Calgary (107 points) finished the 2018-19 campaign second in the league behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (128 points), who was eliminated in four games by the Columbus Blue Jackets. It is the first time in NHL history that the top two teams in each conference, and the clubs with the two best regular-season records, have been ousted in the opening round of the playoffs.
"We're an eight seed, but I think if you look at our overtime losses, we take half of those away and we're fighting for the division," said defenseman Tyson Barrie. "So, it just goes to show that all you got to do is get in and everything can kind of happen. We're keeping that attitude going forward."
Confidence is key to maintaining momentum in the stretch between the Game 5 victory and Game 1 of the second round. With multiple series' in the first round extending to seven contests, Colorado has time to rest and reload before continuing its postseason play.
"We were feeling really good at the end of that series and now we have about a week off," Barrie said. "We've had our two days off and we're going to skate today, tomorrow, maybe have another day off in there. I think the key is just the intensity that we skate with on the ice, executing and making sure we're not taking our foot off the pedal."
Colorado held a full-team practice at Family Sports Center in Centennial on Monday. The only player absent from the ice was Carl Soderberg, who was held off due to illness. Samuel Girard (upper body) and Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder) participated in the skate wearing red, non-contact jerseys and Derick Brassard, who missed the final three outings of the first round with an illness, returned as a full participant.
"I don't have a timeframe on him yet," said head coach Jared Bednar of Girard. "He's still in a non-contact jersey. Took some contact after practice, we'll see how that goes and see how he progresses during the week."
The Avalanche does not yet know who its next round opponent will be. The team will play the winner of the San Jose Sharks-Vegas Golden Knights series, which will be determined in Game 7 on Tuesday.
"Personally, I don't even know what would be a better matchup: Vegas or San Jose," said center Nathan MacKinnon. "They have their own strengths and they're both really, really good teams. But we beat the second-best team in the league, in terms of their record in the regular season, in five and that's going to boost any team's confidence."
As the eighth seed, Colorado will start the second-round series on the road. They will again be considered the underdog in the matchup.
"I think we enjoy that role," said captain Gabriel Landeskog. "We've been able to embrace it, we don't really have much pressure on us other than the pressure we put on ourselves to succeed and to do well every day. I still see us as underdogs and I think we're just going to keep embracing that role.
"We didn't fight this hard to A, get in the playoffs and B, fight this hard against the Flames to move on and not do more damage. For us, we're just getting going it feels like. We're obviously playing well here as of the last month or so and we want to keep this thing going."
