The real rout of the post season occurred in Edmonton on Monday night with the Colorado Avalanche scoring three times in the first period en route to a 7-1 thrashing of the Arizona Coyotes.
The Avs lead the series, 3-1.
“We have to be hungry for Game 5,” the Avs’ Nathan MacKinnon said. “We have to play desperate like we’re down a game. We have to be ready to close them out in Game 5.”
Nazem Kadri scored twice and had three points in the win.
“I just try to come to play and compete every single night, that’s what good pros do,” Kadri said. “I didn’t have my best game last game and I just wanted to give it everything I had. Got a couple nice breaks early. That makes the rest of the game a little bit easier.”
Philipp Grubauer made 14 saves as the Avs clamped down defensively in addition to the offensive outburst.
Cale Makar, Matt Calvert and Mikko Rantanen had two points each on the night with a goal and assist apiece.
“We were hungry,” Calvert said. “We had so many chances in Game 3 (a 4-2 loss despite 51 shots). It was nice to get that early one and we just kept going from there. Full team effort tonight, and we were having some fun out there scoring some big goals.”
Joonas Donskoi and Matt Nieto also scored for the Avs.
“We know how guys like Cale and MacKinnon can skate,” Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said. “It’s a big goal because it’s the start of the third period and it kind of took the wind out of their sails.”
Jakob Chychrun had the lone goal for the Coyotes.
“We knew going into the series that our goaltender was going to have to play the way he’s been playing, and we were going to have to be absolutely hitting on cylinders,” Arizona’s Derek Stepan said. “Tonight we got a free lesson on what playoff hockey’s really like when you don’t come to play and you don’t get yourself ready to execute.”
[WATCH:Â All Avalanche vs. Coyotes highlights]
Darcy Kuemper made 18 saves; he was relieved in the third period.
“It’s obviously not good enough to come out like that when it’s a 2-1 series and we have the chance to tie the series and it’s a big game for us,” the Coyotes’ Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. “Obviously not good enough. We’ve got to do a better job defending and helping our goalies out. We kind of left them out to dry there.”
Antti Raanta made five saves in a mop up.
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