Playoffs Round One, Games 1-4: Colorado vs Medicine Hat

Game 1

Medicine Hat 3 Colorado 2

1st Period
The first period was all the Magicians'. Pisani got a beautiful feed from Sanderson to score a nice wrister, off the post and in. Shortly after Nilsson got a pass from Horcoff to one-time home the second goal of the game. Shots were 14-7 for Colorado.

2nd Period
Contrary to the 1st period, the 2nd belonged to Colorado. LaPerriere and Smyth scored for the Avalanche with assists from Statsny, Sakic, Briesbois, and Hejduk. Shots were 20-12 for Colorado.

3rd Period
With the way the Magicians played in this period the score could've been 20-0 but Theadore kept Colorado all square until, with 15 seconds left Jokinen, faked to the outside and went to the inside, to snipe a slapshot top shelf for the game winner. Game 1 goes to Medicine Hat with the Magicians out shooting Colorado 28-25.

Game 2

Colorado 9 Medicine Hat 5

WARNING: Due to the gross score of the game, no recap will happen, only scoring summaries.

1st Period

Hedjuk (Smyth)
Svatos (Leopold, Wolski)
Grebeshkov (Schremp)
Svatos (Statsny)

Shots 23-16

2nd Period

Wolski (LaPierriere, Statsny)
Pisani (Cheecho, Jokinen)
Turgeon (Svatos, Brunette)
LaPierriere (Statsny, Leopold)
Tjarnqvist (Reasoner, Minikhov)

Shots 28-22

3rd Period

Wolski (LaPierriere, Leopold)
Jokinen (Cheechoo, Tjarnqvist)
Hemsky (Horcoff, Souray)
Hedjuk Injured
Smyth (Unassisted)
Turgeon (Svatos)

Shots 33-25

Announced right after the game, due to the inconsistency of both Garon and Mueller, 21 year old rookie goalie, Devan Dubnyk will be called up and starting as long as he plays well.

Game 3

Medicine Hat 4 Colorado 1

1st Period
Dubnyk knew this was his chance to show he can be a future starter. The first period started out with domination by Medicine Hat. Two minutes in Stoll made a nice fore check to cough the puck up to Hemsky, who backhanded a high glove side goal. Stoll was not credited with the assist. Minutes later some nice passing by Horcoff and Cheechoo set up a one time goal by Jarret Stoll. At the end of the first the shots were 7-4 for the Magicians.

2nd Period
The Magicians continued to dominate on the score board in the 2nd, when early on a one-time pass from Souray to Stoll, set up Cheechoo in front to score a goal through the five-hole. After facing a flurry of shots, Thedore couldn't handle the shot by Hemsky, assisted by Stoll and Pisani. Dubnyk faced many shots, including a onslaught of 8 shots by the Avalanche, where he turned away every shot. Shots were 14-14 after two.

3rd Period
Colorado pressured Dubnyk a lot this period, to the point where he cracked and let in a hard snap shot by Joe Sakic, assisted by LaPierriere and Smyth. There were many more shots by Colorado but Dubnyk turned away 13 shots in the period to gain his first career NHL win. Shots were 27-21 for Colorado, earning Dubnyk 3rd Star.

Game 4

Medicine Hat 4 Colorado 1

1st Period
A very slow period with not many shots had only one highlight, with Thedore making a nice diving save on Ales Hemsky. Shots were 7-3 for Colorado.

2nd Period
The second period was a very undisciplined one by Medicine Hat, who let Colorado get two 5-3s, but ended up killing them off and even scoring a goal. Hemsky got a nice feed from Stoll and took a slap shot from the wing to beat Thedore. Also assisted by Souray. Shots are 15-9 for Colorado.

3rd Period
This was a very exciting period, which started off with some nice passing by Stoll and Hemsky to set up Horcoff for the early 2-0 lead in the 3rd. But less then 2 minutes later Wolski got a feed from Svatos to poke it through Dubnyk's five hole to end his shut out. A nice pass by Souray at the 10 minute mark sprung Sanderson on a break, but couldn't get a shot off before getting hauled down, giving him a Penalty Shot. Sanderson made no mistake and faked to his forehand before backhanding a beauty in. With time running down Colorado unleashed a flurry of shots with no success which then caused another goal by Medicine Hat. This time Nilsson got it, assisted by Horcoff and Reasoner. Game over with 1st star going to Dubnyk for turning away 30 shots.

Dubnyk was announced as the starter for the remainder of the Playoffs after the game.