DENVER — Nathan MacKinnon scored a hat trick and had an assist, and the Colorado Avalanche extended their lead in the Stanley Cup First Round with a 6-3 win against the St. Louis Blues in Game 2 at Ball Arena on Wednesday.
MacKinnon has scored seven points (five goals, two assists) in the first two games of the best-of-7 series.
“I don’t know if I’m at another level or pucks are (just) going in right now, I guess,” MacKinnon said. “I mean, all my goals are with great screens in front. [Gabriel Landeskog], Mikko [Rantanen] are beasts down low.
“Without those guys battling and mucking it up in front when I’m up high, those pucks don’t go in. Everyone’s helping out, for sure.”
Joonas Donskoi had two goals and an assist, and Philipp Grubauer made 32 saves for Colorado, the No. 1 seed in the Honda West Division.
“You have to have guys elevating their game this time of year,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “You have to have different guys chipping in and making plays, not just on the offensive side of it, but on the defensive side of it as well. Guys are feeling good with their game.”
Torey Krug had two assists, and Jordan Binnington made 28 saves for St. Louis, the No. 4 seed, which played without leading scorer David Perron for the second straight game due to NHL COVID-19 protocol.
Game 3 is at St. Louis on Friday.
“When we do things the right way and dictate, and get on these guys, you can see we generate and we make it difficult on them, so it’s definitely something that we have to build off of and we’re going home and we’re going to get back in the series,” Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly said.
Donskoi gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead 35 seconds into the game when he deflected Ryan Graves‘ point shot after Landeskog knocked down O’Reilly behind the net in a race for the puck.
“It’s what I mean, just a beast,” MacKinnon said of Landeskog. “Of course I saw it. I could hear it. I hear the hit. I hear the crowd reaction. Without that forecheck, without that extra work ethic that he always brings, we don’t score that goal. Great play by ‘Landy.’ Great tip by [Donskoi] as well.”
MacKinnon made it 2-0 at 18:05 on a power play, shooting from the left face-off circle between Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo‘s legs with Landeskog screening Binnington.
Donskoi increased the lead to 3-0 at 3:14 of the second period when MacKinnon’s point shot caromed off him on a power play.
Sammy Blais cut it to 3-1 at 16:17 after a turnover by Colorado’s Patrik Nemeth. Blais shot from along the goal line to Grubauer’s right after Krug’s shot ricocheted to him.
Brayden Schenn made it 3-2 at 10:07 of the third period, putting in the rebound of Tyler Bozak‘s shot on a power play after Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri was assessed a match penalty for a hit to the head against Blues defenseman Justin Faulk, who left the game.
The Blues also lost Bortuzzo at 9:24 of the second period with an upper-body injury after a hit by Avalanche forward Tyson Jost.
“The League will look at those hits, and they’ll do what they have to do,” said Blues coach Craig Berube, who didn’t have an update on either player. “You’re down to four D, and that’s in a playoff game. That’s difficult, but I thought guys did a good job.”
Bednar said MacKinnon and Landeskog ” got the guys together on the bench, had a little chat” after the penalty.
“And off they went to answer the bell and get us a couple big goals,” Bednar said.
MacKinnon pushed the lead to 4-2 at 15:25, but Mike Hoffman scored 15 seconds later with a shot from the left circle to make it 4-3 at 15:40.
“I won’t say patient, but we’ve got to understand that we have to play a certain way against this team and we can’t wait until the second period to do it,” Berube said. “Pucks got to go in deep, they got to go 200 feet, we’ve got to be a good forecheck team and then we’ve got to shoot pucks. I thought we passed up shots again in the first period, and then we allow them to come out of their zone way too easy and they get these rush attacks against us and they get opportunities off of it.”
Brandon Saad scored into an empty net to make it 5-3 with 2:09 left, and MacKinnon completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal with 12 seconds remaining for the 6-3 final.
NOTES: MacKinnon’s is the first hat trick in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Avalanche since Valeri Kamensky in Game 5 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals against the Chicago Blackhawks. … Donskoi’s first goal was the fastest from the start of a playoff game in Colorado history. … The Avalanche have a 19-game point streak at home (18-0-1). … Blues defenseman Vince Dunn skated Wednesday but missed his 13th straight game. He is recovering from an upper-body injury.
