Game 3: Avalanche 4, Oilers 2 | Colorado leads 3-0
Who was the guy? On a team loaded with stars, Valeri Nichushkin has usually made more noise with his elite defensive play than anything else. The Avalanche have never needed Nichushkin to be an offensive dynamo. They’ve instead counted on him to win pucks back and do the dirty work necessary to set the table for his more explosive linemates.
This year’s Nichushkin is different, though. He isn’t just an excellent two-way winger. He took a huge step offensively with 25 goals and 52 points in 62 regular-season games. Nichushkin chose the perfect time to have a career year with his pending UFA status, but he chose an even better time to peak in these playoffs, as his pair of goals Saturday powered the Avs to a commanding 3-0 series lead over Edmonton.
With Nazem Kadri done for the game after a dirty hit by Evander Kane, plus Andre Burakovsky already out of commission, Colorado needed someone outside of its top guns to produce offensively in Game 3. Nichushkin raised his hand with five shots.
The first goal, a harmless pass attempt deflected in off Darnell Nurse’s stick, was a bit of a fluke. Nichushkin’s second goal, however, was a clever shot against the grain that fooled Mike Smith.
with duncan keith having iced the puck the previous shift, the avalanche get the jump off the draw and valeri nichushkin makes it 2-1. pic.twitter.com/gENS3jza52
— zach laing (@zjlaing) June 5, 2022
Nichushkin coupled that production with his always complete two-way performance, leading Avs forwards in logging a monster 23 minutes, 41 seconds.
What was the key? Colorado came out of a difficult first period on even terms.
Edmonton had a dream start with Connor McDavid scoring less than a minute in. Rogers Place, which has been a fortress for the Oilers in these playoffs, was roaring. Kane’s hit on Kadri sucked some of the momentum and life out of the building, even though Colorado failed to convert on the five-minute power play. The Avs were bending a little bit as they generated just one five-on-five shot in the opening frame (which just so happened to be Nichuskin’s goal), but they didn’t break and had a fantastic penalty kill at the end of the period to preserve the tied score.
Everybody in hockey will tell you that the first period on the road is the toughest storm to weather. It was huge for Colorado to make it past that on even terms despite McDavid’s early goal. That set the table for the Avs to settle in and find their game through the final 40 minutes.
Key stat: Colorado scored three goals and allowed just one when McDavid was on the ice at five-on-five.
With Kadri injured and Burakovsky already out, the Avs’ formidable forward depth wasn’t as big of an advantage anymore — Edmonton now had a greater chance of holding serve in its non-McDavid minutes. That put even more pressure on Colorado to contain McDavid, and it did one better by winning the matchup.
How did the Avs do it?
Devon Toews, Cale Makar and Bowen Byram were fantastic on the back end. Nichushkin also spent 8:10 head-to-head against McDavid at five-on-five in which Colorado held an 8-3 edge in shots and 2-0 advantage in goals.
Moment of the game: Moments before J.T. Compher stepped out of the box to score the game winner, Pavel Francouz absolutely robbed McDavid on the power play.
McDavid shot saved by Francouz#GoAvsGo 2 #LetsGoOilers 2 P3 pic.twitter.com/zpdJ5B0G60
— Sᴘᴏʀᴛs 24/7 (@Sports_24x7_) June 5, 2022
Everybody’s been talking about Evan Bouchard’s shot off the post just prior to Compher’s goal, but this Francouz save was equally critical. If either went in, Edmonton would have been up 3-2 with less than 10 minutes to play.
Instead, Compher, who logged nearly 20 minutes in Kadri’s absence, flew out of the box, won the loose puck battle against Bouchard and sneaked a five-hole shot that Smith would want back.
You NEED to see the full play from box to net. #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/5zr3Y4hkjp
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) June 5, 2022
Moment it was over: Playoff hockey unlocks a new level of desperation from stars. It unleashes the beast within. In past rounds, for example, McDavid was setting the tone by throwing tons of hits. When do we ever see that?
In this one, Mikko Rantanen iced the cake with an outstanding defensive sequence. He intercepted a McDavid pass, lost his stick but then dove with his glove to push the puck out of the zone. Rantanen then perfectly read and picked off a neutral-zone pass to McDavid on the regroup attempt and sealed the deal with an empty net goal.
mikko rantanen eng. 4-2. pic.twitter.com/3jwajk2V3L
— zach laing (@zjlaing) June 5, 2022
Oilers worry meter: 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯… Down 3-0 against this juggernaut Avalanche team is a very scary spot to be.
Avalanche worry meter: 🤠… Colorado continues dominating on the road and is 11-2 in the postseason.
Three stars
On tap for Sunday
Rangers at Lightning, 3 p.m. ET (Rangers lead 2-0)
(Photo of Valeri Nichushkin and
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism