Predators advance to 2nd round of Stanley Cup
Preds rout Avalanche to win Game 6, series
DENVER — Mattias Ekholm ignited the offense early with the first goal by a Nashville defenseman in the series, Pekka Rinne stopped 22 shots, and the top-seeded Predators advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 5-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 of their Western Conference series Sunday night.
Viktor Arvidsson, Nick Bonino, Filip Forsberg and Austin Watson 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 while notching the fourth postseason shutout of his career.
Colorado’s Andrew Hammond ran out of magic in net, allowing all five goals. The third-string goaltender nicknamed “Hamburglar” made 44 saves during a Game 5 win in Nashville to extend the series, but he couldn’t turn back a formidable offense that won a second straight playoff game in Denver. Before Sunday, 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 defense was held scoreless in the first round until Ekholm’s slap shot at 7:20.
Forsberg scored 38 seconds into the second period 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. They are the first NHL team to post that sort of turnaround from one full season to the next since Pittsburgh also jumped 47 points in 2005-06 (58) to 2006-07 (105).
But they ran into a Predators squad that looked every bit like the team that went to the Stanley Cup Final a season ago and won the Presidents’ Trophy this season.
Colton Sissons, who had two assists, nearly gave Nashville the early lead in the first period, only to have his goal disallowed when officials ruled Kyle Turris interfered with Hammond. The Predators challenged — Samuel Girard pushed Turris toward Hammond — but the call stood.
About 20 seconds later, Ekholm scored on a slap shot from the point. And then 3:17 later, Watson tapped in a shot. That was all the separation Rinne needed as the Predators improved to 6-6 alltime in a Game 6 situation.