from Mike Chambers of the Denver Post,

The Avalanche, now 10-2 in the postseason, is two victories from the Stanley Cup Final and six wins from euphoria.

A Canadian center and a goalie from the Czech Republic led the Avs to a 2-0 series lead in the Western Conference Finals on Thursday night at Ball Arena. Nazem Kadri’s three assists on Colorado’s three-goal blitz in a span of 2:04 and Pavel Francouz’s 24-save shutout carried the Avs to a dominating 4-0 victory over the highly explosive Edmonton Oilers....

“We definitely cleaned some things up,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Start to finish, more disciplined and stronger as the game went on in our checking game. Guys just really committed to it.”...

“We shut them down. I think that was what our group needed,” said Avs defenseman Josh Manson, who scored the second goal. “We talked about it in between (periods) and how we wanted to accomplish it. And so it was good to go and get that result.”

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from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

On the night that Calgary Flames curmudgeonly head coach Darryl Sutter was awarded the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year, we offer you this:

For the Edmonton Oilers, will this Western Conference Final simply be a waste of eight days?

“It’s a series, right? This is how it goes,” countered even-keeled winger Zach Hyman after a 4-0 loss Thursday. “There are momentum swings. It’s a rollercoaster. They defended home ice, so we have an opportunity to go back, feed off our crowd and get the momentum back.”

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Game highlights are below.