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Avalanche Surge Ahead of the 4 Nations Break

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The Avalanche have three games on the road before the 4 Nations Face-Off break and they won’t be easy matchups. They face the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night then a back-to-back against the Calgary Flames on Thursday and Edmonton Oilers on Friday.



Head coach Jared Bednar said his team treats this last stretch of games like the playoffs. They elevated their play to earn consecutive shutout wins against the St. Louis Blues (5-0) and the Philadelphia Flyers (2-0).

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“I liked what they did. But it’s not just one game, right? Like I said, five games …ย It’s one thing to play well โ€” I felt like we played well in some games recently, and then not got the result. But we need the results,” Bednar said after the Blues win.

“My approach will be the same, hopefully theirs is the same. And then you got to go play and execute the same way.ย  The other team’s always going to have something to say about it, but that’s how you do it โ€” consistency with your approach and your preparation and making sure you’re staying focused shift to shift, period to period, and so on.”

The team’s energy was heightened (minus the first period against the Flyers) and its hunger to compete was apparent in the last two games.

“You can tell everyone’s trying to play the right way, responsible on the D side,” Mackenzie Blackwood said after the win over the Flyers. “Just trying to treat all these games like every point counts.”

Bednar was pleased with a full team effort and stressed that’s how it needs to play to get wins. He shifted Jonathan Drouin to the second line and moved Artturi Lehkonen up to the top line after the 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders, which paid off. Drouin scored two goals and got an assist in the victory over the Blues.

“I know my game. I think Bedsy (Bednar) knows my game. It’s just about me playing it and executing it, and it doesn’t really matter who I play with,” Drouin said. “It’s fun to play with Nate (MacKinnon) and those guys, one of the best players in the league. But I like playing with Mittsy (Casey Mittelstadt). I think we see the game as kind of the same way.”

Colorado lacked the jump and fell flat in the first period against the Flyers. The team flipped a switch and amped up the intensity after the opening period to earn two points.

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“We weren’t far off in the first because we did a nice job checking and being safe. It’s just like, too safe, too vanilla for me. I’d rather that than to be giving up a bunch of scoring chances,” Bednar said. “At least they were responsible with their positioning and what their jobs and tasks were on the defensive side of things.”

The Avs are No. 4 in the Central Division with 64 points behind the Minnesota Wild (66), Dallas Stars (69) and Winnipeg Jets (77). They are at the top of the wild card race and continue to battle for a secure spot in the playoffs. A win streak before the long two-week break would put them closer to that goal.

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Ken

Not sure where his game is these days, but Ethan Bear was once a pretty decent RHD who was known for defensive work. He is currently in the AHL so could probably be had pretty cheap. Avs love to go for the 2nd chance kind of guys, this could be an inexpensive alternative to Malinski on 3rd pair. Although my preference would be for Sam to find his best game and not need replacing.

Last edited 13 days ago by Ken

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