Against the NHL’s best teams this season, the Avalanche has come up aces.
Before the season began last month, the teams most capable of winning the Stanley Cup were the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference, and the Nashville Predators and Vegas Golden Knights in the West. Throw in the defending conference regular-season champions (Tampa Bay and the Calgary Flames), plus the last two Cup champions, the Washington Capitals (2018) and St. Louis Blues (2019), and the benchmark is set.
Well, the Avs are 6-1 against that benchmark, outscoring those teams a combined 37-18.