Avs Look To Stay Disciplined In Game 4

In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, teams face one another every other day and rivalries are bound to form as the intensity level increases throughout a best-of-seven series.
Every contest of the first-round series between the Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators has seen the play on the ice get more and more heated.
"When you are playing a seven-game series, you are going to get in-series rivalries between guys and stuff like that, but it's part of the fun really. It's playoff hockey," said Avs defenseman Tyson Barrie. "It's a lot of fun to be a part of and you just got to keep it for what it is. The real game is in between the whistles and all that stuff that goes on after. You just got to brush it aside."

Both Game 2 and Game 3 saw 14 total penalties called with each team being assessed seven penalties in the second contest. The Avalanche earned a 5-3 victory in Game 3 on Monday to cut Nashville's series lead to 2-1.
"We knew we would be in trouble if we lost that last one, and I think it goes the same way tonight," Barrie said. "We are going to be the desperate team, we are going to be the hungry team. We want to come out and make them try to weather our storm instead of the other way."

On Monday, the Predators took eight penalties while Colorado took six, but three of those were matching punishments.
Excluding Gabriel Landeskog's empty-net tally, each goal the Avalanche scored in Game 3 came during 5-on-5 play and the Avs will look to continue that even-strength success and even the series tonight at Pepsi Center.
"Just stay focused on the game, Nashville wants to do some stuff after the whistles or get in guys' faces," said rookie forward J.T. Compher. "We are at our best when we are playing 5-on-5 in between the whistles and playing fast, playing our game. That's what we are going to try and keep doing tonight.
"I think that we have done a good job of it. We would like to stay out of the box a little more, but you can't always back down. It's a competitive game out there. Guys are fighting for ice, fighting for position, and I thought we have done a good job and continue to be more disciplined as the series goes on."
On Monday, Game 3 saw a fair amount of the penalties called away from the action or after the whistle had blown.
"I think this time of year, it's the competitiveness and the urgency teams are playing with, the emotion. You have to play this game with passion," said head coach Jared Bednar. "When you got two teams laying it on the line, there is going to be some tempers flaring, especially when you are playing a team every second night for a week straight. It's bound to go up here as you start playing Game 4, 5, 6, 7 if it goes whatever. It gets more intense and the guys are going to keep battling harder and harder as we go on."
Staying focused and even-keel will be important not only because Colorado has an 8-6 edge in 5-on-5 goals (excluding empty-net tallies) but because Nashville has recorded a power-play marker in all three games this series.
"I think that's going to be the key, stay out of the box because they have a good power play," said Mikko Rantanen. "It's going to be chippy again like last game. There is going to be scrums, so we just have to keep our cool and stay out of the box that is going to be a huge key tonight."

STARTING STRONG

Colorado has scored the first goal in all three games of this series, scoring on its very first shot in both Games 1 and 2 and its second shot in Game 3.
"The start of the game is huge especially at home, and on the road too," said Rantanen. "On the road, you want to get the crowd out of the game, kind of if you score the first goal and at home you want to get the crowd into it so it's going to be a huge [to do it] first again."
Colorado was the first team to score on its first shot in consecutive playoff contests since Boston in Games 2 and 3 of the 2013 Eastern Conference Final at Pittsburgh.
"Keep doing what we have been doing the last three games at the start," said Compher. "Coming out fast and get pucks behind their D, so we are playing offense and keeping the puck out of their offensive players hands."

HIGH SCORING AFFAIRS

The Avalanche and Predators have combined for 24 goals through three games (8.0 per game), the highest scoring series thus far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Through the opening three contests, the winning team has scored exactly five goals.
The Avs have scored in each of the last six periods and have been shutout in only one of the nine frames this series.
Both teams finished the regular season in the top 10 in the NHL in goals scored with Colorado recording 255 and Nashville registering 261.