Avalanche Room: MacKinnon Playing ‘Out Of His Mind’; Bednar ‘Playing To Win’

Even after a comeback victory from his Colorado Avalanche squad, Jared Bednar was in a bit of a surly mood. Maybe it’s because he’s having to overplay his superstars to get victories, or maybe it’s because of the “terrible” second period his team played, but he didn’t seem happy.

That being said, he’d rather have things to work on after a win than a loss, that’s for sure.

Nathan MacKinnon, the best player in the world at the moment, spoke to the media and downplayed all of his personal achievements, including his 300th career goal. Mikko Rantanen and Bednar, on the other hand, are amazed by what they’re seeing from the superstar.

Take a look at what the two Avalanche star forwards had to say, and read Bednar’s comments after the 6-4 win for the Avalanche over the Ottawa Senators.

Nathan MacKinnon

Mikko Rantanen

Bednar on the late second period goal from Rantanen:

“It was huge. The second was terrible. Terrible. Odd-man rush after odd-man rush coming the other way. Obviously, a lack of detail in that period. Loved our first, though. First was great. To come out of that 2-2 didn’t feel great, reminded me of the game in Chicago where we had a really good period and ended up 2-2, but it can happen. Guys dug in, powerplay was huge tonight and obviously our top guys had a night. They were exceptional.”

Bednar on Georgiev:

“I thought he was good. You look at the scoring chances we gave up in the second period, it’s ridiculous, really. I think there’s probably at least one in there he’d like to have back, but then he makes a bunch of big saves and holds us in at the end. We get in the penalty trouble at the end, and they’re pushing hard, we’re working as hard as we can. They sustain some time, two penalty kills in a row, 6-on-5 and he makes all the big saves and keeps it out of the net. He battled for that one.”

Bednar on Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon right now:

“He’s playing out of his mind right now, in my opinion. We’re asking that top line to do a lot right now, and they’re following through. Val had 29 minutes of ice-time as a forward tonight…MacK gets four goals, Mikko gets two. I think they’re probably a little frustrated with the way we played in the second as well, but tonight, they respond and just keep working and doing whatever they can do to drag us out of the mud and they did.”

Bednar on the ugly win:

“We need the win. You need the points. It’s not always going to be perfect, but just shows we got a lot to work on.”

Bednar on Valeri Nichushkin’s play and where it ranks with his time with the Avalanche:

“This is as good as I’ve seen him play. That Cup run, playoffs, that time of year, that sets the standard of probably the best I’ve ever seen Val play, but this is right there with it for this long a stretch.”

Bednar on my question of what he needs to see from everyone else to avoid playing Nichushkin 29 minutes:

“More. I need to see more. But we’re playing to win. I’ll play him 39 minutes if I have to.”

Bednar on his level of concern:

“Like I said before, we got a lot to work on. If we’re not going to score, we better be better defensively than we were in the second.”