Eurolanche

Colorado in the playoffs: Day 1

Something’s up in Denver. The team’s press conferences and practices are no longer attended by just three reporters. Today, there were a lot, lot more. All because of the playoff fever running high in the Mile High City. On the first day, head coach Jared Bednar was bombarded with questions from the local pundits. No wonder, it’s the playoffs. It’s something completely new for a lot of us, something which we’re yet to experience in person – I mean directly in Colorado. For example, the cheapest tickets for the opening home game against the Nashville Predators sell for a minimum of 150 USD. The most expensive ones are sold for more than 600 USD. Where are those good old game tickets for 22 dollars from the Eurolanche Invasions?

There were three notable absences from the first team practice at Family Sports Center – Nathan MacKinnon, Blake Comeau and JT Compher. All three had a maintenance day, no injuries.  Jonathan Bernier practiced in goal and was in great form according to the attending reporters. The only injured players remain Erik Johnson and Semyon Varlamov, with the latter being out for the entire first playoff round.

The first Stanley Cup odds are also already out. One of the betting companies put the Avs at 33:1 at winning hockey's Holy Grail.  According to TheHockeyWriters.com, the Avs are one of the biggest outsiders of this year’s postseason and have the third-lowest chance of hoisting the Cup. “At times, they looked unstoppable, yet they also struggled a lot. Which Avs will show up?” Other companies have put the Avs’ chances at winning the Stanley Cup at 2% and 2.5% respectively. 

Prior to the season, almost everyone thought and predicted the Avs having the lowest or the second-lowest chance at winning the Cup.

Let’s take a look at the stats of all 16 playoff teams and Colorado’s ranking in each of these categories:

Power-play: 22% (7.)

Penalty kill: 83.3% (4.)

Highest win percentage in games decided by a single goal: 42.3% (16.)

Even-strength goals: 152 (16.)

Total goals for: 257 (9.)

Total goals against: 237 (12.)

Goal differential: +20 (12.)

Sadly, the aforementioned stats prove the unpredictable nature of the Avs’ performances of late. They also prove that Colorado is in fact among the weaker teams of this year’s playoff 16. The only notable stats the Avs rank among the best teams are its man-advantage percentage and its PK. They fall behind significantly in 5-on-5 play. But once again, they postseason is a whole new season altogether and the Avs can only surprise us and the hockey world.

The second game of the series against Nashville will be played at 9 pm Saturday and will be broadcasted by Nova Sport.

„I don’t mind being underrated. It’s a great position for us. I want our guys to play like they’ve played against St. Louis [in the regular season finale]. If we’ll play like we did then, we’ll have a great chance.” - Jared Bednar

PS

Don’t miss your chance to read this shocking article about Ryan O’Reilly 

Original story by David Puchovsky