- Avalanche power play went 2-for-5 in 5-2 Game 2 win over Minnesota
- Landeskog and MacKinnon both buried man-advantage goals
- Read below for Bednar’s full take and video from Tuesday’s win
Jared Bednar finally has nice things to say about his power play.
Asked Tuesday night what he liked about Colorado’s playoff power play, the Avalanche head coach gave a one-word answer:
“Everything.”
That’s a sharp turn for a unit that finished the regular season ranked 27th in the NHL. The Avs had the league’s best record and the shortest odds to win the Stanley Cup, but the man advantage was a sore spot for months.
Then the postseason started and the switch flipped.
The Avs went 2-for-5 with the extra man in their 5-2 Game 2 win over Minnesota. Gabriel Landeskog buried a Nathan MacKinnon centering pass at 8:24 of the second period to put Colorado ahead 2-1:
MacKinnon then hammered home a Nazem Kadri cross-ice feed at 13:18 of the third to make it 4-1 and put the game out of reach:
Minnesota went 0-for-2 in the same situation. That kind of special teams gap usually decides playoff games, and it did again on Tuesday.
Bednar pointed to the Olympic break as the moment things started turning around for the unit.
“I like it in parts of the Kings series as well. It’s much improved from the Olympic break on. I know people look at our percentage on the year, and when you go five months with it being poor, your percentage isn’t gonna climb that much. … It’s just showing that those top guys are really dialed in.”
Colorado swept Los Angeles in Round 1 and now has six straight wins to open these playoffs, tying the 2021 Avalanche for the longest opening streak in franchise history. MacKinnon piled up his 21st career multipoint period in the first 20 minutes, passing Joe Sakic for the most in franchise history.
Here is the video of every Game 2 highlight, including both power play goals:
Game 3 is Saturday in St. Paul. A win there would put the Wild in a hole that only four teams in NHL history have ever climbed out of. The full recap is up at NHL.com.
The man advantage waking up at the right time is bad news for the rest of the West.
