Avalanche Plays Its Best Game of the Series to Earn Sweep

The Colorado Avalanche knew that in order to complete a first-round sweep against the St. Louis Blues the squad would need to bring its best game yet, and the team did just that.
The Avs earned a 5-2 victory in Game 4 at Enterprise Center on Sunday to pick up a 4-0 win in the best-of-seven Round 1 matchup.
"I thought it was our best game of the series, I liked our game a lot tonight. I think that the details of our checking and our structure were outstanding," said head coach Jared Bednar. "Tough to work through all five of our guys tonight, just put a real importance on playing the right way and checking the right way and getting back above pucks and made it difficult… Kept their scoring-chances against down tonight, and it was a full 60-minute effort. I think the first three games we had some lapses in our game and some things that I didn't like, but tonight I liked a lot of it. Maybe not as dangerous as what we can be on the offensive side of things, we found a way to score enough goals to win the hockey game."
For the second contest in a row, the Avs had five different skaters score a goal, outshooting the Blues 34-20 in the outing. Colorado finished the series by outscoring the Blues 20-7, though six of the Avalanche's tallies went into empty nets.

Finishing a series sweep is not a feat that is done often as it is just the third time in Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history that the team has swept a best-of-seven series (1996 Stanley Cup Final versus the Florida Panthers and 2001 Western Conference Quarterfinals versus the Vancouver Canucks).

As winners of the Presidents' Trophy for finishing the regular season with the best overall record, the Avs became the fifth team in NHL history since the trophy was first handed out in 1985-86 to win the honor and sweep its opening-round series. Colorado is also the only franchise to do it twice (also 2001).
"Definitely proud and it is not easy to do. I mean, St. Louis, believe me they are a really good team. I think you look at the whole series and you break down each game, I think the score hasn't really been indicative of the way the series has been," said captain Gabriel Landeskog. "It's been really tight, it's been hard checking and it hasn't been easy. So, come in here in a tough building to play in and take two in a row against a desperate team, it is not easy to do. Happy that we got it done and without giving them any sort of momentum or hope."

The Avalanche earned a 4-1 win in Game 1 and picked up a 6-3 victory in Game 2, but when the series shifted to St. Louis the Avs had several areas of their play that they wanted to improve on. The team made some corrections in Game 3 and won 5-1 before putting up its best effort in the 5-2 victory on Sunday.
"It was probably the toughest game for us, I think we still played pretty well. I think especially like Game 2 we were not really happy how we played, but I think last two games we wrapped up the series really well," said Mikko Rantanen. "Found a way to play kind of that grinding hockey. Everybody knows we have the speed and the skill, but in the playoffs sometimes you have to grind wins too and I think that's what we did the last two games."
It is the third year in a row that Colorado has advanced to Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The last time the Avs got past the opening round in three straight seasons was when they did so in four consecutive campaigns from 1999-2002--the only other time the club has accomplished the feat in franchise history.
"Every season that goes on and every playoff series that you get eliminated, your hunger and your want just goes up that much higher, and I think that's the difference between our group," said Landeskog. "We are just that much more hungrier for this year and that much more competitive I'd like to say. I think obviously we were competitive last year as well, but you realize that you only have so many chances. You're just trying to obviously live in the moment and not get ahead of yourself, but you want to make sure that you are doing everything you can to take care of those opportunities and we have a really good team and want to make the most of it."
The Avalanche will now face either the Minnesota Wild or Vegas Golden Knights in the second round.
As the winner of the Presidents' Trophy, Colorado has home-ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Avs' Round 2 schedule will be announced by the NHL at a later date.

FOCUSING ON DEFENSE

Philipp Grubauer made 18 saves in the contest to improve to 4-0 this postseason. Among goaltenders who have played in four or more games, his 1.75 goals-against average ranks second and his .936 save percentage is third in the playoffs.
"I think we have done a nice job making sure other teams don't get a ton of scoring chances, our commitment to defend has been good all season. When we need a save, whether it's a breakdown or a turnover, he is there to make those saves for us," said Bednar. "Everyone in our room and with our organization values Grubi and what he has done for us. I think it gets overshadowed because we aren't letting teams put up 40 shots a night or high 30s, and we've been trying to keep those shots down, but it doesn't diminish what he brings to our team. When you need the save he's been there to give it to us and that's his job, and he's been outstanding at it so far this whole season."

The Avalanche limited its opposition to 25.4 shots per game in the regular season, the best in the league. In the four outings against St. Louis, the Avs held the Blues to 27.5 pucks on net a game, the second lowest in the playoffs, including 20 in the fourth and final game of the set.
"I think we have a lot of guys back there who can skate and there is enough skill back there to break the puck out, to defend the right way once they come at us on the rush or even on the power play," said Grubauer. "We are finding a way to defend the right way, not just our defensemen, our forwards as well. So, it's five guys on the ice who defend the right way."

