Game 1 Recap: Explosion of goals ends in Avalanche favor 9-6

DENVER, COLORADO - MAY 03: Artturi Lehkonen #62, Nathan MacKinnon #29, Martin Necas #88 and Nazem Kadri #91 of the Colorado Avalanche celebrate after a goal during the first period against the Minnesota Wild in Game One of the Second Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Ball Arena on May 03, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images A week after sweeping the LA Kings, the Colorado Avalanche were back in action hosting the Minnesota Wild in a pivotal second round opening matchup. And how this game unfolded didn’t disappoint those high expectations with 14 different goal scorers including five defenseman to arrive at the 9-6 win for the Avalanche.

The Game Minnesota may have had a couple early shots on goal but it was all Avalanche after the halfway point as they scored three goals within two minutes. First Sam Malinski took advantage of some open space in the offensive zone to get the home team on the board. Second, Jack Drury deposited the puck in the net after a hard working shift from the fourth line.

After that goal Gabe Landeskog and Brock Faber got into a scuffle and the Wild got the extra penalty. So on the ensuing power play Artturi Lehkonen took advantage of a wide open cage to put Colorado up by three. At that point Colorado could have cruised to an easy victory but the Wild proved why they made it to the second round as they put up their own two-goal barrage just two minutes later.

Both were caused by less than pristine coverage by the Avalanche. First, Marcus Johansson snuck a puck through a jumbled mess at the net front and then Ryan Hartman beat the coverage down low to put the puck past Scott Wedgewood. After all that action, Colorado held a 3-2 lead at the first intermission.