Colorado Avalanche Report Card: Playing the Predators

The Colorado Avalanche struggled against the Nashville Predators in the regular season. But they troubled the heavily favored Preds in the playoffs.

The Colorado Avalanche played the Nashville Predators four times in the regular season and six times in the playoffs. Unfortunately, the Avs were unable to defeat the Preds in the regular season. They did pull out two big wins in the playoffs, but they ultimately fell to Nashville in six games.

The schedule was typically wonky. Colorado faced their Central Division rivals twice early in the season then didn’t see them again until March, when they played Nashville twice.

2017-18 Regular Season Results:

Oct. 17, 2017, at Nashville: Nashville4, Colorado 1
Nov. 18, 2017, at Nashville: Nashville 5, Colorado 2
Mar. 4, 2018, at Colorado: Nashville 4, Colorado 3 (OT)
Mar. 16, 2018, at Colorado: Nashville 4, Colorado 2

Regular Season Heroes for the Colorado Avalanche: Nathan MacKinnon (2 goals, 1 assist), Tyson Barrie (3 assists), Nikita Zadorov (1 goal 1 assist)

Regular Season Heroes for the Nashville Predators: Filip Forsberg (3 goals, including the OT GWG; 2 assistas), Colton Sissons (4 goals, 1 assist), Roman Josi (4 assists)

It’s really not fair that someone named Forsberg plays so well against the Avalanche. Also, Colton Sissons scored four of his nine (to that time) goals against the Avs.

It’s hard to find too many heroes in the regular season when Colorado failed to record a single win. However, defenseman Nikita Zadorov — who showed an affinity for going hard in the playoffs against Nashville — scored His sixth of the season against the Preds:

Here’s a pretty sweet one-timer for MacKinnon off of Barrie’s pass:

Overall, though, Colorado failed to pick up more than a single point in the four-game series.

Colorado Avalanche vs Nashville Predators Regular Season Team Grade: D-

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2017-18 Playoff Results:

Apr. 12, 2018, at Nashville : Nashville 5, Colorado 2
Apr. 14, 2018, at Nashville : Nashville 5, Colorado 4
Apr. 16, 2018, at Colorado: Colorado 5, Nashville 3
Apr. 18, 2018, at Colorado: Nashville 3, Colorado 2
Apr. 20, 2018, at Nashville : Colorado 4, Nashville 1
Apr. 22, 2018, at Colorado: Nashville 5, Colorado 0

Playoff Heroes for the Colorado Avalanche: Nathan MacKinnon (3 goals, 1 assist), Gabriel Landeskog (2 goals, 3 assists), Nikita Zadorov (1 goal, 2 assists, so many hits), Sven Andrighetto (GWG in Game 5)

Playoff Heroes for the Nashville Predators: Filip Forsberg (4 goals, 2 assists), Ryan Johanson (2 goals, 3 assists), Austin Watson (2 goals, 2 assists)

As we know, the Nashville Predators won the seven-game series in six. The Colorado Avalanche failed to pull off one last home victory to push the series to seven. Also as we well know, it was a gloriously fought battle the whole way for a team no one thought would make the playoffs.

The usual suspects — Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog — were big heroes for the Avalanche. However, a couple of players really stepped up their games. One was Sven Andrighetto, who got the Game 5 game-winning goal that sent Altitude Radio announcer Marc Moser into fits:

Another was Nikita Zadorov, who was one of the few Avs players who played all the way until the final seconds of Game 6. He also started off by scoring the first goal of the entire series.

By the way, he was playing with an injured shoulder that required off-season surgery. Talk about beast mode.

More Colorado Avalanche Team Grades:

Colorado Avalanche vs Nashville Predators Playoff Team Grade: B