Predators move on to face Winnipeg
Rinne records shutout, Nashville advances after eliminating Avalanche
DENVER — Mattias Ekholm ignited the offence early with the first goal by a Nashville defenceman in the series, Pekka Rinne stopped 22 shots and the top-seeded Predators advanced to the second round with a 5-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 on Sunday night.
Austin Watson, Filip Forsberg, Nick Bonino and Viktor Arvidsson also scored to help the Predators move on to face Winnipeg. They were 3-1-1 against the Jets in the regular season.
Nashville removed any sort of drama with two goals in the opening period and two more in the second to hush the capacity crowd. Rinne was on his game in notching his fourth career post-season shutout.
“We never gave them life in this game,” said Rinne. “It was a good playoff effort by our team. We were looking for a big effort and we got that tonight. It was an up and down series, and there were a lot of goals scored, which I think was good for the fans.”
Andrew Hammond ran out of magic in net, allowing five goals. The third-string goaltender nicknamed “Hamburglar” had 44 saves during a Game 5 win in Nashville to extend the series. But he couldn’t turn back a formidable Nashville offence that
won a second straight playoff contest in Denver. Before this, the Avalanche hadn’t lost two straight at the Pepsi Center since early December.
Watson tormented Colorado with four goals and seven points in the series. In all, 11 of Nashville’s forwards had at least a point over six games.
The one thing missing was contributions from a blue line that tied a
franchise record for goals during the regular season. The Predators ‘D’ was held scoreless until Ekholm’s slap shot at 7:20.
Forsberg scored 38 seconds into second to give Nashville a 3-0 lead and completely drain the energy out of the arena. Bonino added another to go with his two assists.
The closest Colorado came to scoring on Rinne was in the second
period, when Nikita Zadorov sent in a shot, but it was waved off due to goaltender interference on Carl Soderberg.
It was quite a bounce-back season for Colorado, which boasts one of the youngest teams in the league. The Avalanche went from a 48-point team in 2016-17 to 95 points this season, earning the last playoff spot on the final day of the regular season.