The Colorado Avalanche have been a juggernaut all season, posting the NHL's best regular-season record and opening the playoffs with a perfect 6-0 run. But in Tuesday night's 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild, they showed a new edge: a willingness to get physical, and downright nasty.
In the playoffs, the tougher team often prevails—something the Dallas Stars learned firsthand when Minnesota wore them down with brute force in the first round. Now, the Avs are flipping the script. Leading 3-1 in the third period of Game 2 at Ball Arena, Colorado shifted from high-flying offense to hard-hitting defense, much to the delight of a sellout crowd braving a May snowstorm outside.
The hits came fast and furious. Brock Nelson leveled Wild center Ryan Hartman with a clean, bone-rattling check in front of the net. Nathan MacKinnon sent star forward Matt Boldy crashing headfirst into the boards—no penalty called. Former Wild defenseman Brent Burns drilled Kirill Kaprizov into the sideboards, then followed up with a kick to a sensitive area that left the Wild star hobbling.
Tempers flared after the whistle when Colorado's Parker Kelly accidentally punched a linesman, then deliberately dropped Boldy with a right hand. No penalties on either play. Later, MacKinnon caught Quinn Hughes in open ice and simply knocked him flat, sparking a roar from the crowd.
"It doesn't hurt. I don't know about setting the tone, but it's what the game requires this time of year," said Avalanche coach Jared Bednar. "They're a big, physical team. Yep, I get it. But we're not small. Look at our top-six—it's not small. We've got strong guys who aren't afraid of physicality."
Kaprizov, still shaking off the low blow from Burns, delivered his own message late in the game, catching Colorado defenseman Cale Makar with a stick to the face. No penalty there, either. A reminder that in this series, neither side is wearing a halo.
By the final horn, the Wild had been beaten and beaten up. While no one in Minnesota's locker room admitted to frustration, one player acknowledged the Avs' physical game is making a statement. For a team already dominating on the scoreboard, adding a hard-nosed edge makes them even more dangerous as the postseason rolls on.