The Col­orado Avalanche earned a spot in the West­ern Con­fer­ence semi­fi­nals after a sec­ond straight 7–1 win over the Phoenix Coy­otes dur­ing the first round of the NHL play­offs. The Avalanche now await the win­ner of the Cal­gary Flames and the Dal­las Stars, who will play game 6 on Thurs­day. The Stars lead the series 3–2.