Game 1 at Ball Arena was supposed to be a measuring stick. Instead it was a goalie graveyard. Cale Makar scored twice — the second with 2:54 left to make it 8-6 — and Nathan MacKinnon iced it with an empty-netter to put the Avs up 1-0 in the series.
Minnesota walked into this one already shorthanded and it showed. Joel Eriksson Ek (lower body) and Jonas Brodin (lower body) are both out for at least the first two games, which means the Wild are missing their best defensive center AND a top-pair shutdown D against the team that led the league in goals. That's not a hole, that's a canyon. Brodin went down blocking a Mikko Rantanen shot in Game 5 of the Dallas series; Eriksson Ek lost an edge into the boards in Game 6.
- Day-To-DayZach Bogosian D — day-to-day
- OutCharlie Stramel C — Stramel signed a three-year, entry-level contract extension with the Wild on Monday.
- OutJoel Kiviranta LW — Kiviranta (undisclosed) hasn't resumed skating yet, according to Bailey Curtis of DNVR Sports on Sunday.
Colorado isn't fully healthy either — Josh Manson sat Game 1 with an upper-body issue and Joel Kiviranta still hasn't resumed skating — but when MacKinnon and Makar are humming, the margin for the other side basically disappears. MacKinnon paced the league with 53 goals in the regular season and led the Avs in scoring through the first round. He doesn't need a clean sheet from his back end to beat you.
The Wild had actually been trending up — three straight wins to close out Dallas — and now they're staring at a 0-1 hole on the road without their two most important non-Kaprizov players. Filip Gustavsson is going to have to be the best player on the ice in Game 2 or this gets out of hand fast.
The market had this one priced about right pre-puck — Colorado around -192, total at 6.5 — and then both teams blew past the total by the second intermission. If you're a Wild fan looking for a silver lining, six goals is six goals; the offense found a pulse against a Cup favorite. If you're an Avs fan, Makar with a multi-goal night in May is exactly the postcard you wanted.