Well, how about that! More than a little remarkable that the Avalanche will be playing postseason hockey for the first time in four years, especially after last year’s disaster of a season.
They needed to knock off St. Louis in regulation Saturday in a playoff-like atmosphere at the Pepsi Center and did just that with a 5-2 win.
Here’s my
NHL.com GAME STORY.
It’s all gravy from here on in, regardless of what happens in the opening round against top-seeded and heavily-favored Nashville, which captured the Presidents' Trophy with a 53-18-11 record and 117 points.
The Avalanche were fourth in the Central Division and secured the second wild card in the Western Conference with a 43-30-9 record and 95 points, one more than the Blues and nearly double last season’s total of 48 points.
Game 1 is Thursday at Bridgestone Arena
“We’re kind of playing with house money right now, to be honest,” said Hart Trophy candidate
Nathan MacKinnon, who ended a nine-game drought with a huge goal for a 3-1 lead late in the second period and whose 97 points are the most by an Avalanche player since
Joe Sakic had 100 in 2006-07.
But the Avalanche aren’t treating their visit to Music City as a vacation.
“I think that our guys are hungry,” said
Jared Bednar, who will receive some votes for the Jack Adams Trophy as coach of the year, though Vegas’
Gerard Gallant probably will win it. “I think they want to win. I think they believe that if we play like we did (Saturday), that we can win. And I believe that. So, to me, we’re not done by any means.
“I think it’s good to be labeled a success, for sure, especially after what you go through, a tough season last year and there’s doubters along the way. And at times, you even doubt yourself when you lose a couple of games and you have to bounce back and respond, and we’ve done that.
“So I think it might relieve a little bit of the pressure on some of our guys. We can afford to still play the right way and still be loose and hopefully put Nashville under some pressure.”
Let’s give Sakic some well-deserved credit too. He is the guy who hired Bednar after
Patrick Roy quit on the team shortly before training camp started last season.
The target of so many slings and arrows during and after last season, when he was called the league’s worst general manager in so many circles, Sakic stuck to his plan to get younger and faster, and it paid off big time.
It’s remarkable that he was able to land seven pieces for
Matt Duchene -- teen-age defenseman
Samuel Girard, who scored the big first goal Saturday, along with three high draft picks, prospects
Shane Bowers and
Vladislav Kamenev, and goalie
Andrew Hammond, now the backup for as long as the postseason lasts.
Three of the Avalanche defensemen who played Saturday were picked up on waivers:
Mark Alt, Mark Barberio and
Patrik Nemeth. Defenseman
Nikita Zadorov, acquired three years ago in the
Ryan O’Reilly trade, had by far the best season of his career, and he’ll turn 23 in a week.
Young forwards
Tyson Jost, Alexander Kerfoot and
Mikko Rantanen all came aboard during Sakic's watch.
Where would the Avalanche be now without goalie
Jonathan Bernier, who was signed as a free agent last summer? He made 32 saves Saturday and will have the net for every playoff game with
Semyon Varlamov out with a knee injury.
This will be the Avalanche’s first playoff appearance since 2014, when they shocked the NHL by winning the division with 112 points under Roy and lost a first-round series to Minnesota in seven games.
Five players remain from that team: MacKinnon, Varlamov,
Tyson Barrie, Erik Johnson and
Gabriel Landeskog. Like Varlamov, Johnson is out with a knee injury.
The playoff experience, however long it goes, will prove invaluable for the youngest team in the league.
“Playoffs, hopefully it becomes a routine thing for our team,” MacKinnon said. “This year, I don't think we even expected this until the last couple of months when we really started to believe. It's an unbelievable accomplishment, it's exciting.”
That it is.
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • 
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