Matt Calvert's Sacrifice Play for the Avalanche

During the regular season, we watch players take hits along the boards or in front of the net for the purpose of creating room for their teammates to score goals. Well, Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Calvert did such a thing during game two of their series versus San Jose Sunday night. But this was no ordinary hit he received, such as being hit in the corner chasing a loose puck to create a quick transition play for his team. No, Calvert stepped up through the middle of his defensive zone heading towards a much bigger man in Brent Burns. What ensued is exactly what you would expect, he received a massive open-ice hit from the Sharks' big man, but before doing so made an awesome stretch pass to a streaking Nathan MacKinnon who buried an empty netter.

That just shows us the heart of a player by stepping into the path of possible injury just to allow his team to win. And make no mistake Calvert's play was almost in vain due to the fact San Jose was able to net another putting the game at a 4 to 3 score before time ran out. Luckily goaltender Philipp Grubauer and the rest of the Avalanche were able to hold on to their lead and tie the series at ones heading back to Denver. So in hindsight, if Calvert didn't sacrifice himself the way he did and San Jose still scored that third goal, who knows what would have happened in those dying seconds or overtime if needed.

As mentioned it takes everything to win a playoff game, not just scoring goals. Here is a clip of the play below, be sure to watch Burns lay his body into Calvert and lets hope he's back on the ice for game three Tuesday night.

Matt Calvert just ran into the brick wall known as Brent Burns pic.twitter.com/AEwSjPDB0f

— Sam Raycraft (@sraycraft1) April 29, 2019