The Colorado Avalanche have picked up the playoffs right where they left off in the regular season: The top dog. Five-straight wins out of the gate in the second season has them in the driver’s seat as this second round series with division rival, the Minnesota Wild, is sure to tighten up.
Experts and pundits alike would agree that the team hasn’t been at its best thus far either, a scary thought for the rest of the NHL. Being able to have sustained success without a team’s top guns at their peak means the team has a ton of depth and received impacts from lesser-known players.
The bottom-six forwards (the third- and fourth-line players) have had a major influence this postseason, not just in the box score either.
Gabriel Landeskog, the Captain, has brought his A game to the playoffs, with five points through five games thus far. Two goals, one of those a timely goal against LA in the first round, to go with three assists. Â
Linemate Nazem Kadri, an Avalanche by way of a trade on deadline day, got going in Game 1 against Minnesota (as everyone else did). He shares a total of three points with Nicolas Roy, who was impactful in the LA series as well.
The fourth line has been excellent as well. Jack Drury has a goal and an assist in these playoffs and is always steady at the dots.  Logan O’Connor, appearing healthy after being out a majority of the regular season, also has two points during these playoffs. Ross Colton, in only three games, has registered one point.
Parker Kelly hasn’t been as effective in the scoring column during the playoffs but still has 14 hits and five blocked shots thus far. If he can find the rhythm he had during the regular season, it’ll add another weapon for Minnesota and beyond to plan for.
As the top-six players are expected to impact on the game more, they get most of the minutes. That fact makes the contributions of the bottom-six forwards much more important.
Landeskog plays the most minutes per game of the bottom-six and he averages just over 16 minutes per game. Colton and Joel Kiviranta, who was featured in the first couple of games during the LA series, are averaging just over 10 minutes and just below 10 minutes per game, respectively.
Third-pair defenseman Nick Blankenburg added a goal as well. He’s averaging just over 11 minutes per game, so any offense is a bonus for the team and continues the trend of impact from unexpected places.
The Avalanche are a force to be reckoned with, even without help from their lower-line players. Any team fears them and there’s a reason they are the favorites to hoist Lord Stanley this season.
With contributions from players the other teams aren’t accounting for, the Avalanche can be just that: A rolling mass of snow falling down a cliffside, rapidly gaining steam towards the inevitable end, which is the Stanley Cup.
Overwhelming amounts of players the opposition must account for means they can’t get out of the way of this Avalanche. Burgundy and blue nation hopes the Avalanche doesn’t stop until that 37-pound trophy gets in the way.
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