Avalanche

Game One Thread: Avalanche vs. Blues (7:30 p.m.). It's a Colorado Avalanche playoff gameday! By AdrianHernandez May 17, 2022, 6 ...

The Avalanche are currently the proud owners of true depth. Colorado has won six of the last seven meetings scoring three or more goals in all seven games. True depth means being able to bring guys in and out of the lineup in order to get the best matchups.

The Colorado Avalanche could face a tough test with St. Louis' goaltending, providing a lot of value to the underdog Blues.

NY, AZ, CO, CT, IA, IL, IN, MI, NJ, PA, TN, VA, WV only. NY, AZ, CO, CT, IA, IL, IN, MI, NJ, PA, TN, VA, WV only. Must be 21+. AZ, CO, IA, IL, IN, LA, MI, NJ, NY, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY only. However, this team can score with the Avalanche and their playing style should give them a path to success in both Game 1 and the series. 21+. New customers only. Kuemper has been given a clean bill of health, but he’s been off for 10 days so he may be dealing with some rust to open the series. 21+. New customers only. Those numbers are encouraging, but of course playing the Avalanche in a best-of-7 is very different from playing a regular season schedule. Binnington skated to a .943 save percentage and +2.1 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx) in three games against Minnesota. No teams in the NHL can go skater for skater with the Avalanche, but the Blues are one of a few teams that can at least keep pace with them up front. New customers only. That’s because winning the Stanley Cup is incredibly hard.

Josh Manson scored 8:02 into overtime and the Colorado Avalanche overcame a sluggish start to beat the St. Louis Blues 3-2 in Game 1.

O’Reilly has a goal in five straight playoff games, matching the longest playoff goal streak in Blues history. Kyrou scored on the power play to tie the game with 3:14 remaining. It took a few days for the swelling to subside. We have a good team. “They have a good team. “It feels good to get that (win) with your team.”

The Colorado Avalanche defeated the St. Louis Blues 3-2 in Game 1 of their second-round NHL playoff series at Ball Arena in Denver on Tuesday, May 17, 2022.

Late goal by Kyrou sends it into overtime before OT goal by Manson wins it for Colorado.

But with one second left on that penalty, Toews went to the box for holding and the Blues had a chance to tie it up. In the first round against the Predators, Colorado led the league with a 43.8 success rate, converting 7-of-16 power play opportunities. But Johnson didn’t get much at all on the shot, and that gave Binnington enough time to slide over and make a glove save to the amazement of some Avalanche players. And back came the Avalanche. And it’s impossible to have possession time if you can’t win a faceoff and through two periods, Colorado was winning 68 percent of the faceoffs. So it was 2-1, and just two minutes later the Blues’ Ivan Barbashev was whistled for hooking — the game’s first penalty more than halfway through the game. After a Colorado turnover in its own zone, the puck bounced off the leg of Brayden Schenn to O’Reilly, who beat Darcy Kuemper with a nifty backhand to make it 1-0 Blues at the 6:25 mark of play. And even with all the iron struck by Colorado, the Blues did a reasonable job of keeping Colorado from getting behind them odd-man rushes. The latter feat tied a Blues playoff record: Joe Mullen in 1982 and Phil Roberto in 1972 had previously scored postseason goals in five consecutive games. Just 3:14 into the period, Colorado evened things at 1-1 on a goal by Valeri Nichushkin. A Rantanen shot bounced off Binnington to Nichushkin, who got behind Nick Leddy for the rebound goal. There were no on-ice officers to catch the Avalanche in a speed trap. Next came Artturi Lehkonen at the 7:27 mark with a post, and then Mikko Rantanen at them 16:40 mark with another crossbar. None of that happened on Tuesday, but don’t give the Blues too much credit.

While the boys in burgundy controlled most of the game a poor special teams effort in the third period forced overtime. However, Josh Manson scored on the ...

