Practice Day Quotes: April 15, 2018

The Colorado Avalanche arrived back in Denver on Saturday night after its Game 2 loss to the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena in the clubs' first-round series.
On Sunday, the Avs held an optional practice at Pepsi Center and Alex Kerfoot, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen as well as head coach Jared Bednar talked after the session about the best-of-seven series so far and looking ahead to Game 3.

Colorado C Alex Kerfoot

On The First Two Games: "I think that we can take away that we can play with them. Obviously they're the best team in our league right now, and they made the Stanley Cup finals last year. But, I think we proved a lot to ourselves, more than anyone else, that we can play with them and now we are back on home ice. At the end of the day they won the two games they were supposed to win and now we are here and it's exciting."
On The Playoff Atmosphere: "We feel really good. That was a lot of ours' first playoff experiences and we have that under our belt now and we are excited about how we played and about coming back home in front of our fans. It's been great playing here all season long and I think that we are just really excited to be home."
On Colorado's Performance In The First Two Games: "I think there's definitely things we can clean up, but we played well. Obviously, we didn't get the results that we wanted and maybe some pucks didn't go our way at times, but that's what happens in hockey games and I think we got better as the two games went along. This game is really important, coming here, Game 3 and if you lose that one obviously it's going to be tough, but I think we just want to stay focused and we don't want to rush anything or press if we get down a goal or anything like that. I think our team has done a good job of just staying level headed and sticking to the process."
On The Mindset Going Into The Series: "We really didn't have anything to lose coming into this series. No one was really giving us much of a chance and we are playing against a really good hockey team. We really didn't know what to expect coming into this series, a lot of us haven't played much playoffs before. I'm excited about how we played, I thought we handled the atmosphere really well in Nashville and we are able to come home now in front of our fans and prove that we can play with them."

Colorado C Nathan MacKinnon

On Colorado's Playoff Performance: "I think we played as well or better than them in a lot of the two or three periods maybe in each game. They are so solid that we made some mistakes in the third that they capitalized on. They are such a strong team that we can't keep giving up what we have, but it's not over yet."
On The Importance Of Scoring First: "It's nice to score early, it kind of takes a load off your shoulders. I think with our depth, we have lots of depth, with Z (Colorado D Nikita Zadorov) scoring first and (Colorado LW Gabriel) Bourque stepping up, it's great to have those guys get big goals early in those games. Our record is really good when we score first, obviously not these last two games, but it's better than playing from behind."
On The Playoff Atmosphere: "It's definitely a challenge. There's definitely emotional highs and lows that take a lot out of you but I thought in Game 1 we did a good job and in Game 2 we just made that one mistake there, just a miscue. But that's our job though, we are definitely emotionally invested and I think that it will be easier at home when we have 20,000 people behind us as well to maintain that intensity, so hopefully we have a good start."
On Playing In Nashville: "It's just fun. The fans are great, they have a good atmosphere. I wouldn't say it's super tough, I don't think technically any building is tough. The fans have no outcome on the game, they're just cheering so it's mental in that sense. Hopefully we can use our fans, but technically they can't step on the ice and make plays. I think that's a good mentality to have on the road is no matter how rowdy it gets, we need to stay focused on what's happening in between the boards and that's it."

Colorado RW Mikko Rantanen

On Colorado's Performance In The Series: "They won the first two games in special teams. Otherwise, I think 5-on-5 and how we played, our energy and how we played against their D, which is probably the best in the league, I think we can take a thing from that. But I think special teams is the thing we want to be better."
On The Importance Of Home Games: "You have your home crowd, the crowd is behind you the all the time so that's the biggest key obviously. So I think when you lose a home game in playoffs, then you are in trouble. But before that you're not in big trouble. So now we just have to bear down in these next two games."
On Hosting Playoff Games: "It's a big advantage for us, we know we play good at home. We aren't supposed to be here, that's what everybody believed. I think when we were in this locker room we believed that we had a chance to get in, and we did. So we just have to go and enjoy this and play like we used to play at home. Play energetic and have a good start to the game."
On The Feeling In The Locker Room: "I think everyone is confident, we know we are good at home and we know we were really close on the road to have at least one game. I think yesterday was close, a couple mistakes from us and it was game over. But I think everyone is feeling confident because we like to play at home and we have our own home crowd. We are a young team, we don't feel any pressure so it's good."

Head Coach Jared Bednar

On Samuel Girard's Status:"I don't have an update on him this morning. He seems to be doing a little better today. I'll talk to the trainers when I go back there. Day-by-day for him."
On The Positives Out Of The First Two Games: "I loved our work ethic and our competitiveness. I thought both games we played real hard, by all of our guys. I thought we stepped up our game physically in Game 2 and played real well 5-on-5. We made a couple mistakes that ended in the back of our net, so we need to clean up a couple things, especially 4-on-4. We have to make sure we stay out of the box."
On Duncan Siemens' Playoff Debut:"I thought he was good. Real good on the penalty kill, physical. Analytics say that he was on the positive side of things when it comes to shots and chances against and chances for. I thought he did a real nice job last night."
On Players Making Their Playoff Debuts In Nashville:"I thought they've been good. It didn't look to me that we were scared of the moment at all. We were there to compete and play hard. We made, I'm don't know if you call them young mistakes, but we made some mistakes that I think we can prevent, and we will certainly have to going forward in the series. For the most part, I like the way our team is playing."
On Taking Advantage Of The Home Crowd:"When we've played in this building in front of big crowds, we've been energized and have been on our toes, being the aggressors. We certainly need to continue doing that. I think our guys are hungry to get back here. You know, we'll have some matchup advantage that we want to play with as much as we possibly can. Just like they did in their building. I think that is an advantage to us."
On The Sven Andrighetto-Tyson Jost-Alexander Kerfoot Line:"They were OK, I thought maybe a little bit better in Game 1 than Game 2 for me. Had some good O-zone extended shifts. Tough matchup because in their building they had Johansen and Forsberg out against them a lot, and Arvidsson. So that is a tough one to handle, but for the most part they were OK. Five-on-five, they held their own, and we need them to be a little bit better though if we're going to win."
On Jonathan Bernier's Performance:"He was OK, I think he can be better though, for sure. I think if you look at the importance of goaltending this time of year, good is usually not good enough. I think their guy made some saves at some key times and some big saves to kind of let them keep the lead or have a chance to fight back and be in both of those games. As shooters, we got to keep putting traffic there and keep putting pucks there and find a way to beat him when we get those Grade-A chances."
On Nashville Responding After Trailing Early:"That's is exactly it. That is why they had 117 points and won the Presidents' Trophy, because they stick with their game and stick with their game, and that's where we're trying to learn as a team, to mature as a group, to have confidence with our team game and stick with it. I believe we've done that, but we've also made a couple big errors that have ended up in the back of our net."
On The Magnitude Of Game 3 At Home:"I would say we're hungry to win this game. We want to perform well in front of our fans and city, No. 1. No. 2, it puts us right back into the series because I think our guys are confident that if we clean up a couple of the mistakes we made in Games 1 and 2, we'll go back in there and win. Now it's on us to make sure we're at our best on home ice and make sure we crawl back into this series."