The Colorado Avalanche were under five minutes away from having their season end on Friday night, trailing the Nashville Predators 1-0 in Game 5 of their first-round series.
But the Avs looked like the desperate, hungry team they were in the moment, and kicked it up a notch in the final minutes.
The Avs had a tremendous, lengthy shift going in the Predators’ zone, and were rewarded for it when Gabriel Landeskog scored on a beautiful feed from Nathan MacKinnon with 4:11 remaining.
And with 1:28 left, the Avs scored what would serve as the game-winning, season-saving goal on this rebound from Sven Andrighetto:
Oh, and this was all with the Avs playing their third-string goalie, Andrew Hammond. The 30-year-old stopped 44 of 45 Nashville shots in a brilliant performance.
So, there will be a Game 6, and that will take place in Denver. The Avs will certainly have the momentum and crowd on their side as they try to force a Game 7.