Practice Day Quotes: April 17, 2018

The Colorado Avalanche had an optional practice on Tuesday at Pepsi Center following its Game 3 victory the previous night against the Nashville Predators.
Here is what captain Gabriel Landeskog, defenseman Nikita Zadorov, center Carl Soderberg and head coach Jared Bednar had to say about the win and getting ready for the fourth contest of the series.

On scoring first:
"The first two games we did a good job of getting the first one, but we didn't find a way to stay aggressive. Like we talked about last night, we did a way better job of forechecking and staying on the gas and making it tougher on them for a longer period of time. That's what we got to do moving forward: make sure we have a good start and keep going. Even if we don't get that first one, we just got to keep going and stick with the game plan. Obviously we've done a good job of coming out hot, but we got to make sure either way, whether we get that first one or not, we keep going and stick to the game plan. I thought that was a big key to why we won last night, we stuck to our game plan the whole way.
On Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne:
"I thought even last night, he was solid, made some big stops. There's a reason why he's always up for the Vezina (trophy) or at least in the conversation. Real good goaltender, and he's made it tough on us all series long really. Obviously we got rewarded for a lot of hard work last night. I'm sure he's going to want to come back."
On the physical play:
"I don't know, it's the playoffs and every game is different. The first couple games weren't as chippy as the one was last night. But there's a lot on the line, there's a lot of emotions involved and if you're not emotionally involved than it would be weird. You go for such a long period of time all season long, especially missing (the playoffs) the last few years. Once you get in the playoffs, you want to make sure you make the most of it and come out and leave everything on the ice and that's what we did. I'm sure they feel the same way on the other side."
On the team's struggles against Nashville in the past:
"I don't really think the history that we've had against them, doesn't really mean much in the playoff series. I think it's a new season, basically. It's a fresh start for everybody, everybody starts on the same 0-0 record. I really don't think the history plays a big role in it. I think we've done a good job of establishing that in the first two games."
On the team's youth:
"I think the young guys have done a great job all season. They've been a big part of our success so far, and I feel like they're not afraid to go out and play. Sometimes I look back when I was young and sometimes you're a little afraid of making that one mistake or afraid of kind of stepping on the gas and kind of going out there and driving, but these guys have done a great job just kind of letting loose and going out to play and they're all very hard-working guys. When you have that work ethic, whether you make a mistake or not, you're second effort is going to be what kind of helps the team to recover. That's what the game is all about."

Defenseman Nikita Zadorov

On Game 3:
"We've been confident the whole series long I think. We've been playing those two games on the road as well. I think we've been doing a good job in some parts of the game, and we just have to bring 60 minutes like we did last game. It's nice we get a win, nice to know we can beat those guys, and we can do the same thing tomorrow."
On Game 4:
"Like every guy in this room wants to bring their 'A' game, that's the big part. We got our secondary goals from all the lines, all the lines were rolling, our D pairs were rolling, everything. Our goalie was great yesterday, so that's what we're looking to bring next game."
On Blake Comeau:
"It's great. Was a big start for them last game, got that goal for us really quick. That line has been dominating all year. They were unbelievable, so much fun to go out there and play with them because they battle hard. They win those battles, they give you pucks, so you can do something, create some chances. Combs (Blake Comeau) has so much experience in the Stanley Cup (Playoffs). We don't have many guys who've ever played a game in here. It's a great balance for us. Listening to his experience, talking in the room, whatever he brings to us."
On the team's first periods in the series:
"We were great in first period all year long. We want to push, keep pushing, keep skating all the time, put the pressure on their D, keep putting pucks on them, that's our goal. When we work hard, when we work right like the coaches want us to work, good things will happen. That's what happened last game."

Center Carl Soderberg

On Game 3:
"I think we just have our game plan, and we stayed to that one and we just played a little bit better yesterday. Obviously we got the two-goal lead and that gave us enough."
On playing at home:
"We are confident here in our building. We know we're good here, and hopefully we can get another one tomorrow."
On taking advantage of Game 4:
"It would mean a lot. I think we all felt yesterday that this isn't a series we should waste. We're good, and we know we can beat them. Tomorrow's game is going to be huge for us."
On being back in the playoffs:
"I think for all of us, we have had a really good season so far, and we're playing one of the best teams in the league and we feel like we can compete with them. I think everyone felt yesterday that this is a series we could win."
On outscoring Nashville in first periods:
"We usually come out pretty strong, especially in our building, and we did yesterday as well. On the road, I think we had good starts too but unfortunately we couldn't get those wins."

Head coach Jared Bednar

On defenseman Samuel Girard skating:
"Yeah, positive sign. He's still day-to-day, so we'll know more again tomorrow. We'll see how he is tomorrow morning and make some decisions from there."
On if Girard could play in Game 4:
"There is a possibility."
On defenseman Patrik Nemeth seeing larger minutes:
"I thought he was good. I liked a lot of what our defense did last night, especially limiting scoring chances against 5-on-5, they were good. The penalty kill was better. I think we were better in a lot of areas last night. He's a guy who's in top-physical condition, he takes care of himself really well off the ice. I know it's not the minutes that he's played all year long, but it's a necessity right now with some of the guys we have out of the lineup. He's elevated his game and done a nice job, so I think he can continue to play that amount."
On right wing Mikko Rantanen:
"I think he's been pretty good. I thought last night was his best game of the series, stronger on pucks, made some nice plays, especially on the MacKinnon goal that he took it East-West, behind the net a couple times, he's holding guys off that whole time, playing through checks and then he gets a puck to the net that ends up on MacK's stick and Landy's going to the net. Big goal for us. He's been pretty good and gradually getting better in the series I think. So I'm pretty happy with what he's doing, and hopefully he can continue to elevate his game."

