, the Avalanche will play at least one more game at the Pepsi Center, Monday in Game 6 of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series with the San Jose Sharks.
It will be an elimination game, but for which team?
That will be determined Saturday in Game 5 at the SAP Center in San Jose when the Avalanche or Sharks will grab a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Colorado evened the series Thursday with a 3-0 win at the Pepsi Center.
Philipp Grubauer made 32 saves for his first career playoff shutout and the Avalanche got goals from
Nathan MacKinnon, Colin Wilson and
Erik Johnson (an empty-netter).
Here’s my
NHL.com GAME STORY
“We would have dug ourselves a huge hole if we had lost that game, so it was a huge win,” Grubauer said.
The Avalanche still haven’t lost two games in a row since March 11-15 to Carolina and Anaheim, both at home.
Series tied 2-2
All times Mountain Time
G1 – San Jose 5, Avalanche 2
G2 – Avalanche 4, San Jose 3
G3 – San Jose 4, Avalanche 2
G4 – Avalanche 3, San Jose 0
G5 Saturday 8 p.m. -- at San Jose
G6 Monday 8 p.m. – at Pepsi Center
*G7 Wednesday TBD – at San Jose
*If necessary
Coach
Jared Bednar said they’ll have to play their best game yet to win Saturday and come home with the chance for the Avalanche to advance to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2002.
“We were the desperate team last night and we needed to be in order to make this a series and now we know we’re going to get the same type of effort from them as we had last night,” he said Friday before boarding the team charter for the flight to San Jose. “(The Sharks) are going to be better and we have to be better as well.”
MacKinnon, who has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in an eight-game point streak, batted in a deflected puck at 10:34 of the second period to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead. The play began when
Samuel Girard passed across to
Cale Makar, whose shot was deflected by
Mikko Rantanen. MacKinnon knocked the puck in from the left side of the net.
They made it 2-0 on a power-play goal by
Colin Wilson at 3:11 of the third period after
Gabriel Landeskog prevented the puck from exiting the zone. The puck wound up in front of the net and Rantanen made a remarkable behind-the-back pass to Wilson, who has six playoff points (four goals, two assists).
“I didn’t realize he did it until I saw the replay,” Wilson said Friday. “I wouldn’t have celebrated so hard by myself, I would have given him a little more credit there. Amazing pass to see. I mean, his vision is incredible. I’m very lucky to be playing on that power-play unit with those guys. He’s another all-star, one of the best in the world.
"There was a body in front of me. I thought it just bounced to me and I was in the right area, but Mikko with the behind-the-back, falling down, through his legs … it’s an incredible pass.”
Johnson sealed the deal with the empty-net goal with 1:09 remaining.
“It was a stingy game, there weren’t a whole lot of chances on either side,” Bednar said. “We happened to capitalize on some of ours and get a couple saves. You need your best players to be your best players and we certainly have one of the best in the world (in MacKinnon), and he’s playing like it right now.”
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