Players Keep High Intensity As Avs Scrimmage For Second Straight Day

The preparation for the Stanley Cup Playoffs continued on Monday as the Colorado Avalanche held its second scrimmage in as many days at Pepsi Center.

Team White defeated Team Burgundy 4-2 in the simulated game, taking a late lead after Erik Johnson scored on a coast-to-coast rush and Valeri Nichushkin sealed the win with an empty-netter. It was the Avs' third scrimmage of the Phase 3 camp.

"It is high pace, high intensity, a lot of speed," said Team White forward Nazem Kadri on the intrasquad competition. "We've been kind of extending our time out there just, you know, for conditioning purposes. Just the preparation and mentally knowing that you've put in the work. There's been some tough skates and there have been some intense battles, I think going forward you feel more confident about your ability and being able to play a game and multiple games."

Sunday's session featured tighter defensive play, but Monday's game had the players coming out from the opening faceoff flying offensively. Gabriel Landeskog began the scoring for Team Burgundy soon after puck drop following some give-and-go passes from Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon, but Team White's J.T. Compher soon evened the score at 1-1.

Sheldon Dries gave White the lead not too long after though on a deflection off a shot by T.J. Tynan, but Andre Burakovsky tied the contest at 2-2 going to intermission, which split up the two, 25-minute periods that featured a running clock.

The game tightened up defensively in the last stanza with only Johnson and Nichushkin finding twine late.

With not much time to prepare before the postseason, the club has focused on getting back up to speed to have a successful playoff run, and the effort to do that during these scrimmages has been clear.

"I think our team has done a good job in practice lately. I think each day the pace is getting higher, and that's important leading into the exhibition and round-robin games," said forward Matt Nieto. "That's where we're really going to have to come out strong and fast because there's only a few games and then it's right into it. We have to do everything in our will to make sure we're ready for that first game of the playoffs."

Colorado has 34 active players at this training camp, but only 31 of them can participate in the qualifier and playoff games in Edmonton. While most of the roster is likely already spoken for, the forwards that are battling for a spot on the roster and into the team's top 12 have increased their level of play during organized-team activities.

"I think it's been competitive. They know that we have to cut down this roster just a little bit to get into Edmonton," said head coach Jared Bednar. "The reality of it is they're already kind of slotting themselves into [spots]. Like if we have an injury, who's the first guy in, who can come in and help us in this situation. That's the type of things that we're looking at as a coaching staff and just seeing what this guy is able to do to help us win hockey games and what is the next guy able to do, and then weigh those decisions if the time comes that we need to insert someone into our lineup."

Monday's scrimmage was as close to a simulated game as the Avs have had during their seven days of Phase 3 training camp. It was played mostly at 5-on-5, but coach/referee Bednar did reward power plays to both teams if a clear infraction took place.

After the game, there was another on-ice session for the goaltenders that didn't take part in the scrimmage as prospects Michael Hutchinson and Adam Werner worked with goalie coach Jussi Parkkila and performance consultant Shawn Allard.

ROSTER NOTES

Cale Makar missed his second straight day of practices after leaving midway through Saturday's skate.

"I can't really comment on it, so I can't say if I'm concerned about it or not," Bednar said of Makar while alluding to the NHL and NHLPA's policy on injury disclosure during Phase 3 and 4.

One player that did return to practice was Shane Bowers, who missed the previous two team skates following an errant high-stick he took on Thursday during the first scrimmage of camp. Bowers was on a Team White line with Sheldon Dries and T.J. Tynan for Monday's game.

Team White featured six defensemen, with Anton Lindholm, who played on Team Burgundy on Sunday, moving to a Team White pairing with Bowen Byram, a combo that has mostly been together since the start of camp. Rear guard Jacob MacDonald slotted into Lindholm's spot on Burgundy, which only had five D's, and alternated with a variety of defensive partners after playing forward on Sunday.

All of the other line combinations remained mostly same from how they were the previous day.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Avalanche won't have practice on Tuesday, giving the players a chance to recover after having three straight days of team skates and back-to-back scrimmage days.

Colorado returns to the ice on Wednesday morning, with team being broken back up into two groups. The team is expected to have several more on-ice sessions at Pepsi Center this week before leaving for its "hub city" in Edmonton, Alberta, on Sunday.

SCRIMMAGE LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Team Burgundy
Gabriel Landeskog - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen
Matt Calvert - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - Matt Nieto
Andre Burakovsky - Tyson Jost - Vladislav Kamenev

Samuel Girard - Kevin Connauton
Conor Timmins - Mark Barberio
Jacob MacDonald
Philipp Grubauer

Team White

Valeri Nichushkin - Nazem Kadri - Joonas Donskoi
Vladislav Namestnikov - J.T. Compher - Logan O'Connor
Shane Bowers - Sheldon Dries - T.J. Tynan

Ryan Graves - Erik Johnson
Nikita Zadorov - Ian Cole
Bowen Byram - Anton Lindholm

Pavel Francouz