DENVER — When Nathan MacKinnon tracked Quinn Hughes in the third period Tuesday, then bowled him over when Hughes tried to cut back on him with the puck, the hit perfectly encapsulated the Colorado Avalanche’s playoff dominance.
It was one of the best forwards in the world burying one of the game’s best defencemen. MacKinnon was having none of Hughes’ shifty edgework. MacKinnon later crunched Matt Boldy, another Minnesota Wild star, into the boards. That hit, at least, proved that Boldy was playing because he has been largely invisible through two games.
MacKinnon’s teammate and co-leader, Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog, said it’s not like the superstar goes home at night and counts his points. (He would need a calculator the way this second-round National Hockey League playoff series is going). But if MacKinnon counts his hits, he should remember those two.
The Wild should remember them, too.
Through two games, the Avalanche have pumped 12 pucks past two Wild goalies, plus shot a couple into empty nets. Colorado’s 5-2 win on Tuesday pushed the Avalanche to 6-0 in this Stanley Cup tournament and two wins away from the Western Conference Final.
Some teams don’t score 12 goals in a series. The Los Angeles Kings scored only five while being swept by the Avalanche in four games in Round 1. But 12 different Colorado skaters have already scored against Minnesota. MacKinnon has six points in two games.
“He was unbelievable tonight on both sides of the puck,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “The physicality, the defending details, the hunger to check pucks back in all three zones, and the speed and pace that he played with early in the game, it was like he was shot out of a cannon, right?
“I thought that's one of his best games in the playoffs, for sure. And you know, it's not about production. He’s going to produce... but he’s just doing whatever it takes for our team to win because that’s what he wants the most. He's committed in all the other areas right now, and that game was off the charts in my opinion.”
MacKinnon downplayed his hit on Hughes and said the Norris Trophy-winning defenceman simply turned into him.
“It wasn't that big of a hit,” he said. “But, yeah, you know, he's one of the best players in the world and he's so hard to contain, and you’re just trying to do the best that you can. I think everyone's being more physical. The whole team has ramped that up.”
Landeskog didn’t downplay MacKinnon’s impact.
“He just wants to impact the game every time he steps on the ice,” Landeskog said. “I think that's what it comes down to. Do we get numb to it? No, there's still a lot of plays where it kind of takes you back. At the same time, he's awesome, so you do come to expect it after a while and I’m just happy he's on our side.”
With Game 3 not until Saturday in Minnesota, the Wild have three days to come up with some answers. They’re supposed to be the heavier, more physical team but so far haven’t been.
Boldy has only one secondary assist through two games, and winger Kirill Kaprizov, who scored on a breakaway Tuesday, has been only slightly more effective.
The Wild are badly missing injured centre Joel Eriksson Ek and shutdown defenceman Jonas Brodin.
They’re also missing some saves.
After starting goalie Jesper Wallstedt surrendered eight goals in Sunday’s 9-6 shootout, Wild coach John Hynes turned to Filip Gustavsson for Game 2.
The former starter was beaten three times on the first eight shots he faced, looked poor on Martin Necas’ backhand 2:51 into the game and leaden on Nicolas Roy’s quick flip from the slot that made it 3-1 for the Avalanche 1:24 into the second period.
“I thought he was just going to cut in more and he quickly released it,” Gustavsson explained. “I was just a little slow.”
He also seemed to lose the centre of his net a little.
How did Gustavsson feel in his first start of the playoffs, after allowing four goals on 22 shots?
“Just fine, nothing special,” he said. “Not bad, not good. Mentally, I felt fine.”
Right now, the Avalanche are a lot better than fine.
Even their power play, which inexplicably struggled for much of the season and scored just once in the series against L.A., is 3-for-8 against the Wild and generated goals Tuesday for MacKinnon and Landeskog.
Colorado goalie Scott Wedgewood stopped 29 of 31 Minnesota shots to bounce back from his own sub-par performance in the Game 1 track meet.
Asked what he liked about the power play, Bednar said: “Everything. It's just showing that those top guys are, like, really dialled in. They're moving it quick, they're seeing their options, they're making plays, they're taking what the opposition gives us, and we're shooting the puck to score. It's a little bit of everything.”
So far, so are the Avalanche.
“I don't know about setting the tone, but it's what the game requires this time of the year,” Bednar said of the physicality. “Like, they’re a big, physical team. Yep, I get it. But we're not small. You look at our top six, it's not small. We've got a lot of big guys in there, strong guys that aren't afraid of physicality and... we have the ability with the sort of makeup of our team and the players that we have that we can play many different styles and have success.
“But it all kind of leads back to our identity and the game. In order to win games this time of the year, it requires an extra level of physicality and commitment to play that way, and I thought our guys did a great job here tonight.”
