Hurricanes and Avalanche Advance in Stanley Cup Playoffs

The Carolina Hurricanes and the Colorado Avalanche are the first teams to advance to the second round in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Hurricanes had the best regular season record in the Eastern Conference and second best overall (113 points) and the Avalanche were the best in the Western Conference and overall with 121 points, so these results aren’t a surprise.

Carolina beat Ottawa 4-2 in Ottawa on April 25th, for a four game sweep of the Senators. Sebastian Aho had a pair of goals in the game and Frederik Anderson saved 25 of 27 shots on goal for Carolina. Ottawa was held to just five goals in the four games.

Nathan MacKinnon scored twice and had an assist in Colorado’s 5-1 win over the Kings in Los Angeles. Scott Wedgewood had 24 saves for the Avalanche. Like Ottawa, L.A. could only scratch out five goals in the four games.

The Hurricanes await the winner of the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh series, while Colorado will take on the winner of the Minnesota-Dallas series in Round 2.