NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Cale Makar doesn’t always make sense. How is someone so soft-spoken, humble and polite so ruthless when on skates?
“He might be the best player in the league right now,” teammate Nathan MacKinnon said after Colorado’s 5-3 win Monday to clinch a first-round series win against the Predators.
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With the score tied at 3 and Nashville clinging to its last shreds of hope midway through the third, Makar turned into a heartbreaker, escaping from Yakov Trenin along the boards and darting toward the net. Predators defenseman Dante Fabbro skated to help stop Makar, and goalie Connor Ingram shifted over to face his opponent, too. Why wouldn’t he? The 23-year-old Avalanche star had haunted Nashville skaters and goalies all series.
But Makar’s skating isn’t the only elite part of his game. His vision is, too. He knew the Predators had played primarily in a man-to-man structure, so he figured someone would be open near the net once he beat Trenin. Sure enough, Valeri Nichushkin was waiting, and Makar zipped him a pass. The Russian winger slammed it into the vacated portion of the net.
“Great play by Val to find that space,” MacKinnon said. “Great play all around.”
And Makar’s pass was a fitting coup de grace for a series he dominated.
Look at this set up from Cale Makar to Val Nichushkin 🥬 pic.twitter.com/OIGsiqMSN6
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) May 10, 2022
“He was everywhere,” coach Jared Bednar said.
Makar’s dominance flummoxed the Predators players and frustrated their fans, so much so that they threw candy at Makar with a minute left in the game.
“Obviously, not a fun way for your team to end the season like that, but a couple Skittles were hitting me during the play,” said Makar, who was less than pleased but praised the Nashville atmosphere up to that point.
The win sent Colorado to the second round for the fourth consecutive year, and Bednar’s club will look to get over the hump and make it to the conference finals or beyond. The Avalanche should have almost all players available for the series, assuming Andrew Cogliano and Ryan Murray are cleared by Game 1. Starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper is recovering from a stick blade to the face, but he would have been able to play Monday if the swelling near his eye had gone down. Pavel Francouz played in his place, stopping 28 of 31 shots.
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“I thought he was good,” Bednar said. “We had a couple bad line changes that led to odd-man rushes. They scored two goals on poor line changes from us — mental mistakes from us. But Frankie, I thought he looked pretty good tonight. … Comes in tonight, finishes the job. Good on him.”
Though Nashville showed fight throughout the night, the Avalanche jumped to a lead early — and in a bizarre fashion. Less than two minutes into the game, Andre Burakovsky flung the puck past Ingram, and it tore through the top of the net, bouncing out the back. Burakovsky and Bowen Byram, who assisted on the play, started to celebrate, but play continued with the puck bouncing around.
Meanwhile, on the Avalanche bench, video coach Brett Heimlich pulled up a replay and tried to alert the officials. Finally, at the next stoppage, around 45 seconds later, the play was reviewed. Sure enough, it was a good, twine-snapping goal.
Like… What?
How?pic.twitter.com/tq853hVyVg— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) May 10, 2022
Net-tearing goals aren’t common, but they’re also not unheard of. Team Canada’s Shea Weber blasted a slap shot through the net at the 2010 Olympics. It happens “more than you’d think,” Bednar said.
But the fact that Burakovsky managed to sever the twine with a wrister was impressive, nonetheless.
“He’s got a heavy shot,” MacKinnon said.
Burakovsky, whom Bednar has described as a streaky scorer, hadn’t logged a point in the playoffs before the goal, though he was strong defensively in Round 1. He finished the night with three points after a pair of assists in the third period.
“You’re hoping it’s going to carry over (to the second round),” Bednar said. “There’s been a heightened determination in his game in the playoffs so far. … He was a huge difference-maker for us tonight. Hopefully, he can get some confidence from that.”
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Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said going into the game that he expected the Predators to play hard and try to avoid a sweep on home ice. Sure enough, they responded to Burakovsky’s goal. Late in the first, Nico Sturm couldn’t get the puck out of the defensive zone, and Colton Sissons snatched it, passing to Trenin in the slot. The winger zinged a shot past Francouz to tie the score.
The Predators sustained pressure on the Avalanche to start the second, but Colorado still managed to limit them to seven total shots through the first 30 minutes. And with 7:46 left, Francouz made a nifty glove save, snagging an Eeli Tolvanen laser to keep the score knotted at 1. Less than two minutes later, Makar decided he was tired of the tie. He beat Ingram with a wrister from the point, placing the puck perfectly in the top left corner of the net. The goal was his third of the series, and he ultimately finished with seven assists. His 10 points are the most in NHL history by a defenseman in four games to start the playoffs, according to the league.
“The way he dominates from the back end is amazing,” MacKinnon said. “He might be one of the best D to ever play by the end of his career.”
The blueliner nearly scored moments after his second-period goal, grabbing the puck on a breakaway and getting a shot on net, but Ingram stood firm to keep the Predators within one. The save loomed large later in the second. With a little more than three minutes left in the period, Francouz halted Sissons on a breakaway, but the puck bounced to Trenin, who potted it from the faceoff circle for his second tally. The Avalanche nearly snatched the lead back with a minute left in the period.
As the third period began, Nashville hadn’t led all series, but that changed four minutes into the period. Mattias Ekholm found Filip Forsberg, who waited at the back door for an easy tap-in.
“Definitely a kick in the ass,” Makar said. “Excuse my language.”
MacKinnon said the deficit was a good challenge, and Devon Toews fired in a shot midway through the frame to tie the score. That preceded Makar’s wizardry and Nichushkin’s go-ahead tally, and MacKinnon iced the game with an empty-net tally. He blew a goodbye kiss to the Nashville crowd.
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“They had a good game tonight; I felt like we didn’t have a great one,” MacKinnon said. “That’s going to happen eventually, but we found a way. That’s the key.”
Back in March, Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said playing Colorado in the first round would be “a waste of eight days” for a wild-card team. For the Predators, who got a full dose of MacKinnon and Makar and the Avalanche offense, Sutter’s words proved prophetic.
(Photo of Cale Makar and Roman Josi: Mark Humphrey / Associated Press)