Overview
- The Avalanche won 5-2 in Game 4 on Monday in St. Paul as Mackenzie Blackwood made 19 saves in his first postseason start to put Colorado up 3-1.
- Parker Kelly scored his first playoff goal for the winner at 11:32 of the third period after Jack Drury’s forecheck created the chance.
- Ross Colton ended a long drought to give Colorado a brief 2-1 edge, Nazem Kadri tied it earlier on a power play, and Nathan MacKinnon returned from a puck-to-face scare to add an empty-netter before Brock Nelson finished the scoring.
- Josh Manson drew a double-minor for butt-ending Michael McCarron in a first-period scrum, and the league later fined him $5,000, the maximum allowed under the CBA.
- Colorado scratched Artturi Lehkonen and Sam Malinski late with upper-body injuries, inserted Joel Kiviranta, gave defenseman Jack Ahcan his playoff debut, and now has 20 goals from 15 different scorers through four games ahead of Wednesday’s Game 5 in Denver on TNT.