Vegas — the oddsmakers, not the Golden Knights or their Twitter account — still considers the Colorado Avalanche a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. So there is that.
Consecutive victories over the St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars created the narrative that the Avalanche could be the Western Conference’s top seed. A 4-3 overtime loss Saturday to the Golden Knights means they will be the No. 2 seed and have a quarterfinal date against the Arizona Coyotes in the coming days. A bid at round-robin perfection fell short, but it still made for an easier path than trying to clinch a playoff spot in the last or second-to-last game of the season.
Not that such a thing has happened to the Avalanche in the past two seasons.
But the fact that the Avalanche were a wire-to-wire Cup favorite this season has generated an expectation that still stands: Is this the year they claim the franchise’s third Stanley Cup title or will the wait extend by at…
