One Win Makes a Difference: Bednar’s Message to Avs

There was arguably nothing to be excited about for the Avalanche coming out of the lengthy 4 Nations Face-Off break. And it was unfortunate because they worked so hard last month after the Mikko Rantanen bombshell to get the locker room back in order and go on a 4-1-0 run.

But that was all washed away pretty quickly. The first practice in two weeks saw an Avs team still without a healthy Josh Manson or Valeri Nichushkin.

The former was somewhat of a question mark on whether he’d be ready. But the latter was expected to be good to go right away.

After three practice days, they went out on the road and put together an ugly 120 minutes of hockey. Losses to the 30th-place Predators and the struggling St. Louis Blues meant the Avs were quickly falling further behind the three top seeds in the Central Division.

Pile onto that the deflating comments on Sunday from Jared Bednar and Cale Makar about a team lacking scoring depth and one unworthy of an investment from the front office ahead of the trade deadline.

Team morale was low — many of them openly admitted that on Tuesday.

What, if anything, was there to be excited for?

Jared Bednar had the answer: Win one game. That alone will make a difference.

And it did.

The Avalanche got Valeri Nichushkin back and went on to curb stomp New Jersey on Wednesday in what was easily their best 60-minute effort of the season.

They outskated, outskilled, outmatched, outchanced, and most importantly, they outclassed the Devils — a team sitting comfortable in a playoff position in the Eastern Conference. The result was a 5-1 victory and an insanely massive boost for a locker room that needed it.

Bednar’s message to the team during Tuesday’s practice was received. But they still needed to deliver on the ice for it to be achieved.

“No passengers,” Bednar said. “I loved the effort and the competitiveness and the execution from all of our lines, all of our players doing whatever they can do, playing as hard as they can possibly play in order to get us a big win.”

But where does it go from here? Like many other times this season, it could be a one, or two game blip before they fall back into bad habits — the ones that deflate the room and promote unenjoyable grumpy hockey.

This needs to be the time that doesn’t happen. Especially with the regular season already at the 60-game mark.

“We want to embrace this stretch run. That’s what we want to do. We want to enjoy it, we want to embrace it,” Bednar told me after the game — almost as if he was relaying the exact positive message he sent to his veteran core. “We want to use the pressure to push our game to another level consistently.

“I love the way we responded today, from our goaltender out, exceptional hockey.”

Part of that veteran group is none other than Nathan MacKinnon. He’s the leading scorer in the NHL, the reigning Hart Trophy winner and recently, the MVP of the 4 Nations Face-Off.

But MacKinnon hasn’t had all that great of a time this year. At least it doesn’t seem like it from the outside.

Despite all the assists and points, he’s leading a team in a wildcard position without Rantanen, who was suddenly pulled from the tight-knit group on a Friday evening in Boston.

MacKinnon was jovial after the game. He responded well to a request for questions and was happy to share, not only how proud he was of the team’s performance, but his experience with Team Canada a week ago.

All that was needed was a win. One where nobody could critique even an ounce of how the Avs played. Nichushkin instantly rejuvenated the second line and the bottom six meshed well.

In a season where morale, attitude, and general team chemistry has often been questioned, a win like this just might lead to a strong stretch of games before the playoffs begin.