For the Avs coaches, it will be key for them to monitor the health of the team by balancing rest between games while still being able to get the necessary work done in practices. Head coach Jared Bednar began that trend on Thursday by giving his players an off-ice workout and an optional skate.
"Today is a real good example," Bednar said. "We had a couple days of practice. Yesterday, we didn't do a pregame skate, or it was optional. Today we feel we needed our rest, so we won't skate today but we'll pregame skate tomorrow. I feel looking at the next couple games, we'll keep flipping that."
Bednar says the thought process is making sure the players' legs are good to go for games, so they can push the pace every shift.
When Colorado is skating and pushing the tempo, the club has been a tough out through the first 23 games of the 2017-18 campaign. The opposite has also been true when the Avs have been forced to chase the puck.
"Most important thing that we're learning about our team and our identity is that we're hard to play against when we're skating and using our legs and playing with pace," Bednar said. "Some of that is the intensity that we have to play with. So our execution is good, but a lot of it has to do with us driving our legs and managing our shift length and playing fast. If you don't have your legs and you're tired, we're not going to look that good."
Only five skaters were on the ice at Family Sports Center on Thursday, doing work with goaltender Jonathan Bernier and goaltending coach Jussi Parkkila.
Because of the optional skate, Bednar said the final determination on his lineup will be made on Friday prior to the Avs' game against the New Jersey Devils. However, he did say he'll probably use the same game roster as he did for Wednesday's 3-2 overtime win against the Winnipeg Jets.
That includes goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who made his return to the net on Wednesday night after missing more than a week and three games because of an illness.
Varlamov made 31 saves, with the two pucks getting past him coming from a screened outside shot and off a low rebound that he couldn't get his glove over in time to cover.
"I thought he was good. I thought he was really good, actually," Bednar said. "He was positionally sound, was square with the puck, really in control of the game. Made some tough saves. Wasn't overworked, but he made a lot of big saves. I think that one rebound slipped away from him a little bit on the 4-on-4, but he battled in there and gave us the saves that we needed."
Colorado's matchup with New Jersey will be the second and final game of the season between the teams, as the Devils make their only trip to Pepsi Center this year. The Avalanche lost 4-1 in the first meeting on Oct. 7 in Newark--its second contest of the season and the Devils' season opener.
