You’re going to win a lot of games playing the way the Avalanche played Monday.

It was a near-perfect showing for Colorado in its 4-1 victory over the No. 4 St. Louis Blues in Game 1 of the West Division’s first round.

The Avs outshot the Blues 50-23, never trailed and were relentless for 60 minutes. The only thing that kept the game from being blown wide open before the third period was the spectacular performance from Blues netminder Jordan Binnington.

As much as Binnington tried to be the game’s best player, he was one-upped by Avs captain Gabe Landeskog.

The leader did his part. And it’s largely why Colorado has a 1-0 series lead.

The Deen’s List:

Playoff fighter

In the early years of the Avalanche’s existence, fights were common in the playoffs. Especially during the rivalry with the Detroit Red Wings. But with the end to those intense series was the end of the Avs’ fighting majors in the playoffs.

Until now.

Landeskog dropped the gloves with Brayden Schenn in the first period, coming to the aid of linemate Mikko Rantanen, who was nearly hit knee-on-knee at center ice in a dangerous collision.

Landeskog did well for himself, landing multiple blows before taking Schenn down.

The last time an Avs player had a fighting major in a playoff game was Cody McCormick in Game 2 of the 2008 Western Conference Semifinal against Darren McCarty of the Red Wings.

Gabe’s Gordie Howe

Landeskog’s fight was only the start of his epic night. That spirited bout gave Colorado all the momentum which led to a power-play goal from Cale Makar to make it 1-0.

He was a factor on every other goal after that. Landeskog assisted on MacKinnon’s go-ahead goal, scored his own goal to make it 3-1 and assisted on the empty-netter for good measure.

As we know in hockey: A goal, an assist and a fight is a Gordie Howe hat trick. And the Avalanche haven’t had one of those in the playoffs since Mike Ricci in 1997 at McNichols Arena. Like Landeskog’s, Ricci also had his in the first game of Round 1 that year.

Favorable special teams

The special teams battle is always one to watch in a series. A strong power play or penalty kill can often shift a game or an entire series. Coming away with a better percentage on both is an easy way to increase your chances at victory.

Colorado was strong on the power play against the Blues in the regular season, scoring on 13 of 30 opportunities (43.3 percent). And it added another tally on three opportunities on Tuesday.

The Avs also killed off both minor penalties called against.

The crowd sets the atmosphere

It wasn’t even 8,000 fans in attendance but it felt like a sellout of over 18,000.

The capacity was nearly doubled for the start of the playoffs and 7,741 fans showed up to cheer on their Presidents’ Trophy-winning team. From the opening faceoff, you can feel the energy of the crowd. Avs players fed off that energy and used it to improve to 17-0-1 in their past 18 games at Ball Arena.

Three-goal lead

Through the first seven games of the Stanley Cup playoffs, we’ve already had four overtimes and another one-goal game that ended in regulation. The last two games were Colorado’s victory and a 5-2 win for Carolina over Nashville.

Like the Avs, the Hurricanes needed an empty-netter to go up by three goals. They’re the only two teams to have a three-goal lead at any point. In fact, neither of the other games has seen any team take a two-goal lead.

It’s been that close.