After the Avalanche gamely fought them for five games, the Predators marched into Colorado on Sunday and blasted them to smithereens. Nashville’s 5-0 win ended the teams’ Western Conference quarterfinal in six games. Having dispatched the plucky Avalanche, they’ll play an excellent Jets team in the second round.
The Predators were only playing this game because the Avalanche had stolen Game 5 in Nashville two nights earlier with a pair of late goals. The Preds were the better team on the ice in that game, but Avalanche goalie Andrew Hammond made an absurd 44 saves on 45 shots, and his team managed to stave off elimination and get a flicker of hope.
But Game 6 was an onslaught from the start. The first goal the Predators scored didn’t count, with officials ruling that they’d interfered with Hammond before Kyle Turris collected a loose puck and casually fired it home. They scored one that counted a few minutes later, when Mattias Ekholm blasted a slapper past Hammond from 44 feet.
The Predators were only playing this game because the Avalanche had stolen Game 5 in Nashville two nights earlier with a pair of late goals. The Preds were the better team on the ice in that game, but Avalanche goalie Andrew Hammond made an absurd 44 saves on 45 shots, and his team managed to stave off elimination and get a flicker of hope.
But Game 6 was an onslaught from the start. The first goal the Predators scored didn’t count, with officials ruling that they’d interfered with Hammond before Kyle Turris collected a loose puck and casually fired it home. They scored one that counted a few minutes later, when Mattias Ekholm blasted a slapper past Hammond from 44 feet.
