The first round of the playoffs hasn’t been the problem for the Colorado Avalanche.

Talk of three straight second-round exits has dogged a team widely considered to be in a championship window. External talk, anyway.

“We all know, (those) who’ve been here the last three years – that’s the hump that we try to get over and I think we have a good chance this year again, like we’ve had the last couple years,” forward Mikko Rantanen said.

“It’s not really discussed. I think everybody knows what happened and we don’t need to think about the past at all.”

Colorado lost two games in three years in the first round, handling the Calgary Flames, Arizona Coyotes and St. Louis Blues, respectively. The Avalanche face the Nashville Predators on Tuesday in the first round of the 2022 playoffs. 

In 2019 against the San Jose Sharks, there was a controversial late call and a one-goal, Game 7 loss. A year later against the Dallas Stars, Colorado pressed on with an injury-hit roster and a third-string goaltender, making it to overtime in Game 7.

The league’s best regular-season showing wasn’t much consolation in 2021 when the Vegas Golden Knights had their number in the second round.

Multiple franchise marks fell in 2022, but they were means to an end. The talk since September has been about June.

“We’ve set a bunch of records this year, last year, whatever,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “It just kind of shows you where we’re getting to as a team and now we’ve just got to find a way to get over the hump at the most important time of the year, and that’s the playoffs.”

Out of an abundance of caution and preparation, several key players were scratched in the final stretch of the regular season. After the Avalanche set franchise records in wins (56) and home victories (32), the team went 1-5-1 in the final two weeks.

“Look at the season we’ve had. Look at the success we’ve had and the way we’ve been getting that success,” rookie forward Alex Newhook said. “I think we’re a deep group and a committed group. It’s not going to be a perfect season – that’s the message that we’ve been getting from veteran guys.”

Minor regular-season struggles will be a distant memory if Colorado reaches the conference finals for the first time since 2002.

“Some guys have taken a breath here, taken a little bit of a dip,” Bednar said during the final weeks. “Now we’ve all got to start digging in to get it going in the right direction again.”

Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud (2) celebrates after center William Karlsson (71) scored a goal against the Colorado Avalanche during the first period in Game 6 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series Thursday, June 10, 2021, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

John Locher