After meticulously crafting a hockey team as beautiful as an ice sculpture, Joe Sakic must watch the rest of the NHL try to take a hammer to his Avalanche during the Stanley Cup playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to be fun,\u201d Sakic told me Sunday.<\/p>\n
With that guarantee, the 56-year-old Avs executive stepped off the elevator, and Super Joe headed to his box high above the ice in Ball Arena to watch the L.A. Kings try to knock the stuffing out of Colorado in the opener of the most grueling postseason in sports.<\/p>\n
Did Sakic say fun?<\/p>\n
Playoff hockey is brutal.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s only fun if you win.<\/p>\n
Against Kings who would rather sucker punch defenseman Cale Makar than skate with Colorado, the Avs prevailed 2-1 in precisely the type of rough-and-tumble hockey this highly skilled team must survive if it wants to hoist the Cup.<\/p>\n
One win down; 15 to go. This W wasn\u2019t pretty, which is precisely why it was so rewarding \u2014 and promising \u2013 for the Avalanche.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would agree with you 100 percent,\u201d Colorado captain Gabe Landeskog said, after the media scrum departed his locker, allowing him to exhale after an afternoon of old-time, grind-it-out hockey.<\/p>\n
These Avs seem far better equipped to survive the long postseason grind than at any time since they last won a championship back in 2022.<\/p>\n
There are a number of reasons why that\u2019s the case, but Captain Landy made the case late in the third period when he scuffled with Swedish countryman Adrian Kempe, who had tried to bully Makar by slapping Colorado\u2019s all-world defenseman in the back of the head only minutes earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as countrymen in a playoff series like this,\u201d Landeskog said.<\/p>\n
L.A., which has lived and died all season long in tight-checking, one-score games, got what it wanted in Game 1 of this best-of-seven series.<\/p>\n
From the jump, the Kings looked to be playing for a tie, hoping to capitalize on a single shot or mistake that would ultimately tilt the outcome in their favor.<\/p>\n
But the Avs never gave Los Angeles that satisfaction.<\/p>\n
A Colorado team still often accused of over-reliance on pretty hockey now embraces the idea of getting down and dirty in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re more than happy to play that way. We\u2019re comfortable playing that way. We\u2019ll check with the best of them,\u201d Landeskog. \u201cThe Kings are a good team. It was a hard-fought game. But we didn\u2019t give an inch.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Avs own the most dangerous offense in the league, but both of their scores against L.A. were precisely the blood, sweat and tears type of goals that so often decide a playoff game.<\/p>\n
Arturri Lehkonen erased the zeroes on the scoreboard more than 15 minutes deep into the second period, when he outworked Kings ace defenseman Drew Doughty for a rebound off a shot that Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon fired at goalie Anton Forsberg from an impossibly bad angle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how (Lehkonen) scores,\u201d Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. \u201cHe goes to the net, he hangs around the net. He has a knack for coming up with pucks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NHL playoffs aren\u2019t always art. So you keep throwing biscuits at the basket in the hope one will stick so hard it lights the lamp.<\/p>\n
The regular season is when all-stars sell tickets. The postseason is when it seems that, more often than not, a role player wins the game.<\/p>\n
And two role players came up big for Colorado.<\/p>\n
Goalie Scott Wedgewood, making the first playoff start of his career at age 33, was rock solid between the pipes for the Avalanche, making 24 saves.<\/p>\n
\u201cLate bloomer,\u201d said Colorado teammate Logan O\u2019Connor, giving a tip of the cap as heartfelt as the loud \u201cWedgie, Wedgie\u201d chants that frequently rocked the arena.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Connor, a fourth-line hustle dude, pounced on a L.A. turnover at the 5:50 mark of the third period to give the Avs a two-goal cushion that allowed them to survive a late onslaught by the desperate Kings.<\/p>\n
This score was a long time coming for O\u2019Connor, who missed almost the entire regular season while recovering from hip surgery and a soft-tissue injury. How long? It was the first goal by the 29-year-old University of Denver alum in 358 days.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuper happy to get it out of the way,\u201d O\u2019Connor said.<\/p>\n
In defeat, the Kings congratulated themselves for robbing the beauty from the Avalanche\u2019s game and vowed to play more ugly hockey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be more physical,\u201d Los Angeles interim coach D.J. Smith said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the same stuff Bednar and his players have heard 100 times before in the playoffs. Far less skilled than the Avs, L.A.\u2019s only chance to win is to beat them with their sticks.<\/p>\n
The Kings have no chance to be champs, but they will serve a useful purpose as a nuisance.<\/p>\n
These Kings are clowns, needed as practice for the real hockey battles that lie ahead in the Avalanche\u2019s quest for the Cup.<\/p>\n
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