After sitting back for a couple of days to process the series victory of the Colorado Avalanche, it’s time to look at some takeaways. This was the first series sweep by the Avalanche since the Western Conference Final in 2022 (EDM). It was also the third series sweep since that same year (NSH in the first round). Colorado may have played a solid game, but they still have things they need to clean up. If they want to make this easier on themselves and walk into the last round, not crawl.

Things that were done right

The first thing that Colorado did right was start Scott Wedgewood and stick with him. His NHL-leading 2.02 goals-against average during the regular season made it so there was no question. Through four games in the playoffs, Wedgewood continued his solid play with a 1.21 GAA. This placed him third among all starters in the first round. He allowed only five goals in the first round; three were on the power-play.

Colorado did a fantastic job of utilizing its depth scoring. That is where they will need the scoring the most, is from the bottom-six. Of the 13 goals scored by the Avalanche in the series, five came from players in the bottom-six (this is counting Gabriel Landeskog). Nathan MacKinnon was shut down and held off the scoresheet basically until Game Three. He then opened up with a three-point night in the 5–1 victory. Nic Roy tallied two goals in the series, another brilliant move that has paid off from Chris MacFarland.

Things that need to be worked on

The Avalanche will need to improve its power play… a lot. As we have mentioned in a previous article, we have theories about what could have gone wrong. Colorado was 1-for-11 in the series, not scoring on the man advantage until Game Four. It broke MacKinnon open for his three-point night. But the lack of conversion is a major concern when the Avalanche need to get the number closer to 20 or 25 percent.

In order to limit the amount of work that Wedgewood has to do, Colorado has to limit the high-danger shots. The Los Angeles Kings had 10 even-strength high-danger shots in only four games. That was enough to set the Kings third in the NHL for the category.

This will be a weird one to say, but the Avalanche need to improve their penalty kill. During the regular season, they led the NHL, killing off 84.6 percent of their penalties. That number is slightly lower in the playoffs, at 81.3 percent. It may not seem like much, but a single power play goal for the opposing team can make an enormous difference. Colorado won’t have to worry about Artemi Panarin anymore, but there will be others. On the bright side, the Avs scored a shorthanded goal while not having any scored against them.

Every team has little things they want to always work on. This season, the goaltending thankfully is not one of them. If the Avalanche can fix these little things, they will be an unstoppable force for the rest of the playoffs.