They should have worn the Nordiques and North Stars jerseys for this one.
The Colorado Avalanche, fresh off a defensive grind against the Los Angeles Kings in the opening round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, held off the Minnesota Wild, 9-6, in a chaotic Game 1 of their second-round series that looked more like something out of the 1980s featuring Quebec and the former Minnesota franchise.
Cale Makar scored twice as part of a 3-point night and Devon Toews had a goal and three assists as Avalanche defenseman scored five times in a back-and-forth contest Sunday night at Ball Arena. Scott Wedgewood made 30 saves, but allowed more goals than he did during the four-game sweep of the Kings.
“if you scripted that one then, like, I don’t know how you (did),” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “I can’t explain it.”
Makar, who missed most of the first period after an awkward hit behind the Avs net, answered a huge game from Quinn Hughes with the go-ahead goal at 3:21 of the third period. Makar collected a pass from Nathan MacKinnon and wired a shot from the right circle. It was the third straight game with a goal for Makar.
Nazem Kadri added the extra point at 5:43 of the third when he beat Minnesota goaltender Jesper Wallstedt with a shot on a partial breakaway. That became the game-winning goal when Matt Boldy backhanded the puck from the blue line and it took a wacky bounce befitting this acid trip of a hockey game off Mats Zuccarello and in.
Makar added an insurance goal with 2:54 remaining, and then MacKinnon added an empty-netter for his third point of the night.
No lead is safe in Game 1
Both goaltenders were excellent in the first round, but whether we’ll see Filip Gustavsson or Mackenzie Blackwood in Game 2 on Tuesday night remains a pending storyline.
“I don’t think we’re going to see that again,” Makar said. “Just was probably a one-off. I like that we were able to stick with it and find a way to win in obviously a unique way.”
Nick Blankenburg, in the lineup for the injured Josh Manson, made his first NHL playoff goal a memorable one to give Colorado a 4-2 lead at 4:16 of the middle period. Blankenburg was near the Colorado net when the Avs gained possession and then proceeded to race past three Wild players and collect a pass from Valeri Nichushkin as he drove to the Wild net and then flicked one over Wallstedt.
For the second time in this game, it appeared the Avs were in control. They were not.
Minnesota scored the next three goals to take a 5-4 lead. Vladimir Tarasenko scored with one hand on his stick, a move made famous by Avalanche legend Peter Forsberg at the 1994 Winter Olympics, to cut Colorado’s lead to one at 6:45 of the second.
Hughes tied the contest at 12:43 of the second when he went right, then cut back to the left along the top of the zone and sent a shot past a perfectly executed screen by Nick Foligno.
Nick’s brother, Marcus Foligno, gave the Wild their first lead when he scored shorthanded at 16:55. Kadri tried to leave the puck for MacKinnon at the top-left corner of the offensive zone, but it went by him, and Foligno scored on the breakaway.
Toews got that one back 69 seconds later. It wasn’t officially a power-play goal because Brock Faber had just stepped out of the box when Toews’ shot from the top of the zone found an opening.
“At 5-5, it’s, it’s simple for me — you’ve got to dig in defensively,” Bednar said. “And it wasn’t puck decisions. We had some lost battles. We were soft in some areas. And then the details of our game, we were giving up scoring chances on things that we’ve been doing the same way for 3, 4, 5, 6 years, and then just making mistakes on it.”
A fast start for the Avs
Colorado roared to a 3-0 lead in the opening period with three goals in a span of 2 minutes, 1 second.
Martin Necas set up Lakeville, Minn., native Sam Malinski for the first goal of the series at 11:12 of the first. Malinski, who missed a big chunk of the second period after taking a puck in the mouth, snapped one from the right faceoff dot into the top right corner past Wallstedt for his first career NHL postseason goal.
Jack Drury, who came with Necas from the Carolina Hurricanes in a trade for Mikko Rantanen in January 2025, made it a 2-0 lead 52 seconds later. Logan O’Connor forced a turnover in the right corner of the Minnesota zone and then sent a pass to Drury. He faked a shot and then fired one past Wallstedt for his first goal of this postseason.
Artturi Lehkonen made it a three-goal advantage with a power-play goal 69 seconds later. MacKinnon carried the puck into the zone, went by two Minnesota players and put a shot on net. He collected his own rebound as he was heading towards the right corner and sent a pass back to Lehkonen, who was wide open in the left circle as all five Wild players on the ice were focused on MacKinnon.
Ball Arena was rocking at that point, but this rollercoaster ride was just getting started.
Marcus Johansson started the comeback at 15:02 of the first. He threw the puck towards the net from along the goal line, and then intercepted a get-it-out-of-danger flick from Nicolas Roy. Johansson turned and sent a shot through a crowd to make it a 3-1 game.
Ryan Hartman made it 3-2 just 62 seconds later. Hughes had the puck in the left corner and backhanded a pass to a wide-open Hartman at the edge of the crease. Wedgewood appeared to initially stop Hartman’s shot, but it trickled through his equipment and across the goal line.
“Listen, it was a crazy game,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog said. “Letap just call it what it is. … So now we’ll enjoy this one tonight and then tomorrow, we’ll sort out what we can do better and what we did well and what we can keep working on.”
