Avalanche Shutout Oilers, Cruise to Game 2 Win

The Colorado Avalanche shut the Edmonton Oilers out in dramatic fashion, winning Game 2 by a score of 4-0 and pushing their series lead to two games.

Well, Game 2 of the Western Conference final was not quite as dramatic as its predecessor. 

The Colorado Avalanche cruised to victory on Thursday night, shutting out the Edmonton Oilers by a score of 4-0 to take a commanding 2-0 series lead as the series shifts to Edmonton. 

Despite missing their starting goaltender after Darcy Kuemper was ruled out with the same upper-body injury that forced him to leave early in Game 1, the Avalanche didn't miss a beat, with Pavel Francouz stepping between the pipes to stop all 24 shots he faced and earn his first postseason shutout. 

The game didn't always look like the rout it ultimately ended up as, however.

Both teams failed to find the net for the first 23 minutes, with the deadlock finally being broken thanks to an Artturi Lehkonen goal that opened the scoring at 3:58 of the second period. From there, the floodgates burst. That marker seemed to be just the spark the Avalanche needed, as they proceeded to surge ahead with another goal just 15 seconds after, this time scored by Josh Manson, before Mikko Rantanen potted his third of the playoffs a mere two minutes later to push the lead to three. 

Nazem Kadri earned a primary assist on all three goals scored in the second period, coming within a span of 164 total seconds, and continued his torrid playoff performance that now has the 30-year-old up to 14 points through 12 games. 

The Oilers, on the other hand, just could not get anything going. 

Jay Woodcroft's squad was outshot badly by a total of 40-24, barely testing an inexperienced Francouz and failing to use their speed to overwhelm Colorado's vaunted defense corps. 

Home ice can change everything. That's been the story of the playoffs to this point, and the Oilers will head back to Edmonton with a burning desire to give their fans something to cheer for. But evening the series will be a tough task, especially given just how dominant the Avalanche have looked through the initial two games.