Dallas – Nathan Mackinnon took a stick in his face, participated in the two strange goals of Colorado in the second period and limited his night with an empty network for his playoffs 50 goal in his career.
And Mackenzie Blackwood backed the big avalanche in the first playoff game of the goalkeeper after 252 regular seasonal games for three teams in eight seasons.
The two goals in the second period put at the height of the avalanche, and Blackwood had 23 salvages in a 5-1 victory over the Dallas stars in the first game of their playoff series of the West Conference of First Round on Saturday night.
“I thought it was solid, very solid,” Mackinnon said about the first game of the eighth consecutive postseason of the AVS. “We had many good looks, many attempts. Maybe reaching the network a little more, but I thought we played a rather solid bidirectional game.”
Mackinnon scored in a shot that diverted to the defense of the stars Ilya Lyubushkin, and scored goalkeeper Jake Oettinger at the end of the second period. That came during an extended power game, a minor double against the stars after he took a high stick on his face.
“Obviously, they will bother him as we do in some of his players,” said coach Jared Bednar about the NHL MVP last season. “But a really strong defensive game of him, and obviously enters and sees on the offensive side, he was making plays all night.”
Blackwood stopped four shots in a period of 11 seconds in the middle of the second period just before Mackinnon helped in the goal of Artturi Lehkonen.
Lehkonen was following his initial shot and falling after a collision in front of the network when the album bounced on his lower left leg in the upper corner of the network. The work was reviewed and the officials ruled that Lehkonen was not a kick movement while falling into the ice with Mavrik Bourque.
There was not much that Oettinger could do in any of those goals, since the stars lost game 1 in their eighth consecutive series in the NHL playoffs since 2022. They are 0-7 in the openers of the series under coach Pete Debeoer, six of those who come at home.
“I suppose the good news is that we have returned and won more than our part of those series in which we have (lost the game 1),” said Deboer, whose teams reached the west final in each of the last two seasons. “So I think we have to concentrate on that.”
Game 2 is Monday night in Dallas, before the series changes to Denver.
Devon Toews gave Colorado a 3-1 advantage with remaining 7:04. Mackinnon had an empty networks with 3:08 remaining, 11 seconds before Charlie Coyle scored.
This loss of opening the series for the stars occurred after they finished the regular season in a 0-5-2 section that included four losses at home after being 28-5-3 before that.
Blackwood is one of the 11 players who have seen action since it was acquired through the eight Colorado seasonal trades. Wine from San José in December and played in 37 games for avs.
Those offers included the Avalanche Training Mikko Rantanen On January 24 to Carolina in the east, he played only 13 games before A deadline agreement on March 7 He sent it back to the central division with the stars and included an eight -year contract extension of $ 96 million.
Rantanen, who had 101 points (34 goals, 67 assists) in 81 playoff games for Avalanche had three shots and a block for 18 minutes in his debut in the postseason with the stars.
Oettinger had 19 salvages, three when Colorado had an advantage of two men in the first period when Cale Makar drew two firing penalties just 36 seconds away from each other.
Roopo Hintz asked for penalty against Mackinnon, took the stars to 2-1 in his goal with 13:15 remaining in the game, just before the end of a power play and approximately a minute after I must call a waiting time.
Bednar won his 50th victory in the playoffs with the AVS, in his 82nd postseason game, equal to a complete regular season. That broke a tie with Bob Hartley for more victories for a coach in the history of the franchise. Both won Stanley Cups – Bednar in 2022 and Hartley in 2001.
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AP NHL Playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
