Avalanche Determined To Start Strong

The Colorado Avalanche finished its game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night with a lot of intensity and will look for that determination to carry over tonight as it hosts the Chicago Blackhawks at Pepsi Center.
The Avalanche fell 2-1 to the Flyers but created a lot of scoring chances in the third period and limited the opportunities against.
"I thought as the game went on we got better defensively, and we got a little better offensively as well," recalled head coach Jared Bednar. "Really liked the urgency we played with in the third period. We were getting above pucks and getting more pucks and traffic to the net, and it led to more scoring chances so hopefully we start the game tonight that way."

The Avs are 6-4-0 in their last 10 contests while the Blackhawks are 3-5-2 and were officially eliminated from the playoffs when they lost 5-1 to Colorado on March 20.
"I think we have been playing pretty good, I mean if you look at our record over the past two months, we have been playing really well and just the last couple games haven't gone our way," said rookie forward Alex Kerfoot. "I think the urgency that we played with the last 10 minutes of the game, if we can keep that up throughout the game we will be in good shape."

The Avs are tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for the third-most wins in the league with 34 victories when they find the back of the net first, and Colorado is 20-3-2 when it leads after the first period.
"It's going to help that we have had a great atmosphere at this rink for the last few games," said Kerfoot. "I mean, if you can't get up for these type of games--we are in the playoff hunt with five games left in the season--then you really can't get up for any games. We just got to come to the rink with that same energy and be ready to go from the drop of the puck."
The Avalanche owns a 2-0-1 record against the Blackhawks this campaign and has faced them twice in Chicago in March.
The Hawks last visit to the Mile High City came on Oct. 28 when both teams were playing their second game in two nights. The Avs scored three times in the first period en route to a 6-3 win.
"You just got to play with energy and play with speed," said Tyson Jost. "I think you saw in that last game there in the last 10 minutes against Philly, we were really buzzing around and using our legs and I don't think they could keep up with us.
"That is something we got to do tonight and obviously Chicago has a lot of skilled forwards up front and some veterans on the backend there, so we know they are a good team even though the standings may say otherwise but they have a lot of skill and a lot of experience and we know it's going to be a good game tonight."
The Blackhawks are once again playing the second half of a back-to-back set, as they defeated the Winnipeg Jets 6-2 in Chicago last night.
"We got to dictate the pace of the game and the tempo, I mean we are at home and we got to play our game," said Sven Andrighetto, who will be returning to the lineup against Chicago. "They have a lot of skill up front obviously, lots of skill, but they are out of the race. They have no pressure, nothing. They are just playing hockey now, but they still have a really good team."
Andrighetto will be on a line with Gabriel Bourque and Nail Yakupov after missing three games with a lower-body injury. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov will get the start in net, and Jonathan Bernier will backup the Samara, Russia, native after missing three games with an infection from a cut in his hand.