Colorado Takes 2-0 Series Lead After Overtime Win

Wednesday night wasn’t a high-scoring affair for the Avalanche like the series opener was, but it was still a game that would see the home fans leaving Ball Arena happy. 

Just like Game 1, Colorado got on the board first thanks to Brandon Saad’s fifth goal of the playoffs at the 3:39 mark of the period. Alec Martinez’s equalizer for the Golden Knights would quiet down the rocking fans in Denver with his goal on the powerplay at 9:32 in the frame. 

Vegas wouldn’t be the only team that could show they could score on the powerplay as Tyson Jost would strike on the man advantage to restore Colorado’s lead in the period at the 17:03 mark. 

The Golden Knights would push the pace for much of the second and outshoot Colorado 16-6 and at the 10:28 mark, Reilly Smith would even things up at two. 

The offensive display that we saw in Game 1 from the Avalachane for the most part would be silenced in regulation as the names like Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar would be kept completely off the scoresheet inside 60 minutes. 

The third wouldn’t see anyone beat Marc-André Fleury or Philipp Grubauer but Vegas would outshoot Colorado 31-12 over the final two periods before overtime. 

The Golden Knights would have a glorious chance at avoiding the extra session with a late powerplay but couldn’t find a way to beat Grubauer as he’d make 38 saves in regulation. 

In overtime, special teams would be the story as Reilly Smith would commit a slashing penalty against Mikko Rantanen. 

Rantanen would make the most of the opportunity in overtime at the 2:07 mark as he’d beat Fleury with a wrist shot over his glove hand for the 3-2 Colorado win. The overtime goal also extended Rantanen’s point streak as now he’s put up a point in 16 straight postseason games. 

Only five other players in NHL history have had a playoff point streak over multiple postseasons surpass the 16 game mark. Rantanen is also only the second player born and trained from Europe to have a 16 game point streak in the postseason. The first European player to accomplish the feat was Pavel Bure with the Vancouver Canucks during the 1994 postseason. 

With the series shifting back to Vegas for Game 3 on Friday night, the Avalanche are rolling while the Golden Knights have to find a way to get themselves out of an 0-2 hole.