The Avalanche got yet another chance to put the game away on a power play as regulation time expired yet still nothing was produced from the unit. Conversely, St. Louis only needed one shot on goal in their lone power play to put this game in doubt. The blueliner put the puck in the net at 11:32 on a quick shot from the point. An incredible pass from Bowen Byram to Erik Johnson should have resulted in the second Avalanche goal but Johnson only got the heel of his blade on the puck and Binnington made an incredible diving save. It was the start the Avalanche wanted pushing the pace and dictating play but despite hitting the post three times the first period’s lone goal went St. Louis’ way with none other than Ryan O’Reilly pouncing on a turnover in the slot. However, Josh Manson scored on the team’s 54th shot and the Avalanche took a 1-0 series lead in this 3-2 victory.

Even Norris Trophy finalists have a hiccup every now and then and St. Louis capitalized on Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar's early game boo-boo.

The second goal was thanks to half-wall work by Avs winger Gabe Landeskog, who slipped a pass to defenseman Josh Manson, who then fed it across the ice to Sam Girard. After taking a few strides forward, Girard’s slap shot beat goalie Jordan Binnington under the pads. Playing for the first time in eight days, the Avalanche looked it in the first period. In the circle to goalie Darcy Kuemper’s right, Makar gloved the puck and it appeared to handcuff him.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said it is “frustrating and very disappointing,” to see Altitude's dispute with Comcast carry through a third consecutive ...

“The excitement is being back in full buildings, seeing the energy around the game and a real normalcy returning to our game,” Bettman said. “It’s what we hoped for and expected,” Bettman said. Five months ago, Altitude announced it would make a revised offer to Comcast in advance of mediation to settle the regional sports network’s ongoing antitrust lawsuit against the carrier.

Kuemper will guard the home goal Tuesday in Game 1 of the Avalanche's second-round series versus the Blues, Peter Baugh of The Athletic reports.

The wait is finally over for the Colorado Avalanche and, to a lesser extent, the St. Louis Blues, when they open the best-of-7 Western Conference Second ...

"When you manage the game that way and you play well as a team, it shouldn't be an issue." ... Kuemper will start after missing Game 4 of the first round because of an eye injury. The Blues shut out the Wild 4-0 in the opener to take early control of that series. We have to perform at a high level as a team and the individuals have to perform at a high level, especially against their top guys. This battle will be especially important in the second period, when the long change is in effect. "But then again, you still have to go out and perform at a high level, that's the bottom line. ... Cogliano is expected to play after missing three games in the first round because of an upper-body injury. "If they want to go 11/7, our forwards will put pressure on all seven of those 'D,'" Colorado defenseman Devon Toews said. When you are out there, you have to do a good job." The Blues have been off since completing a six-game win against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, a stretch of four days off. He was injured during Game 4 of the first round. Just now looking forward to getting out there and competing."

Josh Manson scored 8:02 into overtime, Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves in his return from an eye injury in Colorado's 3–2 win.

Valeri Nichushkin and Samuel Girard also scored for an Avalanche team that had a weeklong layoff after sweeping Nashville. Colorado outshot the Blues by a 54-25 margin, including 13–0 in OT. The Avalanche also hit three posts and two crossbars. Manson sent a shot from near the blue line through a sea of players that went in just over the shoulder of Jordan Binnington. DENVER (AP) — Josh Manson scored 8:02 into overtime, Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves in his return to the net from an eye injury, and the Colorado Avalanche overcame a sluggish start to beat the St. Louis Blues 3–2 on Tuesday night in Game 1 of their second-round series.

Lost in the glorious din of this groovy 3-2 Avalanche playoff win was a sneaky good score made by front-office honcho Joe Sakic way back at the NHL trade ...

