"Tampa has been one of better teams in the Eastern Conference, and it certainly shows with what they've done in the playoffs the last few years," said Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson. "They're a fast team like us, with a lot of skill, they reload hard. They don't give a ton of opportunities, and I think they lead the league in goals per game, or are close to it. Definitely a good test for us tonight, and we got to be ready to go."
The Avs enter Wednesday tied for first in the league with a 6-1-2 record and 14 points, but the Lightning are not that far behind at 5-1-1 and 11 points. Tampa is averaging 3.86 goals a game, second-best in the NHL, while Colorado is tied for fifth with 3.67 markers per outing.
The Lightning is coming off a 6-3 victory on Sunday at the Chicago Blackhawks in a game where it set a franchise record with 55 shots on goal, which included 33 in the second period that also established a new NHL mark for a 20-minute stanza.
"We know how good they are," said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. "We know we are going to have to be committed defensively and tighten up things and continue to push the envelope on the offensive side of things.
"They have a lot of guys that can hurt you on the offensive side that you got to pay attention to. Our depth tonight is going to be real important, and our commitment to defend will be real important."
The Bolts presently own the league's No. 1 penalty-kill unit at 96.6 percent, killing off 28-of-29 shorthanded opportunities in eight games this year. The Avs are second with a 90.5-percent success rate (38-for-42).
Both squads' power plays aren't too bad either, as Colorado ranks 10th overall (27.3 percent) and Tampa Bay is 12th in the NHL (25 percent).
"We just have great players that can play in those roles," said forward Colin Wilson, who helps man the Avs' second PP unit. "We have great offensive guys that can move the puck. On the PK, guys are willing to block shots and play that game. We just have the right personnel, and it's clicking."
After spending a week on the road, the Avalanche comes home with momentum following a 3-0-1 trip through the tough Metropolitan Division. It was the team's best road trip of four games or more since 2011-12.
Colorado aims to bring that road-warrior mentality back to its own barn, where the team is 2-0-1 on the campaign and 20-4-2 in its last 26 regular-season games dating back to last year.
"It's the start of the season, things can happen quickly," Wilson said. "You can slide pretty quickly. I think we've done a good job of staying in the moment. In an 82-game season, anything can happen."
One of the areas that has been impressive about the Avs' solid start to the campaign, which is the club's third-best after nine games, is that they've found ways to win while not necessarily playing their best game. That's a good sign moving forward, according to Johnson.
"I think that is a sign of a team that is maturing and becoming a great team," the Colorado blueliner said. "Regardless of what happens to us, if we're down a goal or up a goal, we're staying in the game and finding ways to claw back and put our foot on the gas when we're ahead. We're a lot for teams to handle right now. It's been a lot of fun, and look to keep it going tonight against a really good Tampa Bay team."
