There is no way this team can break your heart in two by losing four games.
Right?
The Colorado Avalanche, the best team in hockey since opening night Oct. 7, are facing adversity for the first time this season after faceplanting in the first game of the Western Conference Final.
This moment will define the Avs, but not in the way you might think.
Colorado is not going to choke. These Avs cannot. They are too good, too deep. A third straight collapse from the first shift of sand under their feet is too hard to believe.
Don’t you think?
While the failures since the 2022 season were unnerving — a vanishing player, suspect coaching and an unplugged power play — another exit with parting gifts courtesy of the Golden Knights would be the worst.
Just thinking about it makes the state of Colorado collectively throw up a little bit in its mouth.
But know this: the Avs are not the Nuggets. They make trouble, not excuses. At least that is what we have all thought for the past eight months.
Now is the time to prove it. They can pull this off, though my prediction of the Avs winning in six games looks foolish after the opening night buzzkill.
This is not what you want to hear after a 4-2 loss to the Golden Knights at Ball Arena. Nobody likes to flash the Bat signal quite like Avs’ fans. What played out in front of a stunned sellout crowd caused distress and anger.
The Avs are too smart to play this dumb, to fall into this trap again. They were Yogi Bear and the Knights were the pic-a-nic baskets.
Colorado took the bait.
Anxiety overwhelmed patience, like Sam Malinski firing a shot at the end of a power play to beat an imaginary buzzer, leading to a breakaway. Brawn displaced brains as Ross Colton took a suspect penalty on a night when Cale Makar’s injury created miscommunication among multiple defenders.
We saw this movie against the Los Angeles Kings. It was boring, grueling, but ultimately rewarding.
The difference between the Kings and Golden Knights is that Las Vegas can, you know, score. The Kings played as Las Vegas did, but their endgame was to play keep-away, not to win the game.
The Golden Knights are not passengers. On Wednesday, they were more productive in space than the Artemis II astronauts.
They played better than the Avs. But they are not the better team.
Further evidence is needed, more than Dylan Coghlan beating a goalie for the first time since Gump Worsley, more than a terrific night by goalie Carter Hart to start rolling credits on the Avs’ historically great season.
You cannot convince me that a team with Nate MacKinnon now spewing venom and no longer suffering fools is going to go gentle into that good (Friday) night.
From one punch in the face? If that is the case, then everything we have heard from the Avs about their focus, belief and confidence is fraudulent.
This team is different, all involved insisted this week, because general manager Chris MacFarland did not try to fix the plane while it was in the air.
“This year, we were able to grow with our guys for quite some time. There were less additions at the deadline,” coach Jared Bednar said. “This year I feel like it’s been an easier process.”
It is why every player has celebrated nothing this postseason. There is only one goal acceptable for this core, this team.
“There is pressure. But you want that pressure,” center Nicolas Roy said. “Teams that don’t have that are either not playing or didn’t make the playoffs. You want this. You want to be in the last dance.”
This is, after all, a team with Nazem Kadri playing on the third line and Artturi Lehkonen healthy and Valeri Nichushkin percolating.
If a team like this cannot regain its balance after one bad performance, if a team like this cannot win without Makar — his status for Game 2 remains uncertain because of a right shoulder injury — then that’s pretty much all you need to know.
Drop this series, and the Avs will fold into history as a footnote, a great regular season team, the ultimate left-handed compliment for a team that could not overcome when everything did not go right.
Even with the poor execution, the metrics suggest the Avs should tilt the ice in their favor moving forward. Getting a few dirty goals on rebounds would help immensely. As would crisper, longer stick-to-stick passes.
Truth is, the Avs have no choice. They are another off night from the rink becoming the brink.
Visiting teams that capture the first two games win a playoff series 81% of the time, per the NHL database. Visiting teams that do it in the conference finals advance roughly 90% of the time.
There is no way the Avs lose Friday and overcome those odds. Las Vegas won’t allow it unless Donny Osmond takes up residency in the Golden Knights’ net. Vegas has won the opening game eight times in its last nine playoff series.
That is another reason not to panic. It wasn’t like this was totally unexpected.
“They won (the Cup) the year after us. They have a lot of guys who know what it takes. I can’t see this being a short series. It’s going to be tough,” MacKinnon said on the eve of the matchup. “We are ready for a seven gamer.”
That takes resilience, pride, grit. Things we saw in flashes, when necessary, against the Kings and Wild. Stuff that did not vanish because of a single loss.
Until proven otherwise, it was one bad game.
What is it that they say, that you never know how tall you are until you are a little over your head?
Friday night, it is time for the real Avs to stand up.
