The roar pierced ears. The noise traveled through Ball Arena as high-pitched screams and full-throat cheers.
When it mattered most, the Avs opened up their chest and showed heart. And guts. Embarrassed in the first period, stifled in the second, the Avs did something that almost never happens in this town with this team.
They clinched a playoff series at home for the first time since 2008, their 4-3 overtime victory over the Minnesota Wild in Game 5 an instant classic.
Did the Avs, known for the last three years as pretty skaters, roll up their sleeves and hammer out one of the most impressive playoff victories in franchise history?
It is difficult to articulate how impressive this rally was. The Avs were vapid after the first 20 minutes. Goalie MacKenzie Blackwood was benched, and the sellout crowd was stunned into silence. They trailed by two goals with 4 minutes left in the game.
Suddenly, a hot mess became Bo Nix against the New York Giants.
Click. Jack Drury redirected a goal. Boom. Nathan MacKinnon rocketed a wrister over Jesper Wallstedt’s shoulder to tie the score at 3 with 1:23 remaining.
“A heck of a shot by an unbelievable player,” Wild coach John Hynes said.
And then Brett Kulak, another one of general manager Chris MacFarland’s impressive in-season additions, delivered the winner after Marty Necas dogwalked a defender before delivering an on-stick assist. It was made more impressive when Necas admitted he wasn’t even supposed to be on the ice, but jumped on when seeing the Avs a man short.
“Marty got his wheels going around the O-zone,” Kulak said, “and I was able to find a perfect spot to get a shot. It was special.”
Every team that wins a Stanley Cup shows cardiovascular resilience. But the Avs beat the Wild into the offseason with dirt-under-the-fingernails grit. Take note, Nuggets. This is what leadership and toughness look like (and why Bruce Brown was booed when shown on the JumboTron).
After wandering through disappointment, injuries and suspensions since winning rings, hockey’s best team is back where it belongs. In the Western Conference Finals. Bring on the Knights and their Renaissance Festival pregame show. Bring on the Ducks and let MacKinnon drown them with his snorkel and flippers.
The Avs could not have scripted this series better. They beat arguably the NHL’s second-best team without having to return to Minnesota. They bought themselves extra rest and they lit their building on fire with unbridled hope.
“Itap gotta be as comebacks, No. 1. That building was special tonight. It was so loud,” MacKinnon said. “Thatap why you play the game. It was a really cool moment for everybody.”
Everything is falling into place. Except for this. You know that one thing that no team wants.
A goal without a plan is just a wish. A team without a goalie is a death wish.
Did you see the Avs sleepwalk through the first period? Despite the kind of win that creates goosebumps, they cannot mask the fact that they have a goalie issue. It is short of a controversy, but it is full of uncertainty.
Blackwood was given a chance to show he is the Avs’ No. 1 goalie with his second straight start. And he yielded three scores in the Wild’s first eight shots, the last one conjuring images of Charmin and demanding his benching.
“When it comes to a goalie switch, in a regular-season game, I would have left Blackwood in there. He was no different than the team. He wasn’t good enough,” coach Jared Bednar said. “I was looking for a spark.”
The crowd seemed to know this was coming. When Blackwood was introduced, he received lukewarm applause. Bednar has acted for weeks like he wants to endorse him. Now, the question is more sobering: Can he trust him?
Or is it time to turn back to Scott Wedgewood? Wedgewood delivered the best bullpen performance of his career. With the defense finally on point, he did his part. He stopped seven shots.
That is all he faced. And exactly what the Avs needed, especially in the second period when one more slipping through would have spelled doom.
What made this night so weird was what preceded it. The Avs were coming off their best game of the postseason. Their walrus was in the net. And it looked like he was trying to stop shots with his tusks instead of his stick.
The burgundy and blue showed up with the same lineup as Monday night in Minnesota and looked completely different until an active second period and frantic final four minutes in the third to tie the score after an icing call created a margin for a comeback.
The way the game ended makes it difficult to talk about anything other than winning. Remember, this team was built to win a championship. Period. Nothing else matters. That is how good the Avs are.
But are they caught in a tangled web because of the growing uncertainty in the net?
Bednar is now batting .500 on his goalie decisions, which happens to be the only hard choice he has had to make this postseason. Sure, he has tinkered with the lines because of injuries to Sam Malinski and Artturi Lehkonen.
Nothing, though, is more delicate and dangerous than switching goalies. He has benched the starter twice in three games. Wedgewood was pulled after underwhelming work in Game 3. However, he was more akin to a pitcher getting yanked when his infielders committed errors behind him.
Blackwood was not good. There is no other way to say it.
Those who believe this hand-wringing is unnecessary point to the 2022 Stanley Cup run that featured Darcy Kuemper and Pavel Francouz.
Going with Blackwood after a win followed a script. Stick with the hot glove.
It nearly burned the coach as the Avs brought a Wild team that was really tired and mostly dead back to life.
“There were moments in the game where we were down, but we had enough guys who were upbeat and positive that dragged other guys into the fight,” Bednar said. “It was a struggle.”
There was no special pill for Minnesota. Blackwood, and a spotty defense on junk in front of the net, provided the smelling salts. Want to know how to mute your home ice advantage? Allow a goal in the first 34 seconds to Marcus Johansson.
The Wild arrived draped in desperation. They wore it like a fitted suit coat. The Avs countered with a listless first period.
But in the end, the Avs won in unforgettable fashion. Heart mattered more than who was in the net.
“This was the most stressful (playoff) win,” Bednar said, “I have ever been a part of.”
