Avalanche ahead of curve with first-round sweep of Predators

The Coaches Room is a regular feature throughout the 2021-22 season by former NHL coaches and assistants who will turn their critical gaze to the game and explain it through the lens of a teacher. Rocky Thompson and Dave Barr will take turns providing insight.
In this edition, Thompson, an assistant with the Edmonton Oilers in 2014-15 and an associate coach with the San Jose Sharks in 2020-21, takes a closer look at how the Colorado Avalanche swept through the Western Conference First Round and how that will help them going forward.

It's mission accomplished for the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference First Round, a sweep of the Nashville Predators that comes with all kinds of positive signs.
Starting goalie Darcy Kuemper, who sustained an eye injury in Game 3 of the best-of-7 series, will be OK according to reports. The freak sort of accident will not have serious, long-term effects on Kuemper's availability. It's always a fear going into the Stanley Cup Playoffs when the physicality is ramped up so much that your players can stay healthy.
Taking out Nashville in four games will give Colorado some extra rest, an advantage after the St. Louis Blues needed six to eliminate the Minnesota Wild. The Avalanche will face the Blues in the second round.
Teams at times have to overplay their best players in the postseason, so the Avalanche will be getting some recovery time (their opponents won't get much) and will be able to put the gas pedal to the floor again for the next series and have a full tank to start. Who wouldn't like that?

For Colorado's coaching staff, there's another advantage. Their preparation already will have begun and that's a head start on their next opponent. The Blues' staff is just getting started.
Defenseman Josh Manson showed me his value during the first round. Colorado lacked a shut-down player who's hard to play against and can play against other teams' top skaters. Acquiring Manson in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks on March 14 for a second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and defenseman prospect
Drew Helleson
fit that need. Manson also kills penalties and has enough ability to play behind Colorado's first line when the top defense pair of Cale Makar and Devon Toews are not on the ice with them.
Another earlier concern, injuries, also was overcome. Colorado's depth is restored now that several forwards are back healthy, namely Nazem Kadri, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen.
Their top six forward group, which has the luxury of having Landeskog on the second line with Kadri and Artturi Lehkonen, was outstanding, scoring 13 goals in four games (Nathan MacKinnon scored five, Landeskog three, Valeri Nichushkin two, Lehkonen two, Kadri one).
The imposing lineup was too much for the Predators to handle, and rookie goalie
Connor Ingram
played well if you really examine it. He had a 3.64 goals-against average but a .913 save percentage in place of No. 1 goalie Juuse Saros, who sustained a lower-body injury April 26 and couldn't return.
Colorado's top line of MacKinnon, Rantanen and Nichushkin, with defensemen Makar and Toews, simply is hard to play against. Those forwards are big (MacKinnon is 6-foot, 200 pounds; Rantanen is 6-4, 215; Nichushkin is 6-4, 210), fast, strong, skilled and their offensive-zone play will be hard for anybody to defend. They generated so many good opportunities in the first round and a lot of it was on transition from defense to offense. That's not always turnovers; often it's just change of possession. They defend, get a loose puck and boom, they're gone. They generate a lot of odd-man rushes out of those situations that other teams don't.

There's just so much to like.
Even Colorado's second defense pair, Manson and Samuel Girard, has so much impact. I've liked Girard for years. He's a smaller defenseman (5-10, 170) but moves so well and defends well considering he uses such a short stick. He's a battler, a competitor and can skate the puck out of danger so well.
It's a great luxury for forwards when your defensemen can move their feet with the puck and create space on the ice.
I will be paying close attention to Kuemper's situation moving forward. It sounds like they're optimistic he'll be back and that only will boost Colorado's confidence. In the meantime, Pavel Francouz came in and was solid the final two games against Nashville, making the saves that were needed. It's not always easy with the bright lights of the playoffs on you. He was up to the task.
While they prepare, I can see some extra focus on a couple of things. One is that their break between series will take away from their sharpness. But knowing coach Jared Bednar, he'll have his players ready and they'll hit the ground running.
The other area of some concern might be their penalty killing. It had some not-so-great periods during the regular season (15th, 79.7 percent) and was 10-for-13 (76.9 percent) against Nashville. They'll be looking to tighten that up.
Conversely, there would seem to be no worries about the power play, which went 7-for-16 in the first round (43.8 percent). It's one of the many factors that make the Avalanche an elite Stanley Cup contender, and now they are one that's had a successful first round followed by some rest.
Sounds like a pretty encouraging script to me.