Public Still Lining Up Behind Avalanche For Cup Run

The Avalanche are heading into the conference finals with the kind of public support that only shows up when a team looks like it has another gear. That does not win games, of course, but it does tell you where the spotlight is pointed and why everybody keeps circling Colorado on their bracket sheets. The stakes get bigger now because every round strips away the margin for error and exposes the teams that were just hot for a month.