EDMONTON — The mood around the Colorado Avalanche, as they prepare for what could be their “go-home” game against Dallas on Monday night, is somewhere between a Brian Burke and a John Tortorella.
“A little bit grumpy and a little bit angry this morning,” said Colorado head coach Jared Bednar. “I feel like our team has a little snarl on, which is a good thing.
“No one is feeling sorry for ourselves. We’ve discussed where we are as a team. Picked over a little video, and we’re just getting our minds right to start on time and get after it.”
The puck drops Monday at 7:45 local time (9:45 ET) in Edmonton, with the Dallas Stars up 3-1 on Colorado in this Western Conference second round series. Colorado, a Stanley Cup favourite for many, looks spent, with a goalie in Pavel Francouz whose game would have to improve by better than half if his team has a chance to come back in this series.
“I think we have found a way how to score goals,” smiled Stars depth forward Roope Hintz. “We are like a defensive team, but it’s good to see that we can score some goals too.”
Bednar would not say if Michael Hutchinson will get his first playoff start, while Dallas coach Rick Bowness as much as promised that Anton Khudobin will play the second of the back-to-backs, as 21-year-old backup Jake Oettinger is considered not ready. He’s never played an NHL minute.
“Doby has got us where we are today,” Bowness said. “Jake hasn’t had any experience whatsoever.”
Here, in a nutshell is what ails the Avalanche: they’re getting scored on at a rate of almost five times per game in this series, surrendering 19 goals in four games thus far.
It’s not 1983 anymore. You simply do not win when you have to score six times to get the ‘W’, and the Dallas offence that starts with their exceptional D-corps has been finished by depth guys like Denis Gurianov (eight goals), Hintz and others left free to collect rebounds and tip pucks past Francouz.
“They have some mobile defencemen, guys who can move across the blue line,” said Bednar, the only member of the Avalanche organization made available to the media on Monday. “Eyes up shooting from guys like (John) Klingberg and (Miro) Heiskanen. They do a good job of … sifting pucks to the net, and they’ve got some big bodies that go to the net hard.
“We have to get in some of those shooting lanes. They’re doing a good job of (doing the same) to us. I think we’re losing that battle right now.
“We have to be stronger in front of our net. We have to win some of those battles, by body position, by getting under sticks. We’ve got to collapse and clear pucks. They’re getting at too many of those rebounds.”
Physical strength will be required, certainly. So will mental strength, from a Colorado team that finished 10 points ahead of the Stars in the regular season but now finds itself one loss away from exit interviews.
Bednar was asked how he deals with that reality, with a bunch of players who clearly realize the situation that the find themselves in. Does he coach them on desperation and starting strong? Or is that simply an obvious topic that need not be discussed?
“Depends on the night. Depends on your group,” Bednar said. “Depends on what you’re hearing around your team, and where you think guys are at. You make your judgements from there, and if we feel something has to be said then we say it.
“This morning we had a team meeting. We talked a little bit about the work we’ve put in this season. We know we haven’t played our best yet this series, and that is our goal tonight.”
If indeed the fourth win is the hardest, then Monday’s Game 5 should feature a belligerent group of Colorado players.
“To me it just looks like, at times, we’ve just given Dallas a little bit too much respect,” Bednar said. “The way you go is, you get on top of them, make ‘em earn every inch of ice, and make it tough. That was part of the video we showed this morning.”
