Avalanche Embracing The Challenge

Adversity is nothing new for the Colorado Avalanche. The team has faced it all year, and it has helped make the squad stronger and reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs a year after finishing in last place.
The Avs will once again need to battle adversity after their 3-2 loss in Game 4 on Wednesday night to the Nashville Predators.

A valiant comeback effort fell short for Colorado, and the club now trails the best-of-seven, first-round series 3-1, with Game 5 set for Friday in Nashville. The Avs need to win if they want to force a Game 6 back at Pepsi Center on Sunday.
However, the loss was more than just on the scoreboard, as goaltender Jonathan Bernier left after the second period with a lower-body injury and won't be available for Friday's game, head coach Jared Bednar announced Thursday. Andrew Hammond will get the nod as he'll make his third career postseason start and first with Colorado.
For the youngest team in the league, it now has four key contributors out of the lineup. The Avs' infirmary includes two goalies and two of their top-four defensemen.
"It's just the situation we're in," Bednar said. "We've had our fair share of injuries, but we can't sit and cry about it. We have to move on and go get a win tomorrow night."

Joining Bernier among the banged up netminders is Semyon Varlamov, who is out indefinitely with a knee injury suffered on March 30. Both goalies missed time during the regular season, but never at the same time.
Minute-munching blueliner Erik Johnson is still at least three weeks away from returning after fracturing his patella on March 28, and rookie rear guard Samuel Girard hasn't played since Game 1 of the playoff series due to an upper-body injury and is still day-to-day.
"Nobody's feeling sorry for themselves," said Avalanche veteran forward Blake Comeau. "Every team deals with injuries at this point in the year. We've dealt with injuries all season long with some pretty key guys--Tyson (Barrie) and Nate (MacKinnon), you know, Varly (Semyon Varlamov) and Bernie (Jonathan Bernier) and things like that--and we've had guys step up all season long. I expect the same thing going into Nashville and whatever the lineup is that we have, everybody is going to put their best game forward and that's what we're going to need."
The Avalanche lost 293 total man games to illness and injury during the regular season, but through it all saw its players--both young and old--embrace the opportunity that was presented.
The team's depth was on display as the players found themselves in roles and situations they weren't accustomed to at the start of the campaign.
"It's been crazy the number of injuries we've dealt with throughout the course of the season, but at every stop of the road we've found ways to play through it," said rookie forward Alex Kerfoot. "Other guys have stepped up, and obviously it's tough timing here, but we're going to have to just continue that approach."

The Avs have been pushing in the same direction for much of the year--first to make the playoffs and now looking to oust league-best Nashville--and Bednar sees that as a positive for the development of the team.
"I think it just shows that we're starting to get to the point as an organization that we want to in depth and guys who can step up and play in our lineup," Bednar said. "When guys get hurt, they provide that depth and, like I said, some of those guys are sticking around in our lineup and doing some good things for us. It speaks to the organization."
Hammond, who was acquired from the Ottawa Senators in a three-team trade on Nov. 5, is the third goaltender on Colorado's roster, but he spent plenty of time up with the Avs during the year due to injuries to Bernier and Varlamov. He has had a front-row seat to the club's resiliency that resulted in a playoff berth for the first time since 2014.
"I think from Day 1 when I got here it was pretty evident there was a lot of character in the locker room," Hammond said. "I haven't played that much, but I've been able to see it firsthand. And even last night it would've been very easy to kind of fold the tent and move on to the next game, but you saw how we fought until the end and we came really close. It's just a team where there's no give-up in them."
Colorado's approach heading into Friday's Game 5 can't be about needing three wins in order to advance or even about possibly having another home contest in front of its own fans. The team's focus has to be on getting a victory at rowdy Bridgestone Arena and then worrying about what's next afterward.
"We knew that we were going to have to win one in Nashville at some point anyway," Kerfoot said. "So we're going there now, we know that we have to win this and we're coming back home to the Pepsi Center and whatever happens, happens. It's just one game in front of us right now and anyone can win one game, right? So we got to go there, do our best and go from there."
The Avalanche is confident it can do that. The key will be to have a good start like it did in the first three games of the series, finishing its chances and keeping the pressure on the Presidents' Trophy-winning Predators.
"I think it's going to be important that we aren't gripping our sticks tight. We got to make sure we're playing loose and aggressive," Comeau said. "We've had some really good starts in their arena, and it's going to be important that we have that again and just follow through with it for the whole game."

This type of do-or-die contest isn't anything new for the Avalanche this season. The team needed to defeat the St. Louis Blues in regulation on April 7 in the regular-season finale in order to reach the postseason, and it did so in convincing fashion, winning 5-2.
Colorado can use that performance as inspiration heading into its next win-or-go-home matchup.
"That's the last time we were facing elimination as a group. It's a similar situation tomorrow, except it's on the road," said Bednar when recalling Game 82. "But it's a building we just played in twice, and we know what to expect so it's not going to be a big secret for us."
According to Kerfoot, the Avalanche has nothing to lose in this next contest and it's another opportunity for the team to show its mettle.
"We're down 3-1 in the series, and we're heading into Nashville and they're supposed to win. They went to the Stanley Cup Final last year, and they're the best team in our conference," Kerfoot said. "It's a fun opportunity for us and a challenge, and I think our group is ready for it."