The Colorado Avalanche on Monday night became the first NHL team to advance to the second round this post-season, and are coming off simply a dominating performance.
The Avalanche swept the Nashville Predators, something that had not happened in the Predators’ first 14 playoff appearances. The top-seeded team in the Western Conference scored the first goal in all four games — twice scoring on their first shot of the game.
Colorado finished the best-of-seven series with a 5-3 win and an overall 21-9 scoring edge.
Photo: AP
“They’re a really good team,” Nashville captain Roman Josi said. “They make you pay for every little mistake. They got some unbelievable players over there.”
Colorado trailed for a grand total of 4 minutes, 57 seconds in the entire series. That happened in the third period on Monday night, and the high-powered Avs answered with three straight goals over the next 11 minutes, 5 seconds to seal not only the victory, but the series.
“You can’t always win when you have your best, you have to find ways when you’re not,” Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon said. “[Monday] was one of those cases. We just know with all the skill and talent we have that we were going to get one. A lot of good looks and eventually we got a few, so it was nice.”
This puts the Avs in the Western Conference semi-finals for a fourth straight season and second consecutive after sweeping their first-round opponent. Since the franchise relocated to Denver, the Avs improved to 6-0 in best-of-seven series after winning the first three games, with their fourth sweep in that span.
They now get to wait for either the St Louis Blues or Minnesota Wild.
“The big thing is now we can take a breath, get a couple days off for our guys, give them some rest and we’ll still get some real good practice time before we get ready for our next opponent,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said.
That includes rest for goalie Darcy Kuemper, who sat out the series clincher still dealing with swelling around his right eye. He took an inadvertent stick to the face late in the first period of Game 3, and Pavel Francouz finished off the series in net.
“Obviously, we don’t know who our opponent is yet, but it’s going to be a familiar team,” defenseman Cale Makar said. “For us, it’s already to that next step. We’re where we want it to be, but we have to make sure that we can stay tight throughout this little break that we have.”
The Avalanche lead all teams this post-season, averaging 5.25 goals per game and a league-high 43.8 percent on the man advantage. Only Pittsburgh (50.5) has taken more shots per game than Colorado with 44.
Makar, named a Norris Trophy finalist for a second straight season, had a goal and two assists in the series clincher, and he now has 10 points to lead all skaters in the playoffs. He is the first defenseman in NHL history with 10 points in a four-game series.
The last forward to post double-digit points in a four-game series was Johan Franzen of the Detroit Red Wings, who had 10 points against Colorado in the 2008 Western semi-finals.
MacKinnon said Makar might be the NHL’s best player right now with how he dominates from the back end.
“This playoff season, he’s taken another step with his leadership in the room being more vocal, and obviously on the ice, he’s so dominant,” MacKinnon said. “He might be one of the best D to ever play by the end of his career at this rate. Really excited to have him on our team, obviously.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB