Kukla's Korner Hockey
The Dominant Colorado Avalanche
by Paul on 06/27/22 at 09:48 AM ET
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from Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff,
Before the Colorado Avalanche kissed Lord Stanley’s freshly dented mug, before the champagne soaked their shirts, there was a quiet elevator ride from the press box to ice level at Amalie Arena for the disparate management groups of these two titans after a heavyweight slugfest.
There was no hooting and hollering, no backslapping, no hugging for Avalanche GM Joe Sakic and his team – definitely not in front of the competition, that isn’t in Sakic’s humble nature.
As the doors closed, Lightning GM Julien BriseBois turned to Sakic and said: “You’ve set the standard now.” Sakic thanked him, and without a blink, responded: “You showed us the way.”
It was a passing of the torch just minutes before the official passing of the Stanley Cup, to a new and worthy champion for the first time in three years. The Colorado Avalanche climbed the Stanley Cup summit for the first time since 2001 – and did so with one of the most dominant performances the hockey world has ever seen.
The Avs ran through the playoff gauntlet with a 16-4 record. Only one team since 1987, when all four rounds moved to best-of-seven, has captured the Cup with fewer than four losses: the 1988 Edmonton Oilers. That’s the type of company Colorado has kept.
In a sport so random and unpredictable, it’s so rare that a team lives up to the preseason hype and runs the table the way the Avalanche did in 2021-22. And to do it, they slayed the two-time defending champion Lightning in clinical fashion with a 2-1 win in Game 6 on Sunday night.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Colorado Avalanche, | KK Hockey | Permalink
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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.
From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.
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