Avs Have "Snarl" Heading Into Game 5

Winning the last game to close out a series is usually acknowledged as the toughest one in a best-of-seven playoff matchup.
The Colorado Avalanche will make the Dallas Stars earn it this evening in Game 5 as the team aims to extend its own season in the second-round series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Dallas leads 3-1 in the postseason set after winning 5-4 last night.
"This morning, we had a team meeting and talked a little bit about the work we put into this season and that we know that we haven't played our best yet in this series, and that is our the goal tonight," said head coach Jared Bednar. "I'll put it quite simply, we want to play our best game of the series tonight, the hardest game we've played, the most competitive game we've played, with a lot of heart and determination."

Defenseman Ryan Graves noted this morning that his teammates have a good mindset as Colorado now faces elimination for the first time in the 2020 playoffs. Bednar characterized the team's mood differently, but in a good way in his opinion.
"It's grumpy. I feel like our team has a little snarl on, which I think is a good thing. I don't think anyone is sitting here feeling sorry for themselves," Bednar said. "We've had a discussion of how we feel this series has gone and where we're at as a team. We've picked over just a little bit of video, and we're just getting our minds right to get ready here tonight to start on time and get after it. I think our guys are, like I said, a little bit grumpy and a little bit angry this morning, and I expect them to play that way tonight."

Adversity isn't anything new for the Avalanche, as it had to battle through different hardships during the regular seasons. Among those was losing 223 man games to injury, but the squad still managed to finish two points out of first place in the Western Conference. Graves pointed out that it also hasn't been easy over the last couple years for the squad.
It took until the final game of the 2017-18 campaign for the club to earn a playoff spot, and Colorado had to go on an 8-0-2 run in late March of 2019 to secure another postseason bid after beginning the month 2-5-0. Those experiences have made the Avs confident heading into this evening's game.
"I think it's a group that has been through a lot, and we're confident in each other," Graves said. "There is no quit in here. It's a seven-game series, and we're confident in our group. We believe that if we play the right way we can win games, and we're going to take it game-by-game."

Bednar is expecting his team to come out much like it did in its 6-4 win in Game 3 of the series where Colorado produced a franchise-record 72 hits while also playing with the speed and offensive capabilities that it is known for.
"I just want our team to play a certain way, with a certain tenacity and pressure on the puck everywhere," Bednar said. "It's not for me about laying into guys all over the place or running around looking for that to prove that we're competitive. It's about doing it within our system."
In the scenario that the Avalanche presently finds itself in, there is no point looking into the future or a possible Game 6 or 7 later this week. Down two games in the series, the squad's only focus has to be on winning the first one.
The Avs will worry about everything else later.
"Tonight's focus is positive, and going into tonight's game believing if we play our best game in the right way we're going to win and then we can move on from there," Graves said. "For right now, we're just looking at tonight's game."