Colorado Avalanche Exceed Expectations Yet Again

NASHVILLE, TN – APRIL 20: The bench of the Colorado Avalanche reacts after scoring the go ahead goal during the third period of a 2-1 Avalanche victory over the Nashville Predators in Game Five of the Western Conference First Round during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bridgestone Arena on April 20, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images) /

The Colorado Avalanche forced game six in the Western Conference’s only competitive series

There were five minutes left in the Colorado Avalanche’s season. That was all they needed. Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen produced one of those shifts Avalanche fans have to come to expect. The dominant ones that define the game. The kind that have been sporadic throughout the series.

They relentlessly controlled the puck in the single most important shift in the Avalanche’s season, and all three got points on the game tying goal. Nathan MacKinnon reminded everyone that he’s the best player in the world, by dissecting the President’s Trophy winners and making it look easy. A few minutes later, JT Compher and Sven Andrighetto connected on the game winner, and we’re going to game six.

As an added bonus, current persona non grata PK Subban was victimized on both goals. His antics in this series have made him fun to cheer against, in a love-to-hate him kind of way. Others might just hate him, but that’s fine. Part of the fun of the playoffs is irrationally hating good players on the other team.

The Colorado Avalanche yet again defied and redefined expectations of them with their gutsy game 5 win. They’re now 2-0 in elimination games (regular season and playoffs), and if they can pull out one more on home ice, they can set up one of the least likely game sevens in recent memory.

Related Story: Avs Win Game 5

Underdogs?

Show of hands: who thought this would be the only Western Conference series to go past five games? Last year, the Colorado Avalanche were the era’s worst team. Now they have twice as many wins as the West’s other three underdogs, combined. Against a Stanley Cup favourite. Meanwhile, two of their top defenders, and their top two goalies have all missed time.

They’ve also snapped a couple of ignominious streaks in the process. The NBC broadcasters loved to point out that Nashville had won 12 straight games against the Avalanche. That ended in game three. The Avalanche also hadn’t won a playoff road game since 2010. That ended in game five. Their last win was eight years ago, in game one against the Sharks, when Chris Stewart and TJ Galiardi were top line players for Colorado.

They lost the next seven road games over 8 seasons. And they sure didn’t look competitive in Minnesota four years ago. Boy did that change this year. The only game that wasn’t close was game three.

The Colorado Avalanche were expected to show up, do themselves proud, and go away quietly. Instead, the rest of the conference is waiting on them. And, if it wasn’t for some bad luck, the Avalanche could already be through.

How?

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How are the Colorado Avalanch doing this? If not for a couple bad bounces, a couple bad mistakes and/or a couple bad calls, the Avalanche could have won this series already. And that’s without Erik Johnson and Semyon Varlamov. The two most important guys at keeping the puck out of the net aren’t playing, yet the Avalanche are giving the Nashville Predators all they can handle.

Colorado’s hit three posts at big moments in the last two games. They had a couple more chances in game one that looked like certain goals. Meanwhile a puck going way wide bounces off Filip Forsberg and finds its way in. Nick Bonino catches a rebound on his skate and it slides just past Andrew Hammond. The ‘it’s a game of inches’ adage sure has shown up in this series.

The Avalanche lost game two on a pair of mistakes. There were two innocuous plays they just didn’t quite take seriously enough, and Nashville scored on both of them. A little bit more awareness on a line change and an icing, and who knows how game 2 ends.

Now everyone’s favourite scapegoat, the referees. There have been some strange calls/ non-calls in this series. First time in history anyone’s ever thought that. Really the only ones that stand out are in game two. The Avalanche were penalized twice for lightly touching Predators defencemen’s faces. Worse still, there appears to be a lacrosse style kill zone in place whenever Tyson Barrie‘s in the slot. Ryan Johannsen’s game 1 hit was questionable. PK Subban’s trip wasn’t.

That’s been called a penalty consistently for years, and was a clear violation of the tripping rule. The fact that it sprung Johannsen – who easily could have been suspended for his hit in game 1 – for a goal is infuriating.

The Predators have had a lot of good luck through five games. And they’ve needed it.

Related Story: Chippy and Weird Game 4

Conclusion

The Colorado Avalanche once again blew away expectations by forcing game six. And they did it in spectacular fashion, coming back with two goals in the last five minutes of the game. Right from the opening face-off, this series has been far more competitive than it was supposed to be.

The Avalanche have been the better team for long stretches. They’ve also been outplayed badly at times. That’s to be expected, however, going up against the league’s top team.

Next: Avs Fans Thrilled with Game 5 Win

At the end of the day though, the Predators are very fortunate to be up in this series. The Colorado Avalanche continue to redefine expectations.

Hopefully they can do it again.

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