Cale Makar, man.
Sure, the Preds were mightily outmatched by the Avalanche, and that was before goalkeeper Juuse Saros never made it to the post for the series. Still, Makar was the undisputed star (I = poet who didn’t know) of the series, and last night dragged the Avs to a 5-3 victory that ended the win. The Preds threw their Deathrattle at the Avs and it almost worked. Until Makar decided he’d rather have some time off.
First, he gave the Avs a 2-1 lead in the 2nd period with his wrist tracer Top-Cheese:
And then in the 3rd, after the Avs leveled the game at 3 and the Goobers in the Bridgestone Arena seats tried to push the Preds across the finish line, Makar went down the boards at the spot against Earl Campbell on Yakor Trenin and Als running through the left circle, the whole stadium was scared of a repeat of his Game 1 goal. Which left a fast lane straight to Val Nichushkin (and watch Norris finalist Roman Josi with his stick in the air to open that lane keep):
That capped a 10-point four-game performance from Makar, which included an OT winner in the only game where the Avs really had to sweat.
“Anytime you have a chance to end a team’s season, you take it and run away,” Makar said after the game. “You’re at least trying. We had a lot of ups and downs tonight but we wanted this one. I think our group just showed resilience in general.”
Makar may have to cede the Norris Trophy to Josi just because Josi came close to 100 points, but Makar is playing for the heavier stuff, which is a trophy and a Conn Smythe. It’s the best show there is.
