Shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Avalanche will play the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs
It just took Vegas longer than expected to eliminate the Minnesota Wild in the opening round, which they did Friday with a 6-2 win in Game 7.
The Avalanche, who haven’t played since May 23 when they completed a sweep of the St. Louis Blues, and Golden Knights open the best-of-7 second round Sunday at Ball Arena (6 p.m. MT).
See you Sunday, @GoldenKnights 👊#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/roo7CrptxR
— p - Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) May 29, 2021
They finished 1-2 in the West Division with 82 points each; the Avalanche earned the top seed, Presidents’ Trophy with more regulation wins (35-30) and home ice throughout the playoffs.
The Avalanche went 4-3-1 against Vegas in the regular season and are prepared for a physical series.
“I'm expecting a long, hard series here and so is our team,… coach Jared Bednar said Saturday. “We're just trying to go out and play our game to the best of our ability. But we'll have to deal with the physical aspect no question and we're going to have to push back. We did that against St. Louis.
…It's something we've dealt with as a roster all year. I feel like we've handled it pretty well. We've played pretty well against Vegas in physical games. We've played pretty well against them in games that have been up and down. They've bettered us a few times. We've gotten the better of them a few times.
“You go through a 56-game schedule, you finish tied in points. In the eight-game series against them, we finished one point ahead. This is two evenly matched teams, a little bit of a different style but both teams are deep and both teams play with a lot of speed, both teams have good goaltending.…
The Avalanche will try to reach the third round for the first time since 2002 when they lost a seven-game series to the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference Final.
They’ve lost two straight Game7s in the second round, last season to the Dallas Stars in the Edmonton bubble and in 2019 to the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center.
Having home ice this time could be huge since the Avalanche have gone 18-0-1 at Ball Arena since a 3-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on March 8.
“We look at it as another opportunity to keep moving forward,… Gabriel Landeskog said. “Honestly, everything we’re thinking about now is Game 1 and having a good start to the series and making sure we come out jumping. That’s really our main focus.
“I think the playoffs in general is a new opportunity for us to have a kick at the can and having a chance to win the Stanley Cup. For us, it’s not about moving to the third round or getting past Game 7, it’s about winning the Stanley Cup, and this is another opportunity to do that.…
The Avalanche are relatively healthy heading into the series, though Bednar said Matt Calvert had surgery and is out, Erik Johnson is a longshot to return at any time and Pavel Francouz won’t be back until next season. Bednar said Logan O'Connor is ahead of schedule and might play at some point.
Forward Sampo Ranta has been getting a long look in practice this week and could make his NHL debut, Bednar said. Ranta signed a three-year, entry-level contract after playing three years at the University of Minnesota and had four goals and three assists in 14 games with the Colorado Eagles.
“I’ve liked what I've seen,… Bednar said. “He's big, strong, fast, competes hard. We sat down, brushed him up on our system. I've liked him in practice. I feel pretty comfortable putting him in if that's what I decide.…
The Avalanche got goals from 11 players against the Blues, led by the top line of Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, which accounted for nine goals and 15 assists. The defense had two goals and seven assists, and goalie Philipp Grubauer had 1.75 goals-against average and .936 save percentage.
“We definitely believe that we have the group that can go all the way, so we’re definitely not taking this opportunity lightly, that we have to take it very seriously and we may not have an opportunity like this (again),… Ryan Graves said.
“We understand that we maybe let an opportunity slip away last year and we’re definitely not going to let that happen again. We’ve been waiting around a little bit, we’re rested, and I think our entire group is really excited to get started.…