Winners, losers from Wednesday's Stanley Cup playoffs: Unlikely hero sends Avalanche to WCF

Colorado Avalanche depth. The Avalanche have superstars in Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. That is a big part of their success this season, and you need players of that magnitude if you are going to compete for a championship. But two stars alone are not enough, and every winning team also needs to complement their stars with a strong supporting cast.

How strong is Colorado's supporting cast?

Of the 21 non-goalies that have appeared in a playoff game for the Avalanche this season, 17 have scored at least one goal.

They have only played nine total playoff games at this point. 

That is depth. That is balance. That is hard to beat. 

Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche. He had nine shots on goal in the game and scored the game-tying goal with a minute to play. 

Wednesday's losers

Minnesota's meltdown. This one is going to sting. This was probably one of the best Wild teams in the history of the franchise, and it won a playoff series for the first time in a decade. There was a real reason to believe this team had a chance to compete for a championship.

And then it ran into a buzzsaw in the second round, won just a single game in the series, and missed a chance to force a Game 6 back in Minnesota by blowing a three-goal lead.

Minnesota's center depth. This was the one big concern for the Wild coming into this series, and it only got worse with the injury to Joel Eriksson Ek. 

While Eriksson Ek is an outstanding two-way player, he is not a traditional No. 1 center that you see on most championship-winning teams. 

When you take him out of the lineup, Minnesota's center depth takes an even bigger hit, and there was just no chance of the Wild ever matching up with what Colorado could put on the ice.

If the Wild are going to join Colorado's tier as a contender, improving this position is going to have to be a focal point this offseason.

Minnesota's lead-protecting. After scoring its third goal, Minnesota pretty much just packed it in on Wednesday night when it came to trying to add, generating almost no offense over the final 39 minutes of hockey. You can not sit back and try to defend a team like Colorado. You have to keep trying to add on. Minnesota failed, and now it has an entire summer to think about it. 

Stan Bowman, Edmonton Oilers. Yeah, his team is not here, but he traded Kulak off of his roster so he could take on the albatross contract of Tristan Jarry to try and fix his goalie position. Jarry was so bad that he was benched, still has two years left on his contract, all while Edmonton had to sit and watch Kulak score one of the biggest goals of the year for somebody else.