The Montreal Canadiens punched thier ticket to the second round, meanwhile the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild faced off in a high scoring affair for Game 1.
Montreal Canadiens 2, Tampa Bay Lightning 1
Montreal Wins Series 4-3
The Montreal Canadiens have officially completed the upset. In a high-stakes Game 7 at Amalie Arena, the Canadiens relied on a stifling defensive system and timely scoring to eliminate the Tampa Bay Lightning. Nick Suzuki finally scored his first goal of the series, tipping in a long-range shot from Kaiden Guhle, to put Montreal out in front. After posting a measly four shots in the opening frame, the Canadiens mustered up…no shots on goal in the second. It marked the first time in the team’s history it failed to put a puck on net in the playoffs. Dominic James deflected a Charle D’Astous shot for his second of the series, tying the game with several minutes to go in the middle frame. In the third, Alex Newhook batted the puck out of the air from behind the goal line, off Andrei Vasilevskiy, and into the net to give his team the lead again, ultimatley the winner.
Colorado Avalanche 9, Minnesota Wild 6
Colorado Leads Series 1-0
In Game 1 of the second round, the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Minnesota Wild 9-6 in one of the highest-scoring playoff games in modern history. The contest featured 14 different goal scorers, a feat that hasn’t been achieved in the NHL playoffs since 1993. It also marked just the 10th time in league history that a postseason game reached a combined 15 goals. Cale Makar remained a dominant force with a three-point night, while Devon Toews led all skaters with four points. In total, six different Avalanche players recorded multi-point efforts, overwhelmed a Wild defensive unit that had no answers for Colorado's depth.