Nathan MacKinnon and Devon Toews flashed a red light for 22 seconds in the first period where the Colorado Avalanche scored five times. The Western Conference leaders defeated the Nashville Predators 7-2 on Tuesday in Game 1 of their first-round series.
Five wins in a period tied the team’s record and knocked out Predators backup goaltender David Rittich with 4:56 left in the first period. He stopped eight shots.
Rittich made up for the loss of star goaltender Juuse Saros, who was at least two games away due to a left leg injury.
Andrew Cogliano, Cale Makar and Artturi Lehkonen also hit the target in the first period.
Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog extended the lead to 6-0 in the middle frame. This is his first meeting since mid -March. He was sidelined due to a knee injury.
MacKinnon scored his second goal of the game in the third period, which, paired with an assist, allowed the center to average 1.41 points per game in the playoffs. Only Wayne Gretzky (1.84) and Mario Lemieux (1.61) have better averages with a minimum of 40 games played.
Darcy Kuemper stopped 23 shots in the win.
Matt Duchene scored twice for the Predators. Connor Ingram allowed 2 goals on 32 shots as relief for Rittich.
The teams are back in action Thursday for Game 2 in Colorado.
Source: Radio-Canada
