Morning Skate Quotables: April 13, 2019

The Colorado Avalanche will try to even its first-round series against the Cakgary Flames tonight in Game 2 at Scotiabank Saddledome.
Here is what some of the players and head coach Jared Bednar had to say after morning skate.

Colorado Center Derick Brassard
On Calgary Goaltender Mike Smith: "He was in his game obviously. We know this team, they ran with two goalies all season long. He's beatable, he is a good goalie, but we can find a way to pass some pucks through him. That was the story of the game last game, I think we didn't capitalize on the chances that we had. At the end of the second period and after that, we were chasing the game a little bit, but for first game, on the road, I thought we played a pretty good game. It's never easy to come in on the road and usually in the first period, the home team, they always come out pretty hard. Our first period was really good and for the most part of the second period, we dominated the play. I mean that's what the playoffs are, just try to get the momentum as fast as you can and you expect every team to push back, but for the most part I think we played a pretty good game."
On Capitalizing On Chances:"We have to trust our instincts and it's not because it's playoffs now, you kind of have to overthink when you have the puck and you have scoring chances. We had some odd-man rushes that we didn't end up shooting the puck. Guys were trying to make plays, that's the main thing. You just have to kind of read the play and go with what you have in front of you. There's always the part of going in front of him and trying to get those dirty goals as well. There's a lot of things that we can do differently offensively, but it was one of those games."

Colorado Defenseman Samuel Girard
On The Stretch Run:"We're playing with urgency at the end of the season so we're going to have to keep going like we did and make some shots at the net. Play with speed and I think if we do that, it'll go well for us."
On The Atmosphere: "It's fun. Everywhere in the NHL during the playoffs is always fun to play so it was fun the first game, it's going to be fun the rest of the series too. So we're going to have to enjoy that and make sure that we play our game for tonight."

Colorado Head Coach Jared Bednar
On Game 1: "It is going to come down to some of the grit and determination and willingness to hang onto the puck and generate offensively like we have all year. I think it is a good lesson for us in that game I think we were a little bit tentative and weren't in attack mode enough. I think we need to, that has been a strength of our game all year and we got to make sure we are playing to our strengths in this series as well."
On Cale Makar:"Whenever you have a prospect and one of your players from your organization that has a successful season we are obviously proud of him. The season that he has had, both as an individual and now taking their team to the championship game and being a big part of that, it is encouraging. It is encouraging for us knowing that it is a possibility that he can come join us. It is great to see him have success because i think success breeds success. He has had a fantastic year and I think he earned the Hobey Baker and obviously everyone else kind of felt the same way."

On The Power Play In Game 1:"I think there are some thing that we weren't doing. I didn't think that we had a shot mentality, it is a reflection of our 5-on-5 play too. The puck was moving too slow in the offensive zone. A little bit stubborn in looking for plays, I think we got to move it around a little bit and get some pucks and traffic to the net and then attack out of chaos. Your power play goes through some ruts, I thought it got better as the game went on. We had a couple really good chances that Smith had big saves on but definitely we want to make sure that we have that killer instinct right from the start on every power play. Special teams played a huge role in Game 1 and we got to make sure we are winning that battle here tonight."
On Playing Nathan MacKinnon 25 Minutes In Game 1:"I would say I am pretty comfortable doing that on a regular basis, 22 minutes a night for MacK a lot of nights, 23-plus, 24 down the stretch, 25 some nights. We are not practicing, he definitely can handle that I have no problem with doing that, I haven't seen a drop off on his play down the stretch. I am in constant communication with him, I would rather not have to play him 25 a night but I just felt, like I touched on, we had some players that needed to be better the other night and he was a guy that was going and if you fall behind it is easier to lean on him. He likes the ice, wants the ice and we certainly feel like he can handle it or we wouldn't play him that much."
Quotes transcribed by Colorado Avalanche's Dan Vatch