Avalanche Locker Room: Wood Talks Feisty Game, Bigger Bodies Noticeable For Bednar

It was a happy locker room for the Colorado Avalanche, as you would expect. After a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings, several players talked about how chippy the game was, and how that might have helped everyone get into the game.

We’ve got video below from three players, as well as head coach Jared Bednar.

I had a nice one-on-one chat with Miles Wood after his first official game in an Avalanche uniform. He seemed tailor made for a feisty game like that, and when asked about it, a grin came to his face. Then you have Cale Makar, who seemed to take a subtle jab at the reffing on the evening, saying they didn’t get as many powerplay chances as they thought. In addition, Mikko Rantanen talks about his big night, and starting strong.

Bednar was happy with the effort, and noticed the bigger bodies the team brought in this summer made a difference against a big Kings team, but made sure to say that it’s just 1 of 82.

Let’s get to it. Below is a quote from each interview, but be sure to check out the videos for everything the players (and coach) had to say.

Miles Wood on the feisty game:

“I think both teams were just excited to be out there and excited for the new season. Pace was high tonight, and that brought on the feistiness, for sure.” – said with a giant grin on his face.

Mikko Rantanen on not losing confidence after giving up two goals in the second period:

“Resilient is probably the right word. We had a good chat in the second intermission to stay on the gas, and I think the third might have been one of our best periods tonight. Just solid, both ways, and we didn’t give up a lot. We defended, lots of blocks, I thought guys were eating pucks, and Georgiev was excellent. Shows the mentality of the team, and that’s why we’re going to keep working.”

Makar on the Avalanche Powerplay:

“I think overall it was good. It felt like we didn’t have too much on the powerplay, which is interesting, I guess. I think we were moving it well with the opportunities we had. I think there was even a couple more times we probably could have shot the puck, but that will come. I really like Johansen in the middle. I think he was doing a great job in anticipating different plays.”

Bednar on the noticeable difference in size this year for the Avalanche:

“I thought so. I thought it was a pretty physical contest, and we had some big bodies down there hanging onto pucks, and some good, low, net drives to create some offense and drive them into the hard areas, so looks like we got a few guys that will be able to get to the paint and get to the interior of the ice, and a lot of those guys are new additions.”