Winning the Presidents’ Trophy often puts an overbearing amount of pressure on a team. Especially in that first round. But as they’ve proven time and time again, the Avalanche welcome pressure, lofty expectations and adversity — if it gets to that.
Colorado closed out its first-round series against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday, defeating the 2019 Stanley Cup champions in just four games with a 5-2 victory at Enterprise Center. Showing once again that the 2021 Avs are a force to be reckoned with, just as the 2001 Stanley Cup champion Avs were.
It’s been 20 years since the Presidents’ Trophy winner has won their opening series in four games. And you guessed it, the 2001 Avs were that team.
Superstar center Nathan MacKinnon scored six goals and recorded nine points. Top winger Mikko Rantanen added the series-clinching goal and six assists. And captain Gabe Landeskog provided a physical spark in the first two games on top of his two goals and eight points.
When the top line consists of a trio like that, you’re likely going to win a lot of hockey games.
They’ve handled the first series well. But it’s only going to get tougher from here. Unless Minnesota miraculously wins three straight, the Avs are going to face the Vegas Golden Knights in Round 2 for bragging rights in the West Division. It’s the series the entire hockey world has waited for.
And it’s going to be epic.
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The Deen’s List
Gravey
What a series it was for defenseman Ryan Graves. He celebrated his 26th birthday on Friday with a three-point effort. But that wasn’t the only good game he had against St. Louis.
Graves was demoted from the top pair after last fall’s acquisition of Devon Toews. He did not have as good a regular season as he did in 2019-20 when he was playing alongside stud defenseman Cale Makar. But he was the Avs’ best defenseman in a number of categories in the first round.
Graves led Avalanche blueliners with 12 shots, or three-per-game, and had four points to lead the way. He also was a plus-9.
O’Reilly eats his words
Avs players have been asked about this all throughout the series and they’ve all responded the same way.
“What do you want him to say?”
And it makes sense. Because when former Avs center Ryan O’Reilly confidently said “we’re going to have some fun and we’re going to beat them,” he was sharing what he truly felt. But as we know in hockey, it’s very rare to see a player speak in absolutes in that manner.
As much as the Avs tried to avoid the question, the reality is, it did motivate them. They did want to win to stick to the Blues captain and Landeskog confirmed it after Game 4 with three simple words.
“Yeah, it did,” Landeskog said when asked if it motivated them.
Grubauer’s consistency
People don’t often mention goalie Philipp Grubauer from the onset when talking about what makes the Avalanche so dangerous. The conversation usually starts with MacKinnon and the offensive firepower or Makar and the gamebreakers on the blueline. Avs coach Jared Bednar gets some love too.
But the only player that truly was consistent and strong in each of the four games was Grubauer. He continues to be the steady presence between the pipes that allows the Avs to be the dominant team they are. We don’t talk about goaltending because he’s been so good.
And as Bednar said after Game 4, “Everyone in our room and our organization values Grubi and what he’s done for us.”
So he’s getting the love from where it’s most needed. Within the locker room.
Minute muncher
We learned throughout the regular season that Toews was far greater than just another depth defenseman. He quickly has turned into this generations Adam Foote, in the sense where he’s Colorado’s best shutdown defenseman.
And he does it while logging big minutes.
After leading the Avs in ice-time in the regular season, Toews was by far the most utilized skater by Bednar in the four games. He played 24:54 per game, which was nearly two minutes higher than Makar (22:58) and much greater than Sam Girard (22:38).
Unlike Makar and Girard, Toews was not on the ice for a single even strength goal against. Colorado outscored St. Louis 6-0 with Toews on the ice in 5-on-5. He was a plus-6 in the series and had two assists.
Goals for Saad
Brandon Saad missed the last portion of the regular season with an injury suffered against the Blues in April. He returned for Game 1 and finally got his feet back under him.
Since then: Three games, three goals. And none bigger than Sunday’s.
The Avalanche were trailing 1-0 — the only lead the Blues had the entire series — before Saad fired home a power-play goal to suck the life out of St. Louis and its fans. Colorado went on to add two more goals and did not relinquish the lead again.
This is why they traded for him. The playoffs.