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The Colorado Avalanche face the Nashville Predators in the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Avalanche enter as the top team in the Western Conference after having 119 points during the regular season. The Preds were able to beat out the Vegas Golden Knights and Vancouver Canucks for the second wild card into the playoffs from the West.
Here we’re going to be tracking the results of the series.
Avalanche win series 4-0
Game 1: Avalanche 7, Predators 2
Recap — Colorado may end this one quickly. The Avs throttled the Preds and coasted to a 7-2 win in Game 1 on Tuesday night. The Avs scored five straight goals in the first period to take a 5-0 lead before making it 6-0 early in the second and never really looking back. Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar each had three points while Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves in the victory. The Preds struggled without goalie Juuse Saros, who was replaced in net with David Rittich, who was yanked after allowing five goals on 13 shots in the first.
Game 2: Avalanche 2, Predators 1 OT
Recap — The Avalanche took a commanding 2-0 series lead with a 2-1 overtime win on Thursday night against the Preds at home. Cale Makar scored the game-winner at 8:31 of the first OT to give Colorado the victory. It was a tough loss for Nashville, which was beat 7-2 in the series opener. The Preds were able to clamp down and Connor Ingram stepped up big in net, making 49 of 51 saves in the loss. If Ingram can play like that at home, the Preds have a shot to get back into this series.
Game 3: Avalanche 7, Predators 3
Recap — The Preds were not able to get back into the series, which is basically over. Nashville had a shot in Game 2 but got blown out back home in Game 3 over the weekend. Colorado got four points from captain Gabriel Landeskog (two goals, two assists), while defenseman Cale Makar got three assists in the win.
Game 4: Avalanche 5, Predators 3
Recap — The Avalanche are the first team to advance to the second round in the 2022 NHL playoffs. Colorado sweeps Nashville pretty easily and will take on the winner of the Wild-Blues series in the second round. Pavel Francouz made 28 saves while Cale Makar had three points for the Avs.