Avalanche Mindset Remains the Same Going into Game 6

Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar described his team as "a little bit angry" heading into Game 5 against the Dallas Stars and that attitude will remain the same entering another must-win outing on Wednesday.
Colorado came out on a mission and scored five straight in the first period, setting a new franchise record for goals in a playoff period, and earned a 6-3 victory on Monday to extend the second-round series.
"I don't think our mindset is changing, I think it's going to be the same. I mean our backs are still against a wall. We need to win to force a Game 7," said Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog. "That is going to be our mindset moving forward, and it needs to be. We are looking at this the exact same way, and obviously we expect the Stars are going to come out and push back, that's just the way it goes. In a playoff series when one team wins and one team loses, usually the losing team will make some adjustments whether its mindset or structurally. I am sure we expect some changes and some more push back from them in the first five or 10 minutes like they were in Game 4, and we just got to step on the ice the same way we did yesterday."

Four of the Avalanche's five first-period tallies came in a span of 2:36, one second shy of the NHL playoff record for the quickest four goals.
Colorado began the contest skating and pushing the pace, typical characteristics of Avalanche hockey. The team recorded 23 shots on goal, a new postseason record for shots in a single period in franchise history, and limited Dallas to just five shots.
Although the Avs controlled the game in the opening frame and staved off elimination with Monday's victory, the team still has room for improvement heading into its next do-or-die contest. Bednar noted that his team could have been smarter in some of their decisions at times in the final 40 minutes of the outing.
"I thought we quit playing at times, and I thought we didn't manage the puck well at all. Dallas was going to come, make a push, get physical. There was a lot of penalties, the penalties in the second and third period, you can't even get your lines out there to play hockey, No. 1. So, we have to be way smarter there," said Bednar. "Obviously at that point, they don't care. They are going to take a shot here and there at our guys, and we got to deal with it and be smart. That's part of what I'm talking about, we have to be smarter instead of getting sucked in to all that. They get some life off their power play again, and we get sort of complacent with the lead that we have. We got to manage the puck better than we did and we got to continue to play, and we didn't do that last night."
In the last two stanzas of the contest, the Central Division rivals combined for 15 penalties and 46 minutes, an aspect of the game that the Avs have placed an emphasis on throughout the series.
Colorado has been shorthanded 20 times through the five outings of the second-round matchup and has allowed seven power-play goals against, two of which came in the Avalanche's Game 5 win on Monday. Comparatively, in five games in their Round 1 series with the Arizona Coyotes, the Avs found themselves down a skater 15 times and only allowed the Yotes to score once with the man advantage.
The Avalanche knows that in order for its stay in the Edmonton bubble to be prolonged, it will need to give its best effort for the entire outing in Game 6 on Wednesday.
"We are all here and you miss your family, and for me it's my wife and my daughter and you miss them since day 1 and now we are at week 6 or 7 or whatever it is," said Landeskog. "So, it's getting hard no doubt, but at the same time I think our group's mindset is that we are here, we are trying to make the most of it, we are already away from our families so might as well make the best of the situation. For us, we feel like this is a great opportunity for us to keep pushing forward and keep moving forward. We feel like we still haven't played our best, so we are not ready to go home by any means and we are going to do everything we can to keep this thing going."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE

Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon turned 25 on Tuesday, and his birthday celebrations might be more low-key than normal while he and his team are focusing on the task at hand.
"As far as birthday celebrations, I don't think we got too much going on," said Landeskog, a 27-year-old who has been the captain of the Avalanche since MacKinnon entered the league at 18. "I don't see us doing anything crazy, maybe go out in the yard for 10, 15 minutes extra today, I think that's about it. Nate is turning 25, I feel old."
MacKinnon leads the league with 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists) this postseason, which is already tied with the leaders from the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs: St. Louis Blues forward Ryan O'Reilly and Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand.

His 23 points are the most by an Avalanche skater in a single playoff year since Peter Forsberg had 27 in 2002, and his 15 assists are also the most by a Colorado player since 2002 (Forsberg, 18).
"Such a gifted player. Brings all the intangibles. I think just having him on your team and what he is generally able to do on a consistent basis, he gives you a chance to win every night. That is what star players do, they up your odds," Bednar said of MacKinnon. "When it comes to the playoffs, or last night in general, I think that he is part of the driving force behind our start. Gets a big goal for us, making plays early, keeps competing throughout the game. We had some puck management issues as the game went on, granted we had built a lead and sometimes those games get a little strange, but he's a guy that continues to make the right puck decisions, uses his feet as a solution to break out of the zone, to hang on to pucks in the offensive zone. He can kind of steady the momentum of the game or turn the momentum of the game just with having a good shift or making the right decisions as a veteran player."