Three keys to Avalanche victory in Game 4

On the cusp of advancing to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 20 years, the Avalanche can sweep the Western Conference Finals and earn valuable rest by defeating Edmonton in Game 4 on Monday night at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

Power play. The Avalanche’s power play is in a rut. If it can get back on track and roll, another sweep is likely. Colorado failed to capitalize in 11:27 of man-advantage time against Edmonton in Game 3 on Saturday night (officially 0-for- 5). It couldn’t convert on a five-minute major to the Oilers’ Evander Kane and an ensuing minor on Darnell Nurse. The Avs had seven minutes of PP time before the Oilers had a second. Yes, Oilers goalie Mike Smith impressively stopped a handful of quality looks by Colorado on the power play in Game 3, but the Avs may be losing confidence. They were just 1- of-7 with the manadvantage in Game 2 and now 2-for-14 in the series (14.3%).

Stay on target. The Avs need to again throw everything they can on Oilers goalie Mike Smith and continue to avoid missing the net or having shots blocked. Smith faced 42 shots on Saturday and only 15 were off-target (eight) or blocked (seven). That’s good accuracy and Smith is only so good. The game-winning goal by J.T.

Compher sneaked through Smith’s legs on what became a breakaway and the goalie probably should have prevented it. But Compher gave himself a chance by not missing the net. Avs winger Mikko Rantanen had a game-high eight shots and missed the net just once. Winger

Gabe Landeskog and defenseman Cale Makar were the only Avs to have more than one missed shot.

Play “boring and gross.” The Avs are 6- 0 on the road in the postseason, the only NHL team without a road loss this year. It’s the secondlongest postseason road winning streak in club history behind a 7- 0 run in 1999. Colorado topline center Nathan Mackinnon knows the strategy outside Ball Arena. “We have five guys connected offensively and defensively and you don’t got to please anybody,” he said after Game 3. “We’re here to hopefully make it boring and gross and just play a good two-way game. There’s no show to put on when we’re on the road and it kind of feels like we’re just playing the right way.” Another simplified road effort could lead to Colorado improving to 7- 0 in a best- of-seven series when winning the first three games.