Game 6: Colorado wins at San Jose, 3-2. Colorado wins the series WWLLWW, exactly as it did in the 1997 Prelim round. San Jose loses the series LLWWLL, exactly as it did in the 1998 Prelim round.

Game 5: Colorado wins vs. San Jose, 6-2. Colorado has once before taken the WWLLW path: In the 1997 Prelim round, the Avalanche opened WWLLW, and won Game 6 and the series. San Jose has once before taken the LLWWL path: In the 1998 Prelim round, the Sharks opened LLWWL, and lost Game 6 and the series.

Game 4: San Jose wins at Colorado, 7-3. Seven goals is the most that the Colorado Avalanche has ever yielded in one best-of-7 format playoff game, in any round, in any year. Colorado has begun a best-of-7 series with two wins and two losses once before: In the 1997 Prelim round, Colorado won Games 5 and 6 and the series. Last year in Prelim round action, San Jose also began its series with two losses and two wins, and then lost Games 5 and 6 and the series.

Game 3: San Jose wins at Colorado, 4-2. There is a previous NHL best-of-7 series in which a team won Game 1 3-1, won Game 2 2-1, and lost Game 3 4-2 (as Colorado has so far done in this series.) The team is the Montreal Canadiens; the series is their 1947 NHL Semifinals vs. the Boston Bruins. In that 1947 series, Montreal rebounded from its Game 3 defeat to win Game 4 (5-1) and Game 5 (4-3) to take the series in five games. Prior to this season, Colorado is 3-0 when starting a best-of-7 playoff series WWL (the Quebec Nordiques, though, were 0-2 in such a situation). Prior to this season, San Jose started a best-of-7 playoff series LLW only once before -- in last year's Prelim round: The Sharks lost that series in six games to the Dallas Stars.

Game 2: Colorado wins at San Jose, 2-1. The 1952 Detroit Red Wings were the only previous team in NHL best-of-7 action to win Games 1 and 2 on the road, by scores of 3-1 and 2-1. Those 1952 Wings won their series in four straight. Teams which win the first two games on the road in best-of-7 NHL Preliminary round action have a series record of 5-4. The last team to win a Preliminary round series after winning Games 1 and 2 on the road were the 1995 San Jose Sharks, which defeated the Calgary Flames in seven games. So, the 1995 Sharks become a role model for the 1999 Avalanche as they take on the 1999 San Jose Sharks.

Game 1: Colorado wins at San Jose, 3-1. Four times before in NHL best-of-7 preliminary round action has the road team won Game 1 3-1. The series record of those teams is 3-1.

Pre-series history. In NHL best-of-7 Preliminary round action, the Colorado Avalanche's series record is 2-1 (the Quebec Nordiques' was 1-2) and the San Jose Sharks' series record is 2-1; Colorado's game record is 11-8 (57.89%) (Quebec's was 8-10 (44.44%)) and San Jose's game record is 10-10 (50.00%).

Colorado finished 18 points (9 games) ahead of San Jose in the 1998-99 NHL regular season.

In previous NHL best-of-7 Preliminary round action, the team with the 9-game lead has a series record of 1-2. The 1994 San Jose Sharks trailed the Detroit Red Wings by 9 games in the regular season, but won their best-of-7 Preliminary round series in 7 games. The 1994 Sharks are the only NHL team to trail its playoff opponent by 9 games, yet win Game 1 of the playoff series.

In previous best-of-7 action in all NHL playoff rounds, the team with the 9-game lead has a series record of 5-6 (45.45%).

In previous best-of-7 action in all NHL, NBA, and MLB playoff rounds, the team with the 9-game lead has a series record of 16-9 (64.00%).