What We Learned: Colorado Avalanche on verge on historically dominant sweep
Most people probably thought the series between the Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators would be a walkover.
Even before the Preds turned to their third-string goaltender midway through Game 1, it never felt like this series was going to be all that close. And while Connor Ingram occasionally manages to keep the score respectable all by himself, everything you needed to know about this series has played out exactly like one might have scripted it:
Avs score a ton of goals in Game 1, Ingram makes 49 saves in Game 2 and they still lose, Avs score a ton of goals in Game 3.
Through just three games of this series, the Avalanche hold a plus-10 advantage in goals and a plus-57 advantage in shots. If these trends hold, they’re going to post the most dominant sweep of the salary cap era.
In the 28 playoff sweeps — not counting any of the bubble play-in series — during the cap era, no team has averaged more goals per game (5.33), though plenty have allowed fewer goals than these Avs (2.0). But it’s not just putting the puck in the net that makes the Avalanche so dominant: They’ve also outshot Nashville 138-81. No sweeping team has averaged more shots on goal per game (46) and only six have held their opponents to fewer shots (27).