“They’ve been an amazing line all season for us,” MacKinnon said of Kelly, Drury, and Joel Kiviranta. “It just shows you need literally everybody to win a series in this League.”

That sentence probably summarized Colorado’s second round better than anything else.

Because while the Wild had moments where they successfully slowed Colorado’s elite talent, they never consistently survived the waves behind them.

Colorado’s Depth Slowly Broke Minnesota

This was not a clean series.

It was violent, emotional, fast, chaotic and, at times, completely unhinged.

Game 1 alone turned into a track meet, with Colorado hanging nine goals on Minnesota in a playoff game that felt more like a street fight than structured postseason hockey.

But even as the series evolved and tightened defensively, the Avalanche never stopped generating offense from different areas of the lineup.

Colorado finished the series with 24 goals in five games and converted at a blistering 38.5 percent on the power play. More importantly, the Avalanche controlled five-on-five play, outscoring Minnesota 14-11 at even strength.

That balance mattered.

A lot.

Because the Wild actually did several things reasonably well throughout stretches of the series. They blocked shots. They played physically. Kirill Kaprizov still created dangerous moments whenever space opened up. Nick Foligno delivered arguably his best hockey of the postseason.

For long stretches of Game 5, Minnesota looked fully capable of forcing the series back home.

Then Colorado’s depth overwhelmed them again. Like a seasoned heavyweight slowly dismantling an overmatched challenger, the Avalanche absorbed Minnesota’s early surge before methodically wearing the Wild down shift after shift. Only this wasn’t done with body shots — it came through suffocating speed in transition, relentless puck pursuit, and constant offensive-zone pressure.

Colorado rolled four lines, activated its defensemen, attacked off retrievals, and trapped Minnesota in exhausting defensive-zone sequences that slowly eroded both the Wild’s structure and confidence.

“It’s got to be No. 1,” MacKinnon said when asked where the comeback ranked among playoff moments.

And honestly, it felt that way watching it unfold.

The Moment The Series Truly Changed

Minnesota led 3-0 midway through the first period of Game 5.

Ball Arena was quiet. The Avalanche looked rattled. Mackenzie Blackwood was pulled after allowing three goals on 13 shots.

Everything had tilted toward the Wild.

And yet Colorado never really looked panicked.

That was the terrifying part.

The Avalanche just kept skating.

Kept attacking.

Kept forcing plays into dangerous ice.

The comeback started with Kelly redirecting a point shot in the second period. Drury cut the deficit to one late in the third. Then came MacKinnon’s impossible-angle rocket with the goalie pulled and the season hanging by a thread.

By overtime, the building felt inevitable.

And when Martin Necas slid a cross-ice pass onto the tape of Brett Kulak for the series-winning one-timer, the image perfectly captured the entire series.

Not MacKinnon.

Not Makar.

Brett Kulak.

Colorado’s stars mattered because they always matter. But the Avalanche advanced because their supporting cast repeatedly turned games in their favor.

“You always like to dream about it,” Kulak said afterward. “For me, a special goal in my career, for sure.”

That goal didn’t just end the series.

It validated the entire identity Colorado has built all season.

Why Colorado Suddenly Feels Different

The scariest part for the rest of the Western Conference might be this:

The Avalanche don’t look top-heavy anymore.

This version of Colorado feels deeper, more mature and significantly harder to scheme against than some previous playoff teams built almost entirely around star power.

Yes, MacKinnon remains the engine.

Yes, Cale Makar still controls games in ways few defensemen on earth can.

But this run feels sustainable because the pressure never disappears when those players leave the ice.

Gabriel Landeskog said it perfectly after the series-clinching win.

“The depth, that’s what’s gonna win you down the stretch here in the playoffs,” Landeskog said.

Right now, it’s hard to argue otherwise.

And after surviving Minnesota’s best punch before storming all the way back in Game 5, the Avalanche suddenly look like a team that believes no deficit is fatal and no game is ever fully out of reach.

That belief can become dangerous in May.

Especially when it’s backed by this much depth.

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