Avalanche Win NHL Western Conference With Sweep Over Oilers

Late Rally Sends Colorado Past Oilers in Sweep
Colorado (-210) sitting as Stanley Cup favorite over Tampa Bay or New York
Third period and overtime heroics allow the Avs their first Stanley Cup berth in two decades

Colorado Makes Quick Work of Oilers Later in Game 4

The Colorado Avalanche showed Monday evening why they have boasted one of the quickest scoring and most efficient offenses in the NHL in the 2021-22 season.

"THE AVALANCHE HAVE WON THE WEST!"

No one calls it better than our @ConorMcGahey on @AltitudeSR #FindAWay #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/DaXPzQo6ch

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) June 7, 2022

After Edmonton’s Zach Hyman scored at 3:55 in the third period to push the Oilers into a 4-2 lead, Colorado scored four goals in the last 12:21 which included the game-winner by Arthur Lehkonen at 1:19 into overtime.

Lehkonen’s goal lifted the Avalanche into a 6-5 win and a sweep over the Oilers.

Colorado will now play the Tampa Bay-New York Rangers winner for this season’s Stanley Cup championship. Cale Makar controlled the puck in the Edmonton zone off of a face-off and fired a shot at the Oilers’ net. Lehkonen scored off a rebound that ricocheted off of Edmonton goalie Mike Smith.

Once again:

Colorado backup goalie Pavel Francouz came up strong with the game on the line. He stopped only 30 shots in 35 attempts, but made solid stops, especially in the third period as Colorado made it’s move.

It was the Avalanche’s fifth playoff win in a row and their seventh in their last eight games.

Avs Pull Second Playoff Sweep and are Stanley Cup Favorites

Colorado has been favored to win every game so far in the NHL playoffs as the Avalanche have posted a 12-2 record with the two losses coming in the middle of the series vs. the St. Louis Blues.

Since the Game 2 victory over the Nashville Predators in Round 1 where the Avalanche were posted as a (-360) favorite, Colorado has been given the nod on odds of between (-120) and (-270) throughout their playoff run. Colorado now posts a (-210) while the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Rangers sit at (+400). The Avs are a solid favorite moving into the Stanley Cup Finals against either squad.

The Avalanche garner that (-210) nod against the Lightning and Rangers who both sit at (+176) as the Eastern Conference teams get the nod as the field. Colorado’s preseason odds were stacked at (+625) to win the Cup while they were at 110.5 in the OVER/UNDER.

Please Note:

The Avalanche was a favorite at the beginning of the NHL season as they started with (+625) and now have fallen to (+210) as both of these numbers have struck as the best odds in the NHL at those times.

Currently, some online sportsbooks are posting odds at (-210) and (-213) for Colorado as those are still out in front of a (-225) placement as odds on favorite. The Avs were posted at (-3000) to make the playoffs and (+1600) to miss the playoffs when the season commenced.

Late Heroics Allow for Colorado’s Stanley Cup Arrival

After Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan McKinnon posted a pair of goals midway through the third period to allow Colorado to tie Edmonton at 4-4, Mikko Rantanen scored off of assists from Makar and Landeskog at 14:47 in the third period.

This goal lifted Colorado into what was a brief lead at 5-4 before Edmonton was reinvigorated when Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl fed Zack Kassian at 16:38 to force the overtime. This came before Lehkonen’s game-winner at 1:19 in the overtime period. Six different Colorado players scored goals on Monday evening and Makar notched four assists. Makar posted an assist just 31 seconds into the third period when he fed Devon Toews for his fifth goal which allowed the Avalanche to pull within 3-2.

This will be the first Stanley Cup Final for the Avalanche since 2001 when they held the New Jersey Devils to one goal in the final two games and this allowed for a seven-game series and Colorado’s lone Stanley Cup championship.