In Gladiator, Russell Crowe's Maximus murders three soldiers in the ring, throws down his swords and turns to the crowd to exclaim, "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!!!" Well, the Colorado Avalanche are asking the same thing to NHL fans everywhere as they completed the sweep of the Edmonton Oilers to reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2001. Certainly, the Denver based team had doubters (like myself) despite having the second most points in the league, but have they earned your respect on this run where they have lost a shocking TWO games in this run to the Stanley Cup Finals?
The Avs road may not have been the most difficult according to the haters. A Nashville Predator team that was without Juuse Saros, a St. Louis Blues team that lost Jordan Binnington and an overachieving Edmonton team that could have been burned out by the time they got to the Mile High City, but that's not Colorado's fault. They played the teams in front of them. Just ask the Rangers about that. What Colorado has shown is that they don't take a night off (or even a shift).
In the first round, they bludgeoned David Rittich for 5 goals on their first 13 shots in their first game of the playoffs before they endured Connor Ingram standing on his head to force an overtime in Game 2. Cale Makar rose to the occasion and scored the OT winner. Even when Nashville pressed to keep their season alive when they took a 3-2 lead; Colorado answered back with a ROARING 3 goal third period to end the series.
In the second round, they took on a much tougher opponent in the St. Louis Blues. The Blues appeared to figure out the situation in net with Stanley Cup winning goalie Jordan Binnington retaking his net from Ville Husso. The Blues forced OT in Game 1 and handed Colorado their first loss 4-1. Game 3 saw the controversial moment of the playoffs as Avs forward Nazem Kadri collided with Jordan Binnington, knocking the Blues goalie out of the series. Kadri has a history of questionable incidents, but judge for yourself if you think this play was dirty below. The Blues lost focus and the Avalanche made them pay. In Game 4, Kadri played the heel to perfection as St. Louis tried to get at him while he scored a hat trick en route to a 6-3 win. However the Blues wouldn't go away so easily. The Avs star center Nate MacKinnon put Colorado ahead with 2:46 remaining on a highlight film end-to-end rush only to see St. Louis tie the game with 56 second remaining and Tyler Bozek extending the series. How does the Avalanche respond? In a hard fought Game 6, JT Compher stepped up with a 2 goal game setting the stage for another overtime game...until Darren Helm jumped on a loose puck and hammer a slap shot by Husso to put Colorado into the Western Conference Finals.
Moving on to the Oilers series, the Avs have shown to have the guts of a champion, but the Oilers were coming off an upset of the Calgary Flames, who were the eye of every NHL pundit's dream for the Cup. Certainly Colorado could be in trouble with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl performing at the highest level the NHL has seen in two decades outside of a video game. Colorado survived a goal and 4 assists from the duo as they defeated the Oil 8-6 in Game 1. The Avs turned around minus injured starting goalie Darcy Kuemper to shut out the highest scoring team in the playoffs in Game 2. So they can not just outscore you, but they also can shut you down. Then came the controversy of THIS series. With a 1-0 lead after Connor McDavid electrified the crowd at Rogers Place 38 seconds into the game, Evander Kane cross checks Nazem Kadri sending him head first into the boards. This injured Kadri and his status is uncertain for the rest of the playoffs after thumb surgery yesterday. Kane was issued a 5 minute major (and later suspended one game), but the Oilers survived the penalty against the dangerous Colorado Power Play. Colorado's Valeri Nichuskin would score a pair of goals with some puck luck against Oilers goalie Mike Smith, who was playing well. Then the third period game, and JT Compher gathered in a loose puck after jumping out of the penalty box and outmuscling Evan Bouchard, to fire the puck through Smith's five hole for the lead. THAT PLAY EPITOMIZES Colorado on this playoff run. If you don't capitalize on your chances, Colorado will make you pay. And then Game 4 concludes their run to the finals with a rebound gathered in by Artii Lehkonen - off his own deflection- to put it past a desperate Mike Smith.
So there you have it, the Avs are going to the Finals. If you didn't think they had the will, they showed they did. If you didn't think they had the defense, they showed that. If you didn't think they could stay disciplined, they did it. If you didn't think they could win the West, they did it and now they await to prove everyone that doubts them again. Can they do it one more time. We'll get our chance to see in a week.
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