The Colorado Avalanche came out swinging in the first period and finished strong to force a Game 6 back in Denver on Friday.
"Yeah, huge. They play tight. They have a great goalie. I think we’ve been getting looks all series. Just not great ones. Got some better ones tonight. I thought all four lines played awesome," Nathan MacKinnon said. "The penalty kill was great. We need everyone going. The confidence is a little higher now, I guess. But that’s such a great team over there. They don’t come out of their structure. I think leads are important to try and get them out of it a little bit."
The Avs kept at their game after going down with a goal from Joe Pavelski in the first period at 10:57 in the first period. They counteracted in the last seconds of the opening frame with a goal from Artturi Lehkonen to tie it up heading into the second period.
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"They made some mistakes that we capitalized on. We had some unforced errors that they capitalize on, too. But they still had a say in those goals against. We have the turnover on the first one, and it’s bang bang in the back of the net. We had the option just to get out of trouble. We throw one over the glass and their power play capitalizes, but it’s after a handful of really good shifts from Dallas," head coach Jared Bednar said. "So it’s a little bit back and forth, you can survive those situations, you bend don’t break. We broke a couple of times tonight but so did they. I like it because it was a very resilient game from us."
Colorado's top line stepped up and produced with another goal from Nathan MacKinnon in the final frame. The other goals came from the second line and defense. Cale Makar notched two goals and Casey Mittelstadt earned his third goal of the postseason just over a minute into the middle frame.
Yeah, and I think that's huge for him. Because even earlier in the game. He gets a chance walking in on a 2-on-1 he's kind of all alone and loses it off his stick. So he hasn't capitalized on some of his best opportunities, but he scores last game off the forecheck he scores again tonight ..." Bednar said. "He played a rock solid game defensively and was able to chip in again tonight which is huge. I mean it's been a huge addition for us."
Alexandar Georgiev made huge saves for the Avs to help them force a Game 6. The puck drops on Friday at 8 p.m. at Ball Arena.
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