The secret of winning the Cup is in all the dirty, little details. On a night when Binnington and the Blues could’ve stolen Game 1, they didn’t get it done. He’s a physical presence (at the blue line). He’s a calming influence in the room. The Avs dominated play for three periods, but were forced to overtime when Jordan Kyrou got a puck by Colorado goalie Darcy Kuemper late in regulation. “He’s big on the penalty kill. But getting Manson was a smokin’ good deal by Joe.

When Joe Sakic acquired Josh Manson before the trade deadline, the plan wasn't for him to be the hero in overtime. Manson, known for his stay-at-home ...

He covers Avs games live from Ball Arena and attends practices, media availabilities and other events pertaining to the Avs on the daily beat. “I saw Mans had a nice pump fake up top that he doesn’t get a whole lot of credit for but that was really nice,” Landeskog said. Rust was not a factor for the only team that swept its way through the first round and went an entire week between games.

Josh Manson imagined the goal a thousand times as a kid, the shot that would win a game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"He's big on the penalty kill, he's a physical presence back there, he's a calming presence in the room. "It's a great goal, you know, on a great shift. At that point, I'm just trying to stand in front and move out at the last second." You know, that's the best part of playoffs, is that it's a team effort." "I think [defenseman Erik Johnson] was three feet off the ground when he got to me, and that's a big guy. "In my dreams, [I scored] like a one-hander or something," Manson said, laughing.

Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic didn't trade for Josh Manson for him to score goals. But when the veteran defenseman potted the overtime winner in ...

He snatched a goal away with his glove on the doorstep of the line. “It’s easy to get deflated on a bounce like that and you feel like you’re playing well and it ends up in the back of your net. “He was fantastic tonight,” Bednar said of Manson. “You watch his defending tonight: heavy, good with the puck, gaps were great. His shot was on-line, but the lack of oomph on it gave Binnington enough time to make a lunging save. Late in the third, Toews got called for holding, handing the Blues a chance to tie the score. The puck instead went off Ryan O’Reilly’s skate, then off Brayden Schenn and back to O’Reilly, who beat Darcy Kuemper with a backhand. Eventually, we felt we’d have a chance and break them down and get the winner.” And a dominant one, even if the score was far from lopsided. He joked that he had to hold his ground after the celebration because of the speed with which his teammates skated toward him. “That whole shift was (Landeskog),” the defenseman said. And in those contests, he had a total of zero goals. He smiled moments after the puck hit the net as he waited to ride the elevator down from his box.

For myriad reasons stemming from long breaks to unfamiliar game plans, Game 1 is usually identified as the one the road team is best positioned to steal.

For all the hope that this year would be different with a healthier and deeper Blues team, Game 1 sure looked a lot like last year’s four-game sweep. Comparing this to St. Louis puts their dominance in stark contrast, as the Blue with the highest expected goals figure from last night was Colton Parayko at 0.68, with Ryan O’Reilly being his only other teammate to finish higher than 0.5. Aside from a first period where the Blues won a few races to the slot and got their sticks on some tipped pucks, the vast majority of their 5-on-5 shot attempts were confined to the corners or bad angles. The adage of “a series doesn’t begin until a home team loses a game” is generally true, and if the St. Louis Blues had pulled a win out of their hat last night, there would be immense pressure on the Colorado Avalanche today, as their recent years of second-round playoff failures would become the white-hot focus of this series. You can dig through Natural Stat Trick’s archives and find countless lopsided games this year that looked like this where the Avalanche won comfortably. Instead, the Avalanche grinded a win out of a game they controlled from (near) start to finish, and today St. Louis must be wondering whether that was their best chance to win a game in Denver.

He's since won a Stanley Cup and a Conn Smythe Trophy with the Blues, while the Avs haven't been past the second round since 2002. If the Avs fail to get to a ...

And O’Reilly will be booed again, just as the Predators’ Matt Duchene was in the first round. He’s since won a Stanley Cup and a Conn Smythe Trophy with the Blues, while the Avs haven’t been past the second round since 2002. And yeah, it’s always nice to see people.