Avalanche 1st to advance to 2nd round with sweep of Predators

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The Colorado Avalanche are happy they got a bit of a challenge before sweeping the Nashville Predators.

They actually had to rally for the first time in the first round.

Valeri Nichushkin scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:58 left, and the Avalanche became the first team to advance to the second round Monday night beating the Predators 5-3 Monday night.

"We found a way," Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon said. "That’s the key. You can’t always win when you have your best, you have to find ways when you’re not. Tonight was one of those cases. We just know with all the skill and talent we have that we were going to get one."

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Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog (92) shakes hands with Nashville Predators' Filip Forsberg (9) after Game 4 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series Monday, May 9, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn. The Avalanche won 5-3 to sweep the series 4-0.  (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

The Avalanche now are in the Western Conference semifinals for a fourth straight season and second consecutive after sweeping their first-round opponent. They improved to 6-0 since the franchise relocated to Denver in best-of-seven series after winning the first three games with their fourth sweep in that span.

They now get to wait for either St. Louis or Minnesota.

"The big thing is now we can take a breath, get a couple days off for our guys, give them some rest and we’ll still get some real good practice time before we get ready for our next opponent," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said.

Andre Burakovsky and Cale Makar each had a goal and two assists for Colorado, and Devon Toews added a goal.