The pressure is off the Avs. Unless they apply it themselves.
After the first-round victory over Dallas, the players and members of the organization have earned the right to gloat, if just a bit. It’s not just about the four victories over the Stars, but vindication for some of Pierre Lacroix’s maneuvering and a quieting of the talk that executives in Detroit, for example, did a better job of surviving the stripping-down effects of the salary cap.
The Red Wings, who looked so good in the regular season and swept the Avs in the process, are done. So are the Flyers and Peter Forsberg.
Few outside the Pepsi Center offices and the blinkered wing of the fan base gave the Avalanche much of a chance to get this far. I know I didn’t, and I won’t apologize for being wrong, but I will give credit where credit is due.
This team, given so much credit for being fun to watch and easy to pull for in the regular season, setting aside debates over the decisions and moves in the wake of the new salary cap system, has proved a lot of us wrong.
Already.
Though Stan Kroenke owns both the Nuggets and Avs, there still is some in-house competition with the Nuggets for attention and acclaim. The Avs can be excused if they’re a bit bemused as they notice many fans and media members who seemed to have decided the Nuggets were a bigger story this spring suddenly paying attention to hockey. Plus, the Avs’ all-for-one play was a stark contrast to the Nuggets’ disgusting implosion.
The Avalanche will be underdog again against Anaheim, though not to the degree it was against Dallas.
“I think if you’re in a series and you’re the underdog, it’s really the media that does that,” Avs goaltender Jose Theodore said this week. “When you’re on the ice, the pressure’s on even if you’re the eighth seed or the first seed. We had a lot of pressure because we wanted to win, and it’s the same thing in the next series. We don’t really look at who’s favored to win. We just want to play well.”
That’s self-imposed pressure.
I thought the Avs maxed out, so to speak, just making the playoffs, and I was wrong. I believed that after a loss to Dallas, the Avs would deserve – and be given credit for – an entertaining season, and at this point, we already would be talking about how Lacroix’s next moves and Theodore’s future would be the test of whether the franchise could return to the upper echelons of the Western Conference.
Despite some of the silly revisionism being peddled and bought into about the benefits of having something to play for down the stretch, the Avs didn’t look good during that period of urgency. They almost played their way out of a playoff spot. And it wasn’t just about the transitional goaltending period after David Aebischer’s departure.
The Avs rebounded.
They played smart, opportunistic, bring-on-the-pressure hockey against the Stars.
Theodore was as good as he needed to be.
Wojtek Wolski provided a boost, just as the return of Steve Konowalchuk could help against the Mighty Ducks.
Joe Sakic again showed why he can be one of the best clutch players in professional sports.
Lacroix’s second-tier “depth” signings in the offseason, while a mixed bag, look better than ever as a group, with Andrew Brunette and Ian Laperriere making crucial contributions on and off the ice. That assessment is especially true in the context of Joel Quenneville apparently being given the right to relegate Pierre Turgeon. The veteran center hasn’t been effective since returning to lineup from a shoulder injury, and he seemed extraneous since his frequent linemate, Marek Svatos, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.
In a sense, the Avs already have won.
Unless they get completely embarrassed in the second round, they will go down as a team that overachieved in the NHL’s transitional season. That sort of safety net also can be a weapon, so it wouldn’t be a shock if they go even deeper.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
