Avs have Coyotes on the ropes
The Colorado Avalanche scored three early goals, revved up their power play and hit Arizona with a barrage of odd-man rushes.
Their defence closed in around goalie Philipp Grubauer, shut down the Coyotes’ shooting lanes.
Dominating in all aspects, the Avalanche are now within one win of advancing in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Nazem Kadri had two goals and an assist, Philipp Grubauer stopped 14 shots and the Avalanche overwhelmed the Coyotes 7-1 Monday to take a 3-1 lead their first-round playoff series.
“We had a real good night tonight,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “We had some real good individual efforts and guys capitalized on their chances.”
The Avalanche jumped on Arizona after losing 4-2 in Game 3, scoring three first-period goals, two by Kadri on the power play.
Matt Calvert, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen each had a goal and an assist. Matt Nieto and Joonas Donskoi also scored. Grubauer was sharp after Pavel Francouz started Game 3.
A complete all-around game in the Edmonton bubble puts
Colorado, the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, in position to clinch the series in Game 5 on Wednesday.
“We had so many chances in Game 3 and obviously couldn’t get the puck in the net,” said Colorado forward Nathan MacKinnon, who had two assists. “It was nice to see us get that early one and we just kept going from there.”
The Coyotes had numerous defensive breakdowns and took three penalties while falling into the early hole, leaving goalie Darcy Kuemper defenceless.
Kuemper gave up four goals on 22 shots before being replaced by Antti Raanta in the third period and Jakob Chychrun scored for the Coyotes, who were held to 15 shots.
Coming off a big win in Game 3, the Coyotes are now one game from having their playoff bubble popped.
“I can’t tell you one player who played well today. We were embarrassed,” Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. “It was men against boys today.”
Arizona played its rope-aYote style to near perfection to win Game 3, absorbing Colorado’s near-constant pressure and counterattacking when the opportunities arose.
Kuemper made it work, stopping 49 shots.