The first game of the Western Conference Final on Tuesday night wasn’t short of entertainment. The game was simply electric, with a total of 14 goals scored. With just 20 minutes played, the Avalanche were up 3-2, and at one point in the second period, they had scored four more goals to make it a 7-3 game.
The Oilers didn’t give up, though, and with just eight minutes to play, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a power-play goal to make it 7-6. But Gabriel Landeskog scored an open-netter in the game’s final minute to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead in the Conference Final, and everybody just loved what Game 1 had to offer.
But not everyone was impressed.
Now an analyst for the TNT’s NHL coverage, Wayne Gretzky was really fed up with the team’s defensive game.
“I wish I could’ve played this kind of hockey during my playoff days. Teams are just kind off two-on-one, and there’s three-on-two’s all over the ice. Breakaways, breakdowns,” Gretzky said.
He even threw some shade on his own defensive game.
“Listen, I was the most offensive player that ever lived, you gotta play defense, man,” he said.
“That’s how you win the Stanley Cup. I just really, deep down, believe that if you’re to win the Stanley Cup, you got to play better defense.”
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