Postgame Notes & Quotes - Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round, Game 6

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Nashville won the best-of-seven series 4-2 to advance to the Western Conference Semifinals.
The Predators posted a shutout victory in a series-deciding game for the first time in franchise history, joining the Vegas Golden Knight and the Winnipeg Jets as the third team to accomplish the feat this postseason. (via NHL PR)
The Avalanche is now 25-21 in all-time playoff series, 19-12 since moving to Denver.

Colorado is 18-21 all-time in playoff elimination games, including a 10-12 mark since the franchise relocated.
Nikita Zadorov had a postseason career-high nine hits, tied for second among NHL defensemen in a single game during the first round of the playoffs.
Patrik Nemeth posted a game-high 27:40 of time on ice, also a career high for the regular and postseason.
Nick Bonino registered three points (1g, 2a) for the first career three-point playoff game of his NHL career. (via NHL PR)

Colorado LW Gabriel Landeskog

On Tonight's Game: "I mean they were good, no doubt, and they came out strong. [There were] just a couple bounces, a couple bad decisions and we weren't as sharp as we needed to be. We got in a hole 2-0 right after five minutes or whatever that was. They are too good of a team to let you back into the game. It's not the way we want to finish, that's for sure. Nonetheless, I am proud of this group."
On The Series Against Nashville: "That's not the way you want to finish, no doubt. I don't know, it's tough to sum up the series right here, right now but I felt like we made them fight for it. I don't know if they thought they were just going to roll over us, but proud of the group that we have in this dressing room, no doubt."
On Reflecting On The Season: "That always takes a few weeks, at least. I'm sure it's a feel-good story for everybody--from where we were 12 months ago to here. To a certain extent, it is to this group as well and the guys that were here, but you always want more. Unless you win the last game of the season, in June, I don't think you're ever going to be satisfied. What else needs to be said? We got a young group, an inexperienced group, but I'm really proud of what we've been able to accomplish and taking some major strides forward. It's a matter of, you know, get some time away and really reflect on what we can do better and what we can do as individuals and as a team. I know we'll come back stronger in the Fall."

Colorado C Nathan MacKinnon

On Takeaways From Making The Playoffs: "A lot of positives for sure. Definitely a lot of people didn't see us in this position coming into the season. You know, everybody thought we weren't going to make it, thought we'd be the odd-team out in the west. Obviously, it's nice to prove people wrong and have a good young team going forward."
On The Avs' Season: "[It was a] good bounce-back year. I mean, it's a cool story that we went [from] last to playoffs, but we're trying to win a Cup and obviously it's disappointing that we showed up like this and lost 5-0 in an elimination game. Obviously, like I said, there's some positives. We have a young team going forward. I thought we showed a lot of fight this season, a lot of adversity that we overcame. Hopefully we can use some of that next season."
On The Series:"It was a good series. Tonight was tough. I feel like we came out with some jump and they just got two quick goals and it just deflated us. Then they got one in the second early to make it 3-0, it kind of ruined our momentum. I thought Game 5 was great, forcing a Game 6, but obviously tonight was pretty bad."
On What He Learned This Season:"I think we can compete with one versus eight, we made it a good series. I guess I'll have to reflect a little bit to really think about what I learned. I thought we had some good moments, and a lot of stuff we could work on, but overall, definitely a positive that we made the playoffs and we made it a series against the Predators. "

Colorado RW Mikko Rantanen

On Takeaways From Making The Playoffs: "I think it's a big experience for a lot of guys. We had a lot of guys who were first year in the league and it was only my second year, so [I'm] still learning some things, especially postseason. I think next year our ultimate goal is to get in playoffs again and it's going to be easier for everybody because there was a lot of guys, including myself too, who played first [playoff] games, so it's good it's over now and we know what to do but there's no excuses. We lost [the series] 4-2 and that's the hockey game."
On The Team's Start In Game 6:"It's tough to come home, you steal a game from there, you come home and try to force Game 7 and you go down 2-0 right away. That's not the start you want. Usually we have a really good start at home, but Nashville is a really good team. You have to give credit to them, they won the Presidents' Trophy and they're a really good road team too. I think we have to be proud of every guy and just go move forward for next year."
On The Series:"I think the way we played, the games we won, and even the first two games we could of won either of those. But there's no point to go back to those games, the season's over, the series is over, it's 4-2. No excuses, but we did everything we could and this time the other team was that much better."
On The Avs' Fans: "It's really fun to see those fans going and supporting us even though we had a tough game. They were still there and cheering for us, so it's fun to see and I have to thank them for everything."

Nashville RW Austin Watson

On Tonight's Win: "It's hard to not sit back a little bit but I think overall from the start of the game until the finish of it we had a really strong effort, and that's really good for us going forward, to be able to take the last game of this series and carry that into how we want to play in the next one."
On His Line's Performance: "I think we just played hard, we are dogging the puck, we are getting on the forecheck. This time of year, sometimes they are pretty, Filip (Nashville LW Filip Forsberg) seems to do a nice job of finding one of those every once in a while, but we did a good job of just getting into the offensive zone, controlling the play a little bit and being hard to play against. Especially for that top line, what an unbelievable line that is and for us to go against them I think we had to be on our toes at all times and I think that led to some of the offensive goals."

Nashville C Nick Bonino

On Playing Against Colorado: "I don't think seed mattered much here, that's a really good hockey team over there, really young, bright future there. They work hard, they're fast, they have good pieces and we had our hands full for the whole thing, you could see that."
On The Takeaway From The Series: "It's great to have confidence. Obviously when you win a series you are feeling good but the way we did it, 60 minutes pretty much, we stayed out of the penalty box, that's huge for us. That power play is so deadly over there. So we are going to be as confident as we can going against Winnipeg but we know how good they are too, and we will have maybe a couple days here and then right back at it.