The Colorado Avalanche shutout the Edmonton Oilers to take a 2-0 lead in Game 2 of their series tonight. The goaltending was the story of the first period. Pavel Francouz stopped all 13 shots he faced but Mike Smith did just the same on the other side, stopping 14 shots. Despite a goalless first period that was neck-and-neck, the Avalanche completely dominated the rest of the game.
To start the second period, Artturi Lehkonen opened the scoring with a goal 3:58 into the period:
And that’s not all! Just 15 seconds later Josh Manson scooped another goal to get the Avs at a 2-0 lead just 4:13 into the second period.
Mikko Rantanen did not leave them alone for long. Just about 2 minutes later, Rantanen added a goal of his own to give the Avalanche a chill 3-0 lead in just a matter of minutes:
The Avs continued to pepper Smith with shots but none passed by him. Francouz continued his shutout, stopping all 6 shots Edmonton managed to send his way. The building was absolutely losing its mind for this kid. He has been phenomenal every time the Avalanche needed him to step up. He kept up the incredible work into the third period.
He got some help from Nate MacKinnon when the kid was able to net his 10th postseason goal on the power play 15:20 into the final frame.
He found just the perfect spot to grab a goal and suddenly it’s looking like the Avs have it in the bag. The Oilers just could not spark a comeback tonight. But that did lead to Francouz getting his first shutout this postseason which is great momentum for him. If Darcy Kemper is out for a while, the Avs are going to need him to keep at this pace.
Nazem Kadri had another incredible game. He had an assist on all 3 goals in the second period along with 4 shots on net and 16:39 in ice time. The Oilers guys had nothing going tonight. They started strong but fizzled as the Avs kept getting on the score sheet. The Avalanche will now be heading up to Alberta for Game 3 so it will be interesting to see if the hometown crowd can rally these guys back on track.
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Featured Image: Colorado Avalanche Twitter
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