Now is Not the Time for Avs to Be Quiet

The Avalanche were firing on all cylinders in their dominating win in Game 1. They had strong showings in Games 2 and 3, but something was off. There is no room for error in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Avs cannot afford mistakes against the Dallas Stars.

Head coach Jared Bednar said the problem is the team “had some quiet players, players that we can’t afford to have be quiet, and then we flip things out. Some of those players got going, then other guys got quiet.”

It’s not for lack of effort; some players are just not at playoff intensity. But now is not the time to dial back.

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In three games, Martin Necas has only one point and four shots on goal. Timing could not be worse for him to hit a slump. He had 10 points through the last 10 games of the season, and his production is noticeably missing.

“I thought he was a little quieter in Game 2. And tonight, again, I’d rather look back at it and study it, but I thought he did some good things, at times, maybe a little inconsistent tonight,” Bednar said after the 2-1 overtime loss on Wednesday.

Necas has not been very effective both 5-on-5 and on the power play. It appeared at Friday’s practice that Nathan MacKinnon was working with Necas to get his linemate in sync with him.

“We’re just talking about the power play stuff there, and it’s always a good thing. When you’re pretty quiet, you don’t really solve anything. Just talk about stuff — what to do better and it’s just a big part of the game and we’re trying to get that goal,” Necas told me after practice.

“I always been the guy wherever I played to try to talk a lot. It helps me and it helps my linemates out because they know where you’re going to be at and create some more chemistry.”

Necas is not the only Avs player who has been reserved in the playoffs. Brock Nelson and Joel Kiviranta are both scoreless. Although Jonathan Drouin has two points, he is a minus-2 and Bednar moved him to the third line in Friday’s practice. Gabriel Landeskog was on the second line. Morning skate was optional, with a handful of players who participated, and no inclination of what the lines will be come game time.

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The only way Colorado will get past the Stars is with the entire team operating effectively together. Bednar said they are on the same page but need to be on the same level.

“Some guys have played better in certain games than others. When you’re playing a team like the Dallas Stars, we need everyone firing on all cylinders,” Bednar said. “It’s just conversations with those guy, talking to them about what they’re feeling on the ice, and trying to give them any sort of tactical or positional advantage that we can get that might be able to help them out a little bit if we’re noticing some tendencies in their game.”

The Avs’ leaders said in the regular season that the team holds each other accountable, and that hasn’t changed with the increased pressure in the postseason.

“You’ve got to just, to some extent, control what you can control, and that’s your own work ethic and own process, but having good dialog with other guys. Everyone’s trying their best out there, but some guys have been quieter than others throughout the series,” Logan O’Connor said. “The more passengers you have in the series, the tougher it’s going to be, especially as the playoffs go on. So it’s on us to try and collectively get all the lines firing on all cylinders tonight, all the D-pairings — we need this game.”

The Avs need the focus and intensity they had in Game 1 to win Game 4 and even the series up going back to Dallas. The message to the team is everyone needs to be firing on all cylinders.