Avalanche's Offense Proves They're the Team to Beat in NHL Playoffs

The Colorado Avalanche entered the playoffs looking like the best team in hockey, at least based on what they did in the regular season, and arguably the team to beat once the postseason started. After a clean first-round series, they were set to match up with a really good Minnesota Wild team that had just beaten the Dallas Stars in a grind of a series, so this was shaping up to be one of the premier matchups of the second round.

But through two games, Colorado has taken things to an entirely different level, especially offensively.

In fact, the Avalanche have scored 14 goals in the first two games combined. In the opener, the Wild scored six goals on Colorado, and it still was not enough because the Avalanche scored nine of their own. The offense was humming, the puck was moving, and everybody was getting involved. It is tough to lose when you score nine goals in a playoff game. Your odds of winning are extremely high.

Then Colorado followed that up in Game 2 with a 5-2 win, giving the Avalanche another offensive outburst and a 2-0 lead in the series.

And honestly, it is not all that surprising when you consider how many offensive weapons this team has. Between Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, and so many other players who can find the back of the net, Colorado has the kind of firepower that can overwhelm even really good teams.

That is exactly what has happened so far in this series. The Avalanche have made a statement. They are up 2-0 in the second round, they are living up to the hype they carried into the playoffs, and right now they absolutely look like the team to beat.

There's nobody playing as well as Colorado in the NHL Playoffs.