Avalanche Locker Room: Bednar Considered Benching Rantanen After Unsportsmanlike Penalty

The Colorado Avalanche cleaned up their play a little bit on Sunday night, but their coach still wasn’t happy with their game.

After the loss, he mentioned he didn’t like the way his team played against the Kraken, and specifically mentioned his top players. One player who got a lot of attention post-game was Mikko Rantanen, who took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at the end of the second period to put his team down two men. It was the second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty this weekend for Rantanen.

And his coach was not happy about it.

Read what Avalanche Head coach Jared Bednar had to say, and watch what Cale Makar and Andrew Cogliano thought about the overtime loss to the Kraken. Neither MacKinnon or Rantanen were available after the game.

Bednar on how his team played:

I didn’t like our game tonight. Again. It was improved from giving up seven, but I would hope so. Still slow for me in ‘D’ zone coverage.

Bednar on Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev:

Thought he was fantastic. I mean, he’s rested, right? He had his four day break. Went in yesterday for a little bit, and came out, which is why we did it yesterday. I don’t put any of those goals on him yesterday. Today, I thought he was our best player.

Bednar on killing off the five-on-three:

I thought we’re the team that should get life out of that. You know, it’s a full two minute five-on-three. I thought our guys did a nice job. Clearly, you’re going to get some looks, and they’ve got a bunch of dangerous shooters. Georgiev was our best penalty killer, but we did a decent job. To kill that off, it should give our team momentum and it just took a while for us.

Bednar on if he’s addressed the penalties with Rantanen:

Already have. My thought is he can’t do it. Can’t do it. He knows it. Can’t do it. My options are sit him the rest of the period, or talk to him and turn him loose and hopefully he can bounce back. I didn’t think Mikko had a good game prior to that, so frustration probably, some of it brought on by his own game. Again, I didn’t think our top guys had a good night. He takes the penalty, which hurts us again. Can’t do it. So for me, as long as I have that discussion, I’d rather turn him loose and see if he can dig in and help our team win and make up for it. So that was my decision.

Bednar on if Rantanen is developing a reputation with the refs:

No, he’s been a disciplined player for us for years now. That’s two games in a row, frustration probably from his game, from our game a little bit. I understand it. You’ve got to be mentally tough and work through it.

Bednar on if Eller looked more comfortable:

Yeah, I thought that line worked hard. We didn’t get a lot accomplished offensively here today.