Josh Manson wasn’t supposed to be the hero in overtime when Joe Sakic acquired him before the trade deadline.
Manson, who is known for his defensive prowess, scored the game-winning goal in Game 1 of the series on Tuesday, lifting the Avalanche to a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues.
Colorado dominated the game for practically the whole game, but in the extra period, they outshot the opponent 13-0 in just over eight minutes.
The lone squad that swept through the first round and went a complete week between games did not suffer from rust.
“I thought we worked incredibly hard and the boys were covering for each other,” said Captain Gabriel Landeskog.
“For the most part, we were taking care of the puck.”
Manson’s goal put a stop to yet another one-sided shooting performance.
Avalanche outshot the Blues 54-25 on the one-year anniversary of their Game 1 against the same team last season, after averaging 44 shots per game in the first round.
On the final shift, Landeskog was all over the ice and was instrumental in distracting Blues goalkeeper Jordan Binnington by screening him in front.
Just as Manson’s shot from the point got past the goaltender, Landeskog was able to shift out of the crease at the last second.
“I noticed Mans had a beautiful pump fake up top that he doesn’t get credit for, but it was really nice,” Landeskog remarked.
“He got the forward to bite and was able to get a shooting lane, so I’m just trying to stay in front and move away at the last second.”
The Avs also got goals from Samuel Girard and Valeri Nichushkin after giving up the game’s first goal to Ryan O’Reilly and a late third-period power-play goal to Jordan Kyrou.
Avs, though, continued to play their game despite the late goal.
“All year, we’ve preached to our players about being resilient and psychologically tough,” stated head coach Jared Bednar.
“We came out and immediately got back to work.”
Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves in his return to the Avalanche lineup after suffering an eye injury in Game 3 of the first round.
