from Eric Francis of Sportsnet,
Nathan MacKinnon has officially taken over this series.
The first hint of the Avalanche star’s heroics came at the end of Game 2 when his overtime snipe in Calgary equaled the series.
It was his first goal in 12 shots.
On Monday it snowballed.
By the end of the first period alone the speedy centre had two power play goals, an assist, four shots and he drew a penalty in an easy win to put the Avalanche up 2-1 in the series.
By the end of the period Colorado had outshot Calgary 21-8, outscored them 3-0 and had helped make history when Calgary-born Cale Makar became the first defenceman in NHL lore to make his NHL debut in the playoffs and score a goal in the same game.
From there the Avalanche cruised to a 6-2 win that saw the hosts electrify the Pepsi Center by humiliating a Flames team that would have lost by at least a touchdown had it not been for the brilliance of Mike Smith....
The easy thing would be to point out MacKinnon is the only superstar in the series to play as such, but this one wasn’t on Johnny Gaudreau.
It’s on the entire Flames squad, which promised to be better after Game 2.
They promised to be hungrier.
They promised to be grittier.
They promise to be done in five games if they continue to play like this.
Game highlights are below.
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