By winning their first Stanley Cup since 2001, the Colorado Avalanche kept Lightning from striking thrice, denying Tampa Bay a third straight Cup. After a season when 13 teams achieved 100 points (eight teams had 110-plus), the Avalanche buried four strong opponents on the way to a 16-4 playoff-season record. Avs Defenseman Cale Makar was the playoff MVP after winning the Norris Trophy with a 28-58-86 season. Colorado’s deep roster of skilled players included Mikko Rantanen (36-56-92), Nathan McKinnon (32-56-88), Nazem Kadri (28-59-87), Makar, Andre Burakovsky (22-39-61), Gabriel Landeskog (30-29-59), Valeri Nichuskin (25-27-52) and four more with double-figure goals.

You might coach many times to a championship. It took 100 points to make the Eastern Conference playoffs; 97 to make it in the Western Conference. Florida’s 122 points were the seventh-most ever and it led with 340 goals and a +94 goal differential. Aleksander Barkov’s 39 goals led four Panthers with 30-plus (13 hit double figures) and linemate Jonathan Huberdeau led the team with 115 points, including 85 assists.

Edmonton’s Connor McDavid led eight 100-point scorers with 123. Season MVP Auston Matthews of Toronto was the league’s first 60-goal scorer in a decade and only its third since 1996. There were three other 50-goal men: Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl (55), the Rangers’ Chris Kreider (52) and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (50).

Goalies were stars, too: The Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin, the Vezina Trophy winner who led in both goals-against average (2.07) and save percentage (.935 – the third highest in history) was a Hart Trophy finalist.               Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky and Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy each had 39 wins. Five more goalies had at least 35.

No one played more (67 games, 3931 minutes) or had more Goalie Points (an advanced metric) than Nashville’s Juusu Saros, a Vezina Trophy finalist. The other Vezina finalist, Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom, led with nine shutouts and was third in GAA (2.22) and Save% (.922). Jennings Trophy winner Frederik Andersen of Carolina was second in GAA (2.17) and tied for third in Save% (.922).

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