Avalanche Morning Skate Quotes: Game 5 at Predators

The Colorado Avalanche held its Game 5 morning skate at Bridgestone Arena before facing the Nashville Predators on Friday night. The Avs were loose during the pre-game practice and in the locker room afterward, with plenty of joking and laughing throughout,
It is a must-win contest for Colorado, as the club needs to defeat Nashville in order to force a Game 6 back home at Pepsi Center on Sunday.
Here is what was said before the game.

On if there are going to be any other lineup changes: "Nope, not up front. We will have a decision to make on D if Girard is in."
On if the team has to do anything different with Andrew Hammond starting: "No. We will let Hammy do his job, and we will continue to do the jobs that we have been doing for the entire season. We just have to make sure that we are doing it better and longer than they are. For us, we liked what we did in the third period last game and we can learn a little bit from that and get on the attack and using our skating, that's what we did during the third period, Now just have to make sure we are doing that for 60 minutes or more, whatever it takes tonight."
On Andrew Hammond playing the third period last game: "He was good. Like I said earlier, he hasn't seen a lot of game action, but he has been working hard off the ice and working hard in practice. He's been working with (goaltending coach) Jussi (Parkkila) honing his game. He is ready, he feels prepared. He is a veteran guy and he has been here before. I like his demeanor right now. Hopefully, he can have a night for us."
On the team being loose during morning skate: "I think it's just our mindset. We believe that we can do it and guys have worked hard to get to this point, and there is no use tightening up now. We talked even a little bit after the game the other night whether there was some nerves involved in coming out at home for the second straight night, and I don't believe that that was the case, but we certainly played safe at the start of the game. We got on our heels after that 5-on-3. We knew they were going to come out hard, but we just weren't ready to respond the way we needed to and it took us a while to kind of find our game. We gradually got better in the second period and third--last 15 minutes of the third is the way we need to play but we got to do it for the entire game."
On playing in Nashville recently: "Coming back here, just being here two games last week and playing some pretty good hockey here, I think that gives us a real good indication of what we are going to see tonight. Especially Game 4 at home their start, we will see a similar start from them here tonight, and we have to be ready to counterattack that. It should be an intense game right from the start. They are going to want to close it out at home, and we want to keep playing. We are not ready to have this thing end, so we got to have a night. All guys pulling the rope in the same direction."
On playing a previous must-win game in the regular-season finale: "It should help us. It's the exact same situation really at the end of the day. If we want to keep playing we have to win. I think Game 82 maybe even a little more pressure for us because we had been working for 82 games to get to the point to try and get into the playoffs. That's a lot of work, you got a year's worth of work putting in to try and get there. Now there was a little bit of satisfaction getting in, but now we want to continue to play and play another game in front of our fans. I thought it was a real fun couple of games at home and our guys want to experience it again. We want our fans to be able to see us play. Yeah, I think we can draw on that, for sure. It's a little different here tonight on the road. It's another challenge, but I think we are up to it."

Left Wing Gabriel Landeskog

On Andrew Hammond's play in the third period of the last game: "I thought he made some big stops. I'm sure that is not an easy spot to come into, but he made the saves that he needed to, to give us a chance to win. He kept it at three for them and we just took over offensively as a group. That is something that we need to play with the same desperation tonight, as we did in the third."
On what the team wants to change from Game 4: "We obviously got in some penalty trouble at the start of the game and they kind of fed off that momentum. We knew they were going to be hungry after Game 3. They came out hard. As a group we have to make sure that we come out and establish our forecheck right off that bat and come out strong, and make sure that if we do go on the power play, make sure we take care of those opportunities. We've had some opportunities to tie up games or take leads, so we got to make sure we're better there."
On taking it one game at a time: "You can't try to win three games at once. You got to win one and that's it. Then we'll see after that and recharge and refocus after that, but all focus is going to be on winning one game and make sure we have a good start as always--priority No. 1."

Defenseman Tyson Barrie

On this being a must-win game: "We know it's do or die from here out, but you can't look at the big picture or else it seems daunting. You just got to take it one game at a time, and we have been playing good hockey. We are right with these guys, so there is no reason we can't get a big win tonight."
On having another good start: "I think we got to bring the same intensity. Obviously, we know what's on the line tonight. It shouldn't be hard for us to get up and get motivated for another good start, but the key is to continue the good start throughout the whole game."
On taking the crowd out of the game: "It's going to be tough. They obviously have a great fan base here and they're into it. So if we can get one or two early and put them on their toes, that will be a big key for us."

Defenseman Patrik Nemeth

On what the Avalanche has done well so far in the series: "I think we got to use our speed. I think when we play fast and play north that we play pretty well. When we play in their zone and cycle down low, we're tough to handle."
On gaining experience in must-win games: "I think every time you have your backs against the wall and play these tough games, I think you get experience from that and learn from that on how you approach it. For sure it is a good thing that we've played these before."
On having success for tonight's game: "I think experience comes into it, and I think that St. Louis game was important for us. The way we played. Play the same way we did that game and play the same way we did in the third period last game, I think we will be tough to handle tonight."