Avalanche Off-Day: Bednar on No Eberle Suspension, Powerplay Getting Closer

Minutes after jumping off a plane, Devon Toews and Jared Bednar spoke to the media a day after the Colorado Avalanche had forced a Game Seven.

The news of the day, however, was that Jordan Eberle had somehow avoided a hearing for his very questionable hit on Andrew Cogliano in the second period of Game Six. In my opinion, it should have warranted a suspension. Cogliano returned to the game, which likely played a role in Eberle not even getting a hearing. That still doesn’t excuse how dangerous the hit was, and Bednar didn’t quite understand it.

“I don’t know,” Bednar said of the ruling. “I can’t figure it out anymore. I don’t even try.”

Cogliano is feeling okay, according to Bednar. He’s a little sore, but still is expected to play in Game Seven. He might be the most indestructible player in the NHL, so that shouldn’t be a surprise.

“He’s a warrior,” Devon Toews said of Cogliano.

Colorado’s powerplay only has one goal in the series, and sits at just 5.9%, which is second worst in the playoffs. This comes after a strong regular season where they had the sixth best powerplay in the league.

There were struggles early in the series, but even though it didn’t score in Game Six, it was easily the best the powerplay has looked all series. They know if they create chances like that, pucks will eventually start going in.

“Sticking with it,” Devon Toews said. “Our powerplay is just gaining that momentum. We’re getting the good looks. Comph gets the one on the back door and they make a nice save on it. Getting those looks consistently definitely puts teams under pressure and hopefully we can just capitalize on those in the future.”

Toews said he doesn’t have any Game Seven memories that he can think of from growing up, but hopes to create one on Sunday night. The excitement level is there for the team, though.

“We gave ourselves a chance,” he said. “Finally played our game. We thought we had a really good game last night, and in front of our fans, now we’ll get a chance to move on.”

News and Notes

• Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson and forward Darren Helm have already been ruled out of Game Seven, so expect the same lineup.
• Toews on Makar being the enemy in Seattle: “It’s funny that they boo him or whatever, and if that gets him going, that’s great. We’ll do it more.” He’s referring to Avalanche players jokingly booing Makar at morning skate on Friday to prepare him for the evening.
• One line that was thrown together for Game Six was Lars Eller centering J.T. Compher and Evan Rodrigues. I asked coach what the thought process was for that line, as it’s an interesting combination of players. “I think you move past Nate and Mikko, that those guys have been the most successful guys in the series to date, for me. So part of my thought process was to put all three of them together. You’ve got a right shot center and a left shot center, so you should do some damage on the draws. And you’ve got a really good player in Rodrigues that can help complement those guys, and you’ve got a little bit of everything there. Trusted line, should be able to help produce offense. They had a pretty good night. I liked what they did.”