On having the last change at home:
"We'll do that same thing. I'm not chasing matchups, per se. We have a handful of scenarios that we like for different reasons. Some of it is I think you look at Nashville and them playing the Bonino line against MacK all the time and Turris sees Soderberg and what happens is you end up with the young guys--Kerfoot and Jost and Andrighetto--have to see a lot of Johansen and that's a tall task for anyone, never mind a bunch of young guys who are still figuring it out. Our young guys have been good, and they've stepped up and done a nice job and had some shifts against them last night and did a good job. There's certainly some scenarios that I think work better in our favor, and as our kids continue to play and learn, I like to put them in positions to succeed instead of just defend against their top line all night because, like I said, that can be a tall task all night."
On defensemen getting their chance:
"They come out of situations where they're not getting a lot of opportunity and, you know how it is, you're always injecting youth into your lineup and high draft picks and what-not. Part of what excites players like that about coming into a situation like us where we have a lot of opportunity on the backend is they see more ice time, get put into more situations and get the opportunity to prove that they can handle more minutes and play bigger minutes and take on a bigger role on a team and try and win. It goes both ways. They have to earn that, and the guys that we have have done that. And then you take (Duncan) Siemens and (David) Warsofsky. Dunc is a home-grown guy that's paid his dues in the minors, been a great team guy, fills a specific role, good penalty-killer. Adds some toughness and some grit to the lineup and is a physical guy. You like to see guys like that succeed as well. It's been a long road for him, comes up late in the season, he's a call-up and plays real well for us. He finds himself in and out and then gets injected in the lineup in the playoffs and steps up and elevates his game and continues to do the things that gave him success at the American League level. That's what we want to see. We don't want to see him change his game. We know what he is as a player, we're happy with that, and we just want him to play at the best of his ability in the role that he's given here, whether that's five minutes a night or 15 minutes a night. He's done a nice job. Same thing with Warsofsky. He's on the other side, a puck-moving guy, can play the power play, he's done it his whole career. We bring him in, I think Joe (Sakic) and his staff identifying him in the summer as a guy that would be able to come in and fill a need for us. It's good scouting. It's bringing in a guy with strong character and, especially with Girard out of the lineup, he gives us something that we need back there."
On the team's power play:
"It was better last night for sure. We got more chances. We shot the puck more, there was more fluidity to it, attacking out of chaos, retrieve pucks. Especially in the second period, we had some really good looks in the second period where their goalies made saves on us."
On Mark Barberio:
"I think he's improved his game in a lot of areas. I would say starting this year especially, he's pushed his game to a new level from a defending standpoint. He's become more trustworthy. I know early in his career, I coached against him in the minors, and he was known as a puck-moving guy, a power-play guy, highly-explosive, real dangerous in a lot of areas offensively. Through his first handful of years he was in the NHL, maybe that wasn't panning out. He's done a nice job of adding to his value by becoming a better defender and a more trustworthy guy, and now he's on the penalty kill side of it. So he keeps expanding his role for me, but the consistency which he plays at has been impressive for us. We missed him when he was out of the lineup, and now he's back and we some other injuries so it's good to get him back and get him healthy because he was out for quite a long time. He's stepped right in and took care of himself and did the work while he was out for I think was close to three months, and he jumps right in the second-to-last game of the year and hasn't missed a beat. So that's pretty impressive as well."
On secondary scoring:
"The Compher, Bourque and Wilson line has scored in back-to-back games while playing a real heavy style, committed defensive line. Our kids are generating chances, they were much better last night at home and with some favorable matchups like we talked about. The Soderberg line continues to chip in and gets the first goal last night, again in heavy minutes, starting in the D-zone, a lot of D-zone starts against their top-six forwards. Our big line got better last night and had a huge impact in the game. To this point in the series, I think it's been pretty good especially at 5-on-5."
On the team's overall play so far in the series:
"Our heads are in the right place. I was talking to our guys this morning. You know, we lose Game 1, we thought we played pretty good. There certainly are some areas we can improve. We thought in Game 2 we got a little bit better but lost again. I was glad to see our guys get rewarded for their effort last night because losing three and playing well, you know, playing well is one thing but you got to get the results especially this time of year. We do that last night and now we got to move on and make sure we're winning tomorrow night, guarantees us another game in our building if we do that. It's an important game because we know how tough it is going into Nashville."
On what is needed in Game 4:
"Same thing as last night: on our toes and being the aggressors. The physical part of it, that's one thing. There's times this year as a young group and we're not necessarily this big, physical team, but we have to be hard to play against with our puck pressure. I think from a physical standpoint as this series has gone on, we continue to finish more checks and we're harder to play against, our competitiveness seems to be going up. I just want to make sure we're discipline. I like the way we're playing 5-on-5, I want us to make sure we're doing that as much as possible. Using our physical play both protecting pucks and stealing pucks to try and draw penalties, not getting engaged in stuff after the whistle."
Quotes compiled by Scott MacDonald