If you paid attention to the First round of the NHL Playoffs, you might’ve noticed that there was only one sweep in all of the series. That would be the Colorado Avalanche sweeping the Nashville Predators in dominant fashion. There should be no reason to believe that they won’t continue this dominance for the remainder of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

Led by all-world Defenseman Cale Makar and Forward Nathan MacKinnon, the Avalanche poured it on the Predators from the first game, where they won 7-2. In the series, Makar had 10 points in four games, which no other defenseman has done in league history. MacKinnon had five goals which was as many as three St. Louis Blues players scored in their six game series. 

The extra time off has given the Avalanche goalie, Darcy Kuemper, time to recover from an injury that forced him out of the last series. 

“Jordan Binnington (St. Louis Goalie), is going to have to be great, plain and simple, for St. Louis to have a chance,” said a scout from theathletic.com. 

The Blues do have their own star in Ryan O’Reilly who led the Blues to winning the Cup back in 2019. The Blues also are very deep but the explosiveness of the Avalanche should give them no problem in moving on. 

I don’t see this team having much trouble disposing of either the Calgary Flames or the Edmonton Oilers. At times during the regular season the Flames looked unstoppable offensively but they struggled to put away the Dallas Stars. And of course the Oilers have Connor McDavid who is in fact unstoppable but the rest of the team is not threatening. 

The toughest test for this Avalanche squad will be whomever they face in the Stanley Cup Final. The four teams remaining on the opposite side of the bracket all look like they could win it all. However, outside of the back to back champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning, there is little meaningful playoff experience among the other teams.

Makar, MacKinnon and the rest of this talented Avalanche roster will have their work cut out for them but all signs point to a special ending to this season.