MAGIC MacK

Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, his third multi-point game of the series. His tally went into an empty net and capped Colorado's Game 4 win.
The Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native recorded nine points (six goals, three assists) in the set against the Blues. His six goals were one shy of the franchise record for the most in a playoff series, a mark set by Joe Sakic when he had seven in six games in the 1996 conference quarterfinal versus the Vancouver Canucks and Real Cloutier in seven contests with the Quebec Nordiques in the 1982 division final versus the Boston Bruins.
MacKinnon is the first player in Avalanche/Nordiques history to collect nine points in a series while playing only four games, and he became the sixth player in the last 25 years to record nine or more points while helping his team complete a sweep in a best-of-seven series.

SAAD SCORES (times three)

Brandon Saad tallied Colorado's first goal to knot the score at 1-1 midway through the game. It was the third game in a row that the forward has lit the lamp.
"Every goal is a big goal in the playoffs, but just the timing of that goal to kind of get us started in the second period… Cale (Makar) executes a great play, Saader moves into the right area and he just gets it on and off his tape. I think Saader has now scored in three games in a row. I mean a guy that missed time at the end of the season and jumps in and starts producing at the most important time of the year, and he has a reputation for that so we need that to continue."
Saad is a two-time Stanley Cup champion, winning with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013 and 2015, one of three Cup-winners on Colorado's roster (Andre Burakovsky and Philipp Grubauer with the 2018 Washington Capitals). He missed the final 11 games of the regular season with a lower-body injury and finished with 24 points (15 goals, nine assists) in 44 outings.

In his 84 postseason contests, Saad has recorded 44 points (20 goals, 24 assists) over seven combined playoff runs with the Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets and Avalanche.
"I think he scored 30 a couple times in his career so everybody knows he can score and a very solid player, very good skater," said Rantanen. "I think he can take the D wide and like we saw today with his shot, and he can score in close like we saw the last game. So he can score anyway basically, so he is a very valuable player for us."

NEWHOOK UPDATE

After scoring his first NHL goal in Game 3 on Friday, rookie forward Alex Newhook left the game in the first period with a lower-body injury and did not return.
"We were on a rush attack, he was charging the net and he got hit while a puck was put in there and went into the end boards or corner boards pretty heavily and hit his back in there," Bednar said postgame. "He stiffened up and tried it for a couple shifts, and as he was sitting and going in between shifts it just kind of got a little bit worse, so he left the game. I don't have any other medical information than that."
Newhook played in all four games of the series against St. Louis after skating in the final six outings of the regular season. In the main campaign, the forward had three assists and a plus-5 rating.

MORE POSTGAME NOTES

Since the Presidents' Trophy was first handed out in 1985-86, only three winners of the award have also swept its opening-round series of a playoff year after earning the honor: Edmonton (1986 Division Semifinals versus Vancouver), New York Rangers (1994 Conference Quarterfinals versus New York Islanders) and Dallas (1999 Conference Quarterfinals versus Edmonton). The Avs are the first team to accomplish the feat twice.
The Avalanche is now 5-0 all-time in playoff series when holding a 3-0 series lead. This is the third time the club has swept such a series.
The Avs have gone 22-14 in their 36 playoff series since arriving in Denver. Overall, the team is 28-23 in Colorado/Quebec franchise history.
Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist and now has a point in all four of Colorado's playoff games this year, totaling one goal and six assists. Going back to the 2020 postseason, he has recorded a point in 14 consecutive contests, totaling 23 points (seven goals, 16 assists) in that stretch.
Rantanen has now recorded a point in each of the team's first four games to begin a postseason in consecutive years (also first four games in 2020). The only other players in franchise history to accomplish the feat are Joe Sakic (1996 & 1997), Peter Forsberg (1998 & 1999) and Peter Stastny (1984 & 1985).
Gabriel Landeskog scored and added a helper and also had a point in all four of the games against the Blues, increasing his postseason totals to eight (two goals, six assists).
Colorado's top line combined for 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) in the series, and MacKinnon (six goals, three assists), Gabriel Landeskog (two goals, six assists) and Rantanen (one goal, six assists) rank first, fourth and sixth, respectively, among all skaters in scoring in the postseason.
Philipp Grubauer had a helper on Brandon Saad's tally, his second career assist in the playoffs (also: Game 2 of Second Round vs. San Jose, April 28, 2019). Grubauer's two postseason assists rank third all-time among franchise goaltenders. Patrick Roy recorded seven, and Mario Gosselin registered three.