Avalanche Beat Sharks 4-3, Landeskog Scores OT Game-Winner

NHL playoffs in the Western Conference are amazing this season. Both semifinals will see Game 7. After tonight’s 4-3 overtime win, Colorado Avalanche avoided an elimination and set Game 7 of their series against the San Jose Sharks.

Gabriel Landeskog scored that decisive goal with 2:32 into the overtime, sparking an eruption of joy in Pepsi Center. For Colorado’s captain himself, this was the first time in career to score an overtime goal in one postseason match.

“Never had an OT goal in the playoffs before, so to do that on home ice, no doubt is very exciting,” said Landeskog.

His Avalanche led three times during the game, but couldn’t break the feisty Sharks who kept coming back. The guests from California showed an enormous amount of resilience and stubbornness, responding each time when the home team made some move.

Still, the hosts knew that there is no second chance waiting for them if they fail to win here. That mindset forced them to go beyond limits, which eventually paid off in the best possible way.

“It was a huge effort by our team tonight,” said JT Compher said. “We knew it was win or go home, and a bunch of guys stepped up tonight.”

Compher scored two goals and had one assist, covering up the absence of the hosts’ attacking trio – MacKinnon, Rantanen, and Landeskog. These three guys were under a massive pressure during the entire night, and even Landeskog’s goal wasn’t a product of his great play but a lucky turn of events.

Cale Makar was in fact, the guy who set up the goal, and Landeskog was there just to execute it.

In general, the second and third line of Avalanche won the game tonight, and all the voices who were saying that Colorado lacks depth are silenced after this event.

Logan Couture commented that during the post-game interview.

“I mean, their depth guys beat us tonight,” Couture said. “We got beat by J.T. Compher, Tyson Jost, their second and third lines.

On the other side, Marc-Edouard Vlasic also had two goals, and the second of those hits tied the game 2:28 before the end. The 12th season veteran was playing one of his best playoff performances, but his team ended up short in the end.

The game was played in waves, and after the first period in which there wasn’t anything interesting but a few minor penalties, the second brought four goals, two on each side. Three were in the last five and a half minutes of that sequence.

Game 7 will take place at the SAP Center, this Wednesday. The odds are not so high for the Avalanche who have only one win in California in the past four years. That was in Game 2 of this series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heBzHfc2exA

Avalanche players are feeling confident, and they don’t have too much of a pressure on their shoulders, unlike their rivals. San Jose was in some ways expected to go deep into the postseason, but nobody saw Colorado here. They caught the last train for the playoffs, then had to face the No.1 seed in the West, Calgary Flames, and now this.

Captain Landeskog mentioned that to the journalists when they asked him about Game 7.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to … 60 minutes away from the Western Conference Final. I mean, who would have thought [it] before the season.”

To be honest, just a few people.

Avalanche is not great in Game 7. They have 4 wins and 6 losses, but one of their biggest successes in history came after the 7th match. Some 18 years ago, they defeated the New Jersey Devils and won the Stanley Cup.

But what isn’t speaking in their favor is the record on the road, 0-3. The majority of circumstances are against them, which is their biggest strength.

They don’t have to do anything, while Sharks have big expectations.

Anyway, don’t miss Game 7. It starts at 7 p.m. PDT on Wednesday.