The beauty and brutality of NHL playoff hockey crashed like waves Monday for Avalanche rookie Cale Makar.
Nineteen seconds into the third period of Game 4 against the Coyotes, Makar scooped an open puck at his blue line, reached top-speed, slipped Arizona defenseman Alex Goligoski with silly stick work and backhanded the puck over the right pad of goalie Antti Raanta.
Several minutes later, with the Avs up 6-1, Nathan Mackinnon slammed Coyotes forward Christian Fischer to the ice in a skirmish ignited by Arizona forward Lawson Crouse cross-checking Makar face-first into the boards.