By Canadian Press

Avalanche rout Coyotes 7-1 in Game 5 to win 1st-round series

Aug 19, 2020 | 5:26 PM

EDMONTON — Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and two assists, Nazem Kadri also scored twice and the Colorado Avalanche routed the Arizona Coyotes 7-1 on Wednesday to close out the first-round playoff series in five games.

Colorado, the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, took control of the series with a Game 4 blowout and skated into the next round with three first-period goals in Game 5.

Kadri scored two goals for the second straight game, both in the first period, and finished with five in the series. Samuel Girard also had a goal in the first and MacKinnon scored twice in 58 seconds of the second to put Colorado up 5-0.

J.T. Compher had a goal and an assist, Nikita Zadorov also scored and Philipp Grubauer stopped 23 shots to clinch the series 4-1.

Clayton Keller scored his fourth goal of the post-season for Arizona and Darcy Kuemper allowed six goals on 30 shots before being replaced by Antti Raanta in the third period.

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Arizona tried to stay alive in the series without two of its best offensive players.

Leading scorer Nick Schmaltz missed his ninth straight game with a head injury and top goal scorer Conor Garland sat out after being injured in Game 4 against Colorado.

The Coyotes never had a chance to get anything going offensively against Colorado’s relentless pressure — just like in Game 4.

Colorado embarrassed Arizona in that game to take control of the series, scoring three goals in the first period of a 7-1 win.

The Avs kept their lines rolling into Game 5, putting the Coyotes on the heels while creating scoring chances and penalties.

Kadri scored 4 1/2 minutes in on a power play, one-timing a shot from the slot on a feed from Gabriel Landeskog behind the net.

Arizona committed another penalty and the Avalanche again capitalized, going up 2-0 on Girard’s shot from near the blue line through a screen.

Kadri had Kuemper whacking his stick against the goal after the Coyotes bunched up in the neutral zone and left him alone for a breakaway.

The avalanche continued in the second period.

MacKinnon, a Hart Trophy finalist, scored on a slap shot from the right circle midway through and made it 5-0 from near the same spot on a power play. Zadorov closed out the second with his first goal of the post-season.

Notes: Colorado C Vladislav Namestnikov missed his third straight game after being injured in Game 2. … Kuemper faced 34.2 shots per game in the series despite sitting out two full periods. … MacKinnon has a point in all eight post-season games, Colorado’s longest streak to open the playoffs since Peter Forsberg and Milan Hejduk in 2001.

UP NEXT

Colorado moves on to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Arizona’s top priority will be to hire a general manager after John Chayka resigned just before the post-season started.

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The Associated Press