The aftermath of the Colorado Avalanche’s second-round series win over the Minnesota Wild is full of emotion, drama, and energy. There is a ton to take away from the series, despite it only taking five games.

Colorado dropped its first game of the postseason in the series, but still persevered. They left the Wild in the dust and off to the golf course in spite of their tough battle.

Aftermath Analysis: The Good

Colorado’s key from the second round was depth scoring, just as it was in the first round against the Los Angeles Kings. However, they took it to a whole other level late on.

Parker Kelly scored his first playoff goals in Games Four and Five in the Wild series in a big way. He scored the eventual game-winner in Game Four and kick-started the comeback in Game Five.

Also in the comeback in Game Five, Jack Drury scored late in the third to get the Avs within one. Brett Kulak became the 16th different goalscorer of the series in the incredible overtime winner.


Depth also helped on the defensive end. Josh Manson, Sam Malinski, and Cale Makar were all dealing with injury. It saw Nick Blankenburg and Jack Ahcan both play, with Blankenburg scoring his first career playoff goal.

Ahcan had his struggles, only playing 3:35 on Wednesday night. But his performance in Game Four was better, which included a couple of key blocks in his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut.

Furthermore, both goaltenders saw action through some difficulty. Scott Wedgewood started and finished the series, with Mackenzie Blackwood entering in relief in Game Three and starting Game Four. Neither netminder was challenged too badly, but stood tall at critical points.

Finally, the Avalanche showed some great resiliency. They fell behind the eight-ball for the first time in this series, losing Game Three and having to come from behind in Games Four and Five. They came together as a team to fight through the battles of hits and blocked shots to challenge Jesper Wallstedt. A deep-dig effort in the last two games separated them and got them through to the final four in the end.

Avalanche Aftermath: The Bad

However, the resiliency being good also ties into it being bad: they couldn’t play their game and control the action as much as they’d hope. A 15-goal thriller in Game One showed it from the get-go, as they were able to put together their offensive game but collapse in their defensive game.

It left some guys out to dry, such as the goaltenders, and guys like Blankenburg, Ahcan, and Brent Burns. Jared Bednar explicitly stated how important their strong defensive game is in the first round against the Kings, and it wasn’t as strong in the second round, particularly on the penalty kill.


Perhaps the biggest struggle as the series progressed was the injuries. Manson was out to start the series and returned in Game Four, as did Joel Kiviranta. But when those two came in, the Avs lost Artturi Lehkonen and Malinski.

Both were “dinged up” with upper-body injuries and did not play the final two games of the series, not even skating since then. But they’ve been listed as day-to-day.

Friendly fire also took place when Devon Toews put a clearing puck into the face of Nathan MacKinnon. It left a bloody mess in the aftermath, but he managed to return to action and played well for the rest of the series.


Finally, there is some concern about Makar. He was already fighting through injury in Game Five, and then had to depart later on after a rough reverse hit. However, he did manage to return, but was definitely not playing at 100%.

Now, Colorado will get a decent break while they wait for a winner between the Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks. Some rest will be key as they look to get as many guys back and as healthy as possible.

With some health and fixes to their play, the Avalanche will become even more unstoppable than they already seem. The job is halfway done, and a big Western Conference Final lies ahead.