Balls on the Table

A day before Friday's game, Roy said about game 5: "We need to put our balls on the table."

#BallsontheTable is trending on Twitter in Denver.

Before the game, I asked Brittany several times who was going to win. She said the Avalanche every time.

- - -

Entering the 3rd period, the Avs were up 2-1.

Their first goal, shorthanded. Second, 4 on 4. Hard to score with 5 Avalanche skaters apparently.

And then with two goals two minutes apart, the Wild were winning 3-2 with 13 minutes to play.

With 4:30 to go, our captain gets a 2-minute penalty for giving the Wild goalie a snow shower. Really? Playoffs and the end of the game. I've seen this not get called all regular season.

The Avs kill the penalty and pull Varlamov with 2:15 to play.

With 1:28 the Wild clear the zone and have the start of a 2-on-1 headed toward an empty net...well let's just watch:



Holy shit. They did it again. I believe the Avs had 5 goals this year with the extra attacker. They've gotten two this series.

And it's from Parenteau. Here's what the Avs reporter has thought of him this series:


Parenteau careless passing continues
RT Parenteau turning the puck over every time he touches it doesn't help that line either.
Parenteau been absolutely dreadful so far this series for Avs
Parenteau-O'Reilly-McGinn line doing zero offensively


Good time to step up.

- - -

Of course it doesn't mean anything if you lose in overtime. Let's go to OT:



Who gets it? The youngest player to score a OT playoff goal since the 40's. Your postseason leader in points with 10. (Stastny still in 2nd place with 8.)

So now the Avs are up 3-2. Two of the three wins have been miracle comebacks. This could very easily be Wild in 5. Now we've got Monday in Minnesota. Odds are we'll be back in Denver on Wednesday.