The Avs worked together, believed together and won together as a unit, and that kind of mental focus is exactly what head coach Jared Bednar is expecting to see from his club both on Thursday as the team squares off against the visiting New Jersey Devils and throughout the remainder of the 2016-17 season.
"I think it's really important, especially this time of the year for us and where we're at, to break our season down on a nightly basis and feel like we can come out and win and be refreshed and have that attitude that we can come out and win on any night if we play at the top of our game," Bednar said Thursday morning. "I felt that our guys believed it the other night against Carolina, and hopefully that gives us a little bit of confidence. We got to start building some confidence here so we believe that every night, and tonight will be another challenge for us. Responding after a win is going to be real important here, especially on this homestand."
The Avs are looking to carry over their momentum and good feelings from Tuesday's win into Thursday's game. The team effort, from the top players through the supporting cast and down to the goaltender, was exactly what was needed and is required to produce wins.
"It was a complete last game, and we've had that every now and then. When we do that, when everyone plays their game, we can beat anybody. We have a lot of talent in this room, and we just want to build that consistency," Pickard said. "It's not fun losing as much as we have this year, but going forward we have to get some wins and some success. That's how you build confidence, and we have to play our game. When we play our game, we can compete with anybody.
"We want to get some consistency going forward. That last game, there's no reason why we can't do that every night. We know where we're at right now, and it's not where we want to be, but there's nothing we can do about it. We just have to look forward every night and play our game and work and get some confidence going into next year."
