'Our Guys Believed It'

It's no secret that Colorado Avalanche keep finding ways to win.
The team is now 5-0 in the postseason after executing a 3-2 thrilling overtime victory on Tuesday night in Game 1 of their Second Round series of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the St. Louis Blues.

It was a meaningful result for the Avalanche and one that epitomized their collective belief as a team and confidence in their abilities. Despite dominating the game early on, the Avalanche found themselves trailing 1-0 to St. Louis heading into the first intermission.

But they responded. And battled back with strikes from Valeri Nichushkin and Samuel Girard to take a 2-1 lead heading into the final frame. The regulation play came down the wire as the Blues capitalized on their only power play of the game late in the third at 16:46 and the Avs were unable to do the same when awarded their third power play of the night with 1:19 left in the game. Instead of allowing frustration to set in, the Avalanche pushed. They outshot the Blues 13-0 in overtime - in addition to holding them to single digit shots in all three regular periods -and were rewarded at 8:02 with a blistering long-range shot from Josh Manson.
"The reality is that sometimes you're going to play really well and you're going to feel like you deserve to win, but you don't," Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog - who posted two assists - said following the win. "Tonight we were a real resilient group in there. It felt a lot like Game 2 against Nashville at home. In overtime, we just stressed, just keep playing, just keep playing. We were creating a lot, it was only a matter of time to hem them in and [Manson] put it top shelf."
For Manson, the goal was the first ever of his career in the postseason where he's now played in 27-career playoff games - split between Anaheim (22) and Colorado (5). The 6-foot-3, 218-pound defenseman was acquired by the Avalanche via a deal with the Ducks at the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline. He's been a seamless fit into the Avalnache's deep lineup and a valuable addition to the team's blueline given his size, physicality and stalwart defensive details.
For Manson - who Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar noted is a 'student of the game' - his individual game-deciding effort was reflective of the will and unwavering belief of the entirety of the team.

"That's one of my favorite things about tonight," Manson explained. "After they scored that first goal there was no change in the mentality on the bench. It's easy to get deflated when you feel like you're playing well and you get a bounce like that and it ends up in the back of your net, but there was a response right away. That's such a good sign for a team. That's a good team across the way there, they have a lot of returning guys that have won and know how to win so it's easy to get deflated, but we found a way."
The win featured a full-team effort from the extent of Colorado's lineup, where the whole group was dialed into trusting the process and executing every detail - no matter how micro - to the best ability possible while keeping the big picture in mind.
"We've talked to our team all year long about being resilient and being mentally tough," Bednar said. "We came back and got back to our game. We didn't capitalize on the power play, but just kept doing what we were doing throughout the course of the 60 minutes. Eventually, we felt like we'd have a chance to break them down and get the winner. Our guys believed it. They worked hard. They got the winner and they earned it.
"We got the job done tonight," Bednar continued. "Now, onto the next."