Historically in the NHL, the winner of Game 5 when a best-of-seven set is tied at 2-2 goes on to win the series 78.8 percent of the time.
Knowing that and with home-ice advantage, the Colorado Avalanche has a big opportunity tonight at Ball Arena against the Vegas Golden Knights as the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs continue.
"Guys are really excited. We know what is at stake here, it's a three-game series, it's do-or-die now," said Avs forward Tyson Jost after morning skate. "We're back in front of our fans, that is exciting. I know guys are going to come out flying. Last game too, we battled hard. Obviously, the result wasn't what we wanted, but I thought we built a little bit. It's something we can build on tonight. Guys are really energized, and we're excited to come out playing tonight."
Avalanche Aims to Fully Use Game 5 Advantages
Colorado looking to create more offense against a tight Vegas defense

© Michael Martin/NHLI
Both clubs have held serve at home in this series, with Colorado taking the first two games in downtown Denver before Vegas bounced back with victories in the two contests at its arena just off the Las Vegas strip.
While the Avs lost 5-1 in Game 4 on Sunday night, there were areas of their game that head coach Jared Bednar liked and wants to continue to build on versus a team that they tied with at the top of the standings during the regular season.
"We had a good discussion this morning, and I think there are some things that we can take out of the last game. Although we didn't like the score and the way it ended up, we at least started building it and entering the fight in this series for me," Bednar said. "Some of the things we talked about after Game 3 were much improved, and we still have a big step to take here tonight."
One of the areas that Bednar said he wants to see improvement in is in the offensive zone when the Avalanche has possession. The Golden Knights have enacted a smothering defense over the last three games, and the Colorado bench boss wants his players to find more open ice to cycle the puck more efficiently to help create more possible scoring chances.
"We haven't been able to find a lot of space down there, so we've looked at a few things and have given our guys some ideas and recommendations and see how we implement it here tonight in the game," said Bednar of creating more offense. "But I think our guys are feeling good about it. I think they know that for a couple games there we just weren't where we needed to be in a series like this. This is a very difficult team we played, a team that doesn't give you a lot of space."
Jost said the Avs can find more room in the offensive zone by getting back to how they played during the regular season when they led the NHL with a 197 goals and a 3.52 average per contest.
"I think just get confident on the puck, I think that's one thing there, for sure," Jost said. "I think we got a little hard on ourselves there and gripping our sticks a little bit too tight. So just play hockey like we know how, like we've done all year. When we have that puck, using our feet and using our skill. When we have full support from our other linemates and D-men, it's going to create open ice for us. That's something we want [to do] tonight and is a key for us too."
The Golden Knights seemed to feed off the crowd's energy during their two outings at T-Mobile Arena, and the Avalanche is looking forward to doing the same with its own faithful.
Another benefit for Colorado this evening as the home team is that it can better control matchups by getting the last change before most faceoffs. Bednar mixed up some of his forward combinations in Game 4 and more changes could be coming tonight so he can take full advantage of the matchup game.
"We got some numbers on what's happening right now and some of them aren't favorable for our group, so I think it's important to have the home ice here for sure," Bednar said of the matchups that he and Vegas coach Peter DeBoer are deploying. "We'll try and take advantage of some positive numbers on our side, and we mixed up our lines a little bit to do that. We've got some guys playing real well, we got some other guys that are still trying to find their game in the series, and we're going to be moving some things around to try and be neutral in some cases and positive in some other ones."
For the Avalanche in Game 5s, the team has had success in such contests since moving to Denver, going 21-10 overall and winning five of the last six. Those are positive numbers the team aims to keep improving on.
LINEUP NOTES
J.T. Compher and Kiefer Sherwood didn't take part in morning skate, but head coach Jared Bednar said both forwards are healthy and available
Two players that were full participants were defenseman Erik Johnson and forward Logan O'Connor. Johnson continues to progress from his upper-body injury but isn't an option for tonight's contest, while O'Connor has been cleared to play and could suit up in Game 5.
O'Connor missed the final 21 contests of the regular season after suffering a lower-body injury on March 31 against the Arizona Coyotes that required surgery.
Avs goaltender Philipp Grubauer looks to extend his winning streak at Ball Arena, as he has won 10 straight outings on home ice dating back to the regular season and is 17-0-1 in his past 18 games overall.
View: Avalanche vs. Golden Knights Game 5 Projected Lineup
NOTEWORTHY
Colorado holds an all-time series record of 11-10 (.524) when a best-of-seven set is tied at 2-2, while Vegas is 1-0. In NHL history, when a best-of-seven series is tied at 2-2, the winner of Game 5 has an all-time record of 215-58 (.788).
The Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques are 25-14 (.641) all-time in Game 5 of a best-of-seven series; the Golden Knights are 3-5 (.375).
The Avs look to win at least five consecutive home games within a playoff year for the fourth time in franchise history, having also done so in 2000 (7-0), 1997 (7-0) and 2001 (5-0). Including the regular season, Colorado has won 13 consecutive home games dating to March 29--tied for the longest such run in the NHL over the past six years.
There will at least be six games in this series, with Game 6 scheduled for Thursday in Las Vegas. Of the 16 series in the NHL's expansion era (since 1967-68) between the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked teams, 12 have required at least six games--including each of the seven most recent matchups.
ONE TIMERS
Conor Timmins on the team not panicking: "Playoffs are obviously full of ups and downs, and the teams that do the best are the teams that stay even-keeled. So you want to take it one game at a time and forget about the bad games and even the good games as well. That's kind of been our mindset throughout the playoffs and our leadership group has enforced that, so we're just focusing on the next game."
Tyson Jost on limiting Vegas controlling momentum: "I think just winning battles in the O-zone and going low to high and then putting it on net. Just playing like we know how, we've done it all year. We had spurts of that in Game 4, so we got to get back to that. I know that is something we're really focusing on, winning our battles and playing in the offensive zone."
Head coach Jared Bednar on Logan O'Connor: "Logan is game ready, he's ahead of schedule and that's because of the hard work he's put in. I mean this guy's a worker, he's had to earn everything he's gotten as a professional hockey player. One thing is he's never going to cheat you on is his commitment and his work, and he's done an amazing job getting himself ready, as has our medical staff to get him ready to play. So he is an option for us."