Avs show they have what it takes: Gruuu!

Who’s your Gruuu-Daddy? When the Avalanche needed it most, goalie Philipp Grubauer stared into the teeth of the Sharks and refused to blink. This is how a playoff legend begins: In a crucial 3-0 victory against San Jose that evened this playoff series at two victories apiece, Grubauer stopped all 32 shots he faced.

And after every save he made, Avalanche fans saluted their goalie

with a scream that cleansed the arena of must-win tension: “Gruuu!”

We haven’t heard a sound so sweet around here since Patrick

Roy was between the pipes.

Is Grubauer strong enough in goal for the Avs to win the Stanley Cup?

You betcha.

So much work, from the sweat of training camp through winter’s long slog, after all those morning skates and redeye flights, it finally came down to a Thursday night in May, when backing down was no longer an option for Colorado.

As Avalanche players pulled on their burgundy-and-blue sweaters for the 91st time since the puck was first dropped way back in early October, they needed a victory with the most urgency of the entire 2018-19 season.

“It’s the biggest game of the year, no question,” Avs defenseman Tyson Barrie said at the morning skate. “We all know that.”

Colorado knew all too well if this best-of-seven series moved to San Jose in the jaws of Sharks, the Avalanche might not get back home with their playoff hopes alive for Game 6.

At a time when the lights never go out in the Pepsi Center, and there’s playoff tension nearly 24/7, the arena can be a very different place from one evening to the next. When the Nuggets are on the basketball court, a fickle crowd demands to be entertained, and if Jamal Murray and the gang are clanking jump shots, the home team gets booed.

Hockey nights in Colorado are a much louder brand of hope. From the moment fans shout “Our flag was still there!” with full-hearted faith from the congregation during the national anthem, they not only have the back of Gabe Landeskog and the boys, these Avalanche diehards in the arena give Colorado players an emotional push.

Midway through the second period, when the speed of the Avs began to rock San Jose back on its heels, Colorado finally broke a scoreless tie. The goal came off the stick of Nathan MacKinnon, who jumped on a puck in the crease and chopped it into the back of the net.

But the real chaos of this play was initiated by defenseman Cale Makar, who sent a screamer of a shot toward goal, which was deflected off the right shoulder of San Jose goalie Martin Jones by Mikko Rantanen, leaving a juicy rebound for MacKinnon to convert into a 1-0 Colorado lead.

Here in Broncos Country, we all love the started-in-Mom’s basement rise of young running back Phillip Lindsay. But what Makar is doing at age 20, fresh out of college, with no formal NHL training before being thrown into the fire of the playoffs? It’s truth blasting fiction with a hip check. This is a hockey story so improbably good that nobody could make this stuff up.

Colin Wilson added a powerplay goal in the third period, set up by a can-you-believe-it, through-his-own-legs, backhand pass from Rantanen as he tumbled to the ice in the crease. Erik Johnson added a long empty-netter with 69 seconds remaining in the game.

But the real star of a night when losing was not an option?

The crowd in the Pepsi Center not only knew, the peeps’ vote was unanimous and so loud it raised the arena roof:

“Gruuu!”