Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 18: Avalanche race past Wild for 2-0 series lead
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are back, which means that for the next two months, we’ll get non-stop action as we witness 16 teams get whittled down to the one that will be crowned as the 2026 Stanley Cup champions. Here at Daily Faceoff, we’ll be keeping you in the loop on everything that happens in the playoffs, every day until the Stanley Cup is hoisted in June.
The second round is in full swing, as teams vie to inch closer to their respective conference finals, with a follow-up to an electrifying Game 1 taking place on Monday night.
Necas leads Avalanche to 5-2 win over Wild
After a bonkers 9-6 showdown that went to the Colorado Avalanche over the Minnesota Wild in Game 1, the insanity was dialed back considerably on Tuesday night, but the end result was the same.
It looked like it might be another night full of fireworks early, as Martin Necas got the scoring started for the home team when he took a feed from Nathan MacKinnon and darted through the middle of the offensive zone before placing a nifty backhand in behind Filip Gustavsson, who got the nod over rookie Jesper Wallstedt after he allowed eight on Sunday night.
Necas opens the scoring! 🎥: Sportsnet
Just six seconds later, Kirill Kaprizov made his presence felt with a crafty wrist shot after seamlessly going skate-to-stick on the entry at the blue line that leveled the score at one apiece with his third goal of the postseason.
KAPRIZOV TIES IT UP SIX SECONDS LATER!!!!! 🎥: Sportsnet
Less than six minutes after that, Colorado’s hot-and-cold power play broke the tie when MacKinnon fed captain Gabriel Landeskog in the slot for a quick tap-in past Gustavsson.
That three-goal run in the first portion of the first period finally gave way to a more structured style of hockey for the first time in the series, as neither team found the back of the net again until the second, when trade deadline acquisition Nicolas Roy showed why Chris MacFarland was willing to move a first-round pick for him with a tally to give his team a two-goal lead.
Nic Roy doubles the lead! 🎥: Sportsnet
The rest of the second period went by without a goal, as Colorado settled into a more mature game bolstered by timely saves from Scott Wedgewood, who never allowed Minnesota a moment of hope for a rally to get back in.
MacKinnon plunged the dagger with a one-time goal on the power play with 6:42 to go in the third to make it 4-1 for his third point of the night.
Marcus Johansson got the Wild within two, but Minnesota could draw no closer before Valeri Nichushkin hit the empty net from long range in the dying seconds.
The Wild are up against it now, but they’ll have plenty of time to regroup, as the two teams will have an unprecedented three days off between games as the series shifts back to the State of Hockey for Game 3 on Saturday night.