Avalanche Battled in 2020 Playoffs

Down 3-1 in the series, the Colorado Avalanche was on the verge of elimination and heading home from the Edmonton, Alberta, bubble without reaching its championship goal. The team might not have achieved the title, but it made a little more noise before leaving the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Colorado battled back in the Round 2 series against the Dallas Stars to force a Game 7 but ultimately came up a goal short in a contest that needed overtime to decide one of the two spots in the Western Conference Final. Dallas will be moving on after the Avalanche fell 5-4 on Friday afternoon at Rogers Place in the final outing of the best-of-seven set.
The Avs outshot the Stars 44-35 in the game and 4-1 in the OT period, but Joel Kiviranta made good of Dallas' only shot at 7:24 of the extra period.
"We felt like we were outplaying them in overtime and it was coming," said Nathan MacKinnon postgame. "We felt good. Just got hemmed in, the boys got gassed and they made a nice play. It's tough. Two straight years, Game 7 losses, one-goal games, and it's tough. We got to find a way to breakthrough… We came here to win, and we didn't get the job done."

For nearly six weeks the Avs have been living in the Western Conference hub city with their entire focus on playing hockey and winning a championship. They were one of the final four clubs remaining in Edmonton, while four others did the same in Toronto competing in the Eastern semifinals.
Many of the Colorado players said during the Return to Play training camp in July that this was the most talented and best squad they had ever been a part of, and it certainly showed in 2019-20. The Avalanche made it to the league's final eight for a second consecutive year and played in its second straight Game 7 after falling to the San Jose Sharks last season.
There were some very good NHL teams that left the postseason bubbles before the Avalanche, but it doesn't take away from the players' feelings of coming up short of the goal that they had been working for since their loss to the Sharks in May 2019.
"I know it's not the Cup final or anything, but we felt like we could win and I still feel like we could have won everything," MacKinnon said. "It's just unfortunate."

Head coach Jared Bednar saw those tough emotion in his players following the OT defeat as Colorado once again fell short of the franchise's first trip to the Western Conference Final since 2002.
"Obviously we're disappointed. We set out at the start of the year with a goal to go win the Stanley Cup, and we didn't achieve it," Bednar said. "Reality of that is only one team is going to achieve that goal. It doesn't make it any easier at all. We can make whatever excuses we want, injuries, this, that, other, but our goal was our goal and we didn't accomplish it, so it hurts. It sucks. I look at our guys' faces after the game, and I can see the disappointment. They played their hearts out all year, and I feel for them. I'm really proud of them too. That is a lot to overcome in a short period of time, in one playoff series, you have a couple guys out of your lineup, and it just keeps adding and adding and it just gets harder and harder."
The players and Bednar were adamant after Game 7 that the club's injuries weren't an excuse for losing, but being without several key players in the lineup certainly didn't help. Colorado had 223 man-game lost during the regular season, and the injuries occurred again in bunches in the second round against the Stars.

The Avs lost a decent chunk of its major contributors in October and November and then had to battle through the same thing for a second time in February and March. Colorado survived during the regular season and finished two points out of first place in the West, and the Avs nearly did it again in the playoffs in pushing the Stars to the brink.
"I would have liked to see our team fully healthy, that's for sure," MacKinnon said. "Lost a lot of key guys. That's just the way it is. You can call it an excuse or whatever you want, but that is just the way it is. We lost key guys to our team--that's part of our team. Obviously it just sucks. We caught the injury bug again, we had it all year. It stings, I mean our motivation was to win this game, get guys back, keep making our run, keep pushing."
Despite being without three forwards, two defensemen and two goaltenders--all injured at various points against Dallas--Bednar is pleased with how other players stepped up and contributed positively in Game 7 and throughout the conference semifinals.
"I'm proud of the guys that stepped up and elevated their game and filled in for them," Bednar said. "We scratch and claw our way back in the series, and I'm really proud of this team and their heart and their passion that they played with."
While it's tough to see now, the Avalanche continues to make progress and has firmly put the league's other clubs on notice to watch out in the future. Colorado has now reached the playoffs in three consecutive seasons, doing so for the first time since it made 11 such trips from 1995 to 2006.
Another postseason of experience should serve the Avs well next year and beyond as they continue to learn how to succeed through one of the toughest regular seasons in sports and, more importantly, in the playoffs.
Bednar is proud of how the 2019-20 Avalanche worked to try and do just that.
"We had a real good team, a real good togetherness and belief in our room," Bednar said. "I'm proud of all of our guys. You're not going to be at your best every single day, but you got to find ways to carve out wins as a team. We did that for a while. It's disappointing at the end, but I can't fault our effort. Our effort and commitment was really good."

INJURY BUG

Forward Gabriel Landeskog and defenseman Conor Timmins missed their first games of the postseason due to injury after getting hurt in Game 6.
Both players left in the second period of Wednesday's contest, with Landeskog able to return briefly for a shift in the third frame. Timmins' injury is unknown, but Landeskog was cut with a skate right above the knee and was determined to be unavailable for Game 7.
The two players were added to an ever-growing list that the Avalanche compiled against the Stars. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer and D-man Erik Johnson both got hurt in Game 1 and were determined to be out indefinitely, while goalie Pavel Francouz didn't play in the final three contests of the series. Matt Calvert didn't suit up at all in the seven games against Dallas and fellow forward Joonas Donskoi's last outing was in Game 2.
"Some of the other guys are still days or even weeks out," Bednar said. "I don't think there was a return for a bunch of guys to help make a difference in the near future."

BURAKOVSKY IN DO-OR-DIE GAMES

Andre Burakovsky had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to five games (four goals, five assists), with him picking up six points in the final three contests of the series with the Avs facing elimination.
Burakovsky now has 13 points (nine goals and four assists) in 13 potential-elimination games, including four goals and an assist in six career Game 7s.
It was his fifth multi-point outing in this year's playoffs and 10th of his postseason career.

MACKINNON'S STREAK

Nathan MacKinnon's 14-game point streak came to an end as he was held off the scoresheet for the first time in the 2020 playoffs. He led the league in the postseason with 25 points and 16 assists, while his nine goals are second.
MacKinnon's streak is the longest in franchise history in the postseason and was tied for the second longest to begin the playoffs; only Bryan Trottier's 18-game stretch with the New York Islanders in 1981 is longer.
Overall, MacKinnon had the longest postseason point streak since Eric Staal registered a point in 15 straight contests in 2006 with the Carolina Hurricanes.

MORE POSTGAME NOTES

The Avs and Stars combined for 57 goals in the series, the third-most combined goals in a series that went seven games in NHL history. The San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames combined for 61 goals in the 1995 conference quarterfinals and the Edmonton Oilers and Flames combined for 60 goals in the 1984 division finals.
The Colorado/Quebec franchise is now 6-9 all-time in Game 7, which includes a 4-8 mark since relocating to Denver.
Nazem Kadri scored his league-leading sixth power-play goal of the postseason. His six man-advantage tallies are tied for second in franchise history for the most in a playoff year.
Mikko Rantanen registered an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games, tied with Joe Sakic (1995) and Marian Stastny (1982) for the second-longest such playoff stretch in franchise history.
Rantanen's eight shots is a new playoff career high (previous: 7, April 17, 2019 vs. Calgary).
Vladislav Namestnikov scored two goals, a new postseason career high.
Sheldon Dries made his debut in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.