Colorado Practices in Nashville while Dads Watch

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--The Colorado Avalanche's fathers and mentors will provide plenty of extra motivation for the club heading into Tuesday's game at the Nashville Predators.
"Everyone will want to play well with their dads in the stands, and we're five points behind Nashville (in the standings)," said Colorado forward Gabriel Landeskog, who has his dad Tony with him on the one-game road swing. "We're right behind them, and we're going to keep climbing and keep playing well. We got a good thing going, and I think everyone will want to play well against them."
The Avs have won four in a row and are 6-0-1 in their last seven contests. The club is third in the Central Division with 30 points and is chasing division-rival Nashville, the current league leader in the standings.

Colorado practiced for just over half an hour on Monday at Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville and had a large crowd watching them as part of the squad's dad/mentor trip. Players' fathers and other important figures in their lives are with the team for four days, getting an inside look at an Avalanche road trip.
The trip began with a home game on Saturday against Dallas before three days in the Music City.
"What is great is that we had a home game first, and the dad's got to meet there," said Mark Barberio, who has his father Gennaro with him. "They had a nice reception on Saturday. I think it was great for them to meet before the road trip so they have a rapport together. We had a nice team dinner last night with everyone, it was a lot of fun."
It was a unique practice day not just because of the dads in the stands but also because it was a "dress and drive"--not that uncommon in the NHL but still a rarity due to arena availability. The players and coaches held meetings and dressed in their full gear at Bridgestone Arena before they took a bus to the nearby rink for practice, without their skates on.

It was about a 10-minute drive to the local sports center, and the squad laced up their skates for practice once there.
Tyson Barrie was the only player that didn't skate on Monday. He was given a maintenance day and is expected to play against the Predators.
The Avs had four players on each of the bottom two forward lines during the on-ice session. Which two forwards will be scratched likely won't be known until the club's morning skate.

Quotables

Left Wing Gabriel Landeskog on having his father here with him from Sweden: "It is just awesome to have him here. He comes to Denver a couple times every year and gets to watch us practice there. We did this father's trip my first year as well as a rookie and this is his second time, and I think my dad has been just as excited for this second time around as he was for the first one."

Defenseman Mark Barberio on the fathers' excitement for the trip: "As soon as I told him, my dad was really excited. Every time I phoned home, my dad couldn't wait to be on this trip. My mom was telling me how excited he was. He was like a little kid again. They're all having a good time."

Practice Line Combinations

Gabriel Landeskog - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen
Tyson Jost - Alex Kerfoot - Colin Wilson
Matt Calvert - Carl Soderberg - Matt Nieto - Sven Andrighetto
J.T. Compher - Vladislav Kamenev - Sheldon Dries - Gabriel Bourque
Samuel Girard - Erik Johnson
Patrik Nemeth - Nikita Zadorov
Ian Cole - Mark Barberio
Semyon Varlamov
Philipp Grubauer
Did Not Practice: Tyson Barrie (maintenance)