Avs head coach Jared Bednar admits to watching a lot of the Leafs/Bolts series, says Avs and Leafs are a lot alike

The flow of Wednesday's Game 1 was very similar to Leafs/Bolts Game 1 back on May 2nd, even though the Leafs coasted to a decisive 5-0 win and the Avs came away with a 1-goal win in OT. As it turns out, that isn't just some random coincidence. Following his team's win over the Bolts in Game 1 of the Finals, Avs head coach Jared Bednar admitted that he sees a lot of similarities between his team and the Leafs, calling the Leafs/Bolts a "dynamic series"

This is the first time I've seen anyone compare the Leafs to another really good NHL team in years, and low and behold, it's the coach of the mighty Colorado Avalanche, who have long been considered one of the best teams, if not THE best team in the West. If you break it down, they really are not all that dissimilar. They both have an elite franchise center in Matthews and MacKinnon, they both have an excellent supporting cast in Marner, Tavares, Nylander, Rielly, Rantanen, Landeskog, Kadri (injured) and Makar (no, I'm not comparing Rielly to Cale Makar, so let's just keep calm). They both play a fast game and are both hard on the forecheck. They both protect the puck well. They both have excellent power plays, they're both well above average on the PK and they both have questions in goal to address this summer.

You know, it's interesting. Sheldon Keefe makes one comment about the amount of respect that an elite Lightning team and staff showed the Leafs and everyone jumped on him for it, pointing out that there's no trophy for respect. Yet here we are in the Stanley Cup Finals, and both teams competing for hockey's greatest prize have shown the Leafs some love. Funny, that.