Ryan Hartman wound up with not only the first playoff goal of his career but the winner with 1 minute, 9 seconds left as the Nashville Predators held off the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 on Saturday for a 2-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference series.
Hartman's goal made it 5-3. Alexander Kerfoot pulled Colorado to 5-4 with 35.8 seconds left.
"I knew [P.K. Subban] made a shot toward the net, and I just wanted to be there in case he missed the net to beat out the icing," Hartman said. "Sometimes those pucks don't bounce far enough to the front of the net, luckily it did. Those are the ones you get nervous about, the ones that are laying right there. You just want to make sure you put it in."
The Presidents' Trophy winners triumphed after giving up a goal on Colorado's first shot for a second straight game.
Kevin Fiala had a goal and an assist, and Viktor Arvidsson, Ryan Johansen and Austin Watson scored a goal apiece. P.K. Subban and Mattias Ekholm each had two assists for Nashville, which has won 12 straight over the Avalanche.
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, and Gabriel Bourque and Gabriel Landeskog each added a goal for Colorado.
Game 3 is Monday night.
"We're going to go put our best foot forward," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "To me, if we would clean up a couple of mistakes, we win that hockey game. That's the way I look at it."
