DENVER — The learning curve for the NHL's youngest team had a 13-day joyride, and the Stanley Cup playoff experience was undoubtedly a bonus in Year 1 of its rebuild. The Avalanche's Cinderella season ended Sunday afternoon at the Pepsi Center, where Nashville dominated Game 6 — 5-0 — to win the series 4-2 and advance to the Western Conference semifinals.
The Preds, who led 2-0 after the first period and 4-0 going into the third, will next face Winnipeg in another Central Division showdown. Nothing went right for the Avs Sunday in the only mismatch of what was projected to be a lopsided series.
"It was a good series. Tonight was tough," said Avs center Nathan MacKinnon, who was held off the scoresheet for the second time in the series. "They got two quick goals and it just deflated us. And they got one in the second to make it 3-0 and it kind of ruined our momentum. I thought Game 5 was great, forcing a Game 6. But obviously, tonight was pretty bad."
Colorado qualified for the playoffs on the last day of the regular season; an amazing rebound after finishing last in the NHL in 2016-17. It gave the Presidents' Trophy-winning Preds perhaps more than they expected. Most predictions called for Nashville to sweep, or win in five at most. The series went six games but on Sunday the young Avs seemed to run out of gas against the league's best team.
"As the series grew on we had to treat it with more and more respect," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "If you think about where the Avalanche has come in two years, from last year and the improvement this year (with) their young players and their speed and their skill ... We had to work through it."
The Avs pulled out a stunning 2-1 victory Friday in Game 5 at Bridgestone Arena, scoring two goals late, to bring the series back to Denver.
"I'm proud of this team — what they accomplished, how hard they worked all year, how coachable they were," Avs coach Jared Bednar said. "It was a great group, a fun group to coach. That's what I'll take out of it."
About Sunday's wipeout, Bednar said: "We made a couple mistakes in our D-zone and they ended up in our net. We kind of starting reeling from there, and as the game goes on you see it start slipping away — the work that you put into it starts getting in your head. It's a mental thing. You try to push through for pride and being respectful to the fans but the game's got to be played with a certain level of emotion and it just wasn't there for us."
Third-string goalie Andrew Hammond, making his second consecutive start because of injuries to Semyon Varlamov and Jonathan Bernier, was as off Sunday as much as he was on in Friday's victory. He allowed four goals on 24 shots through two periods, giving up two soft goals in the first 10 minutes of the second frame.
The Avs' forwards and defensemen also struggled. Nashville continually created lanes to the net and opportune chances on Hammond, and Colorado's offense never got on track.
The Avalanche had a disallowed goal late in the second period, with the ruling that Carl Soderberg interfered with goalie Pekka Rinne before a shot from Nikita Zadorov went in. The Avs challenged the call but lost.
That's just the kind of day it was for Colorado.
The Avs played the entire series without Varlamov, the regular starter in net, and top defenseman Erik Johnson.
"No one gave us a shot at the start of the year," Johnson said Sunday in his first interview since fracturing his kneecap March 28 against Philadelphia.