There’s no truth to the rumor that Game 1 of this playoff series between the Avs and the Minnesota Wild was why marijuana was legalized in Colorado.
At 7 minutes, 27 seconds into overtime, center Paul Stastny blasted home a goal to make it Colorado 5, Minnesota 4, in a game the Avs had absolutely no business winning.
“That’s the kind of game you dream of winning when you’re a kid,” Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson said Thursday.
Whoa, dude.
“We just wanted to finish the job,” added Stastny, his eyes as wide as a kid’s on Christmas morning.
Smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em. Overtime in the NHL playoffs can turn anybody into a cannibist.
Trailing by a goal with 3 minutes, 1 second remaining in the third period, Avalanche coach Patrick Roy pulled his goalie, summoning Semyon Varlamov to the bench, risking an empty net to give Colorado a man advantage on the attack.
It was audacious.
It smelled of desperation.
And, some way, some how, it worked.
It took Johnson chasing down a shot at Colorado’s empty net like a man scrambling across a windy parking lot to grab a $50 bill. So credit Johnson with a save so memorable it will instantly be part of franchise lore.
“We were 2 inches away from losing that game,” said Stastny, saluting Johnson’s play.
It caused every heart in the Pepsi Center to skip a beat.
Down to the final 14 seconds of regulation time, Stastny slipped the puck by Minnesota goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, a space case as big as the universe.
“I didn’t even know how much time was left,” Stastny admitted. “But the crowd gets so loud, you know time is running out.”
If you trust Bryzgalov to nail down a victory under pressure, can I interest you in a great deal on a black hole somewhere beyond Pluto?
A football town got all dressed up and attended its first NHL playoff game in four years. Why not us? For much of the evening, it was more like: What the heck? Nobody told Denverites they were going to see the Avalanche of 2011. For more than two periods, the guys in burgundy and blue were painful to watch.
The Avs of Roy were confident and freewheeling all season long, while establishing themselves as the feel-good, didn’t-see-this-coming surprise story of the NHL.
But playoff hockey is not freewheeling. Playoff hockey will find every shadow of doubt in a player’s soul. A hard-earned, home-ice advantage can be gone in a blink of an eye, or in a three-goal period, like the Wild blitz that rocked Colorado in the second period of this best-of-seven series.
On a Colorado team with defensive issues, Varlamov had saved the Avalanche’s bacon all season. In appreciation, the Avs immediately threw Varly from the pan into the fire during Game 1.
At the Colorado blue line, #whynotus opened the postseason #withoutaclue. When Minnesota winger Erik Haula walked in on a defenseless Varlamov to put the Wild ahead 3-2 at 16:08 of the second period, there quickly ceased to be a celebration for the Avs, who got down to tense, tough work.
Teenage sensation Nathan MacKinnon has the stuff that can leave an arena in breathless awe. His beautiful pass to set up a score by Avs teammate Ryan O’Reilly was suitable for framing. It was one of three assists for the rookie.
But experience counts for something in the NHL playoffs. The Wild can stand behind Zach Parise, who has been there and done that from the Stanley Cup Finals to the Winter Olympics.
In a series where there will be no love lost and no holds barred, the Avalanche need a veteran like Stastny to step up and earn his $6.6 million salary. That’s not criticism. In the playoffs, a money player absolutely must be worth every cent.
That gap-toothed smile plastered across the face of Stastny after the game-winning goal?
Priceless.
Mark Kiszla: mkiszla@denverpost.com or twitter.com/markkiszla
