Adrian Dater
Well, that was fun wasn’t it? “Spin me back down, to the days of my youth”, Jethro Tull once sang (look it up, kids). I couldn’t help but feel a little nostalgic tonight at the Avalanche vs. Blues Game 1 of the playoffs tonight. Maybe you older fans felt the same way too.
That was real playoff hockey again, just like those good old days around here. We’re coming up on the 20-year anniversary of the Avs’ last Stanley Cup win, and darned if it didn’t seem as loud in the building formerly named the Pepsi Center, now Ball Arena, as it did on that warm night in June of 2001 when the Avs beat the New Jersey Devils for Lord Stanley of Preston’s silver punch bowl.
They said there was only 42% capacity in the building tonight, but it sure sounded like a full building to me. Of course, it helps when the Avs treat the fans to a third period like they did in Game 1, smoking the Blues for three in the third to win going away, 4-1. Game 2 is right back here Wednesday night.
Gabe Landeskog turned back the clock tonight, that’s for sure. He became Gordie Howe.
Landy recorded the cherished Gordie Howe Hat Trick – a goal, assist and a fight – in a no-question-about-it No. 1 star performance. His first-period demolition of Blues forward Brayden Schenn in a fight, just after Schenn put a borderline hit on Mikko Rantanen coming across the Blues’ blue line, changed the complexion of the hockey game. A scoreless tie, with the Avs looking a bit jittery, morphed them into more of a street fightin’ men kind of group, and they got 18 of the next 20 shots in the game and a 1-0 lead on Cale Makar’s power-play snipe past valiant Blues goalie Jordan Binnington.
Still, this was a 1-1 hockey game going into the third period, and quite frankly, I was worried for the Avs’ fortunes. The Blues were starting to get in on the forecheck and causing some turnovers from the Avs’ defense, and despite a 32-16 shot advantage after two, the Blues were right there going to the third.
Then, on the first shift of the period, Nathan MacKinnon found a seam in the slot area and one-timed Landeskog’s pass from behind the net, top shelf past Binnington. Landeskog would tip a puck past Binnington not too long after, off a MacKinnon blast from the point, and it was suddenly 3-1. MacKinnon would add a slam-dunk of an empty-netter for the final, which led to some Binnington antics at the other end.
Binnington skated down the ice to confront Philipp Grubauer for his trip of Ryan O’Reilly in front of his net seconds before. Referees broke things up before any goalie fight, a la Patrick Roy vs. Mike Vernon/Chris Osgood, started. Binnington sure skated away pretty quick, though, just like he did when confronting Avs goalie Devan Dubnyk earlier this season, when Doobie was a Shark.
“He can do whatever he wants. It’s not going to get to us, it’s not going to get to Grubi. It is what it is. … We’ll be ready Wednesday night,” said Landeskog, when asked about Binnington’s antics.
The Avs put 50 shots on Binnington – his uniform number. While he made some really good saves, some really tough saves, the Avs put a lot of shots right in his breadbasket for large portions of the first two periods. I was worried that the Avs were a bit too perimeter, a bit too one-and-done with their chances, but the third period was totally different.
The Avs got in on the forecheck on the Blues and just wore their defense down. St. Louis looked like a very tired and beaten team by the end, though they still had enough fight to try and start a couple more as the final buzzer sounded. P.E. Bellemare took a cheap shot to the face, and the Blues started to look around for anyone to fight before finally turning tail and hitting the showers.
OTHER THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS