It takes a village, right? While there are plenty of playoff heroics from the superstars who end up in the Hall of Fame, no team works their way through the gauntlet that is the Stanley Cup Playoffs without contributions from players further down in the lineup. Today was a perfect example of that as the Avalanche took a 2-0 series…...

The Top Three Avs from their hard fought game two win over the Arizona Coyotes. https://youtu.be/9_8uT2vsRzk

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – C+ Overall, that line did really well in terms of possession, but definitely had some sloppy moments, like the rest of the team. Bellemare had a late icing that nearly hurt the team, but for the most part, the fourth line did what they need to do in keeping the other team out of the Avs end.…...

If that was the best Arizona has to offer the Avs are well on their way to a series sweep. https://youtu.be/5hq78wFlyMc

“Well they won the one game but you’ve got to win four.” Arizona head coach Rick Tocchet was pretty blunt (in hockey terms, anyway) during his postgame presser after his team got bodied in a 3-0 Game 1 loss to the Avalanche. He had previously ripped his team for what he deemed a “terrible” practice yesterday and it continued into…...

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – B The fourth line was quite strong tonight, and Bellemare ended up being the guy that drew the power play that Kadri scored on. Just determination and hard work from all of them. Bellemare hit the post in the second period that nearly saw the Avs get on the board then. Andre Burakovsky – B+ Burky has…...

The three best players from the Avs possession heavy suffocation of the Arizona Coyotes. https://youtu.be/6_1EMZ153AI

It doesn’t take a number cruncher to know the Avs are the favorites in this series, but diving into the meat and potatoes of the stats can tell us the why and by how much. In this new preview series, we look at how the Avs stack up against their first round opponent Arizona Coyotes By The Numbers. https://youtu.be/MyO0ii3e-34

The Colorado Avalanche open their Quest for the Asterisk this afternoon against the surprising Arizona Coyotes. The Avs are considered heavy favorites and sit as the odds-on favorites to win the Stanley Cup based on the betting lines. We’ve talked about Arizona a bit as a team led by elite goaltending from Darcy Kuemper but before the puck even reaches…...

There’s a sweet spot in the life of every sports team where the fun far exceeds expectations and there’s really no downside when that club finally ends up losing. For the Avalanche, that sweet spot was last season. Making the postseason for the second straight year but just barely sneaking in again and being the eighth seed with just 90…...

The Avs pushed one of the best teams in the league to the limit with their B game. https://youtu.be/xef6y1qvL00

With no crowd on hand to constantly urge players to shoot every time they touch the puck, the Avalanche seemed to use their final round-robin game against Vegas to practice their passing. Or, overpassing, as the case might have been. “Yeah,” Nathan MacKinnon said after being asked during his postgame presser if the Avs should have shot the puck more.…...

The three best Avs players from their close loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in the final round robin game. https://youtu.be/BX13Mk76EV8

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – D+ I think we can stop calling this the fourth line because Bednar is using it as the third line at the moment. I was not a huge fan of their game overall, though. Bellemare had the chance to get the puck in deep just prior to the second Vegas goal and failed to do so, which…...

The Brooklyn Space Program was a thing of genius. You’re unfamiliar? Don’t remember that launch? Some strange borough offshoot of NASA? Well, not exactly. You may be more familiar with the story this way. 10 years ago, a gentleman from New York named Luke Geissbuhler Wanted to do something cool for his very curious sons. Luke had some serious know-how, spent…...

The Avs forward core has championship-caliber depth, and the defense isn’t far behind. https://youtu.be/2mD-X3wLv_s

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – B+ The fourth line that was hyped up through camp was put together again tonight, with Nieto coming back in, and it did not disappoint. Constant puck hounds and Bellemare was great all night, including matching up against Seguin time to time. Andre Burakovsky – A Well, he was demoted and hadn’t looked good since entering the…...

There are lots of ways I could start this postgame piece off. Puns, alliteration, dramatic flair, making fun of Texas (a Colorado favorite). Instead, let’s just be real about what we saw on the ice Wednesday in Edmonton. That was an ass-kicking. The Avs took the last vestiges of shine off the Dallas Stars on Wednesday evening in a 4-0…...

Three of the best Avs from a dominant performance against the Dallas Stars in the round robin. https://youtu.be/paGwUYSfdtc