Morning Skate Quotes: Avalanche vs. Blues

The Colorado Avalanche hosts the St. Louis Blues at Pepsi Center tonight to wrap up the regular season and determine which team will advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Colorado will earn a postseason berth with a regulation win, and St. Louis will proceed to the NHL's second season if it loses in overtime or a shootout or wins in any manner.

Colorado head coach Jared Bednar

On If Jonathan Bernier Is Starting:
"Bernier is starting, ready to go."
On If There Are Any Lineup Changes:
"Alt is going to go in for Warsofsky. A little bit bigger body, physical guy, right-handed shot. Played well for us when he's been in, so he is going to get the nod tonight."
On If He Will Pull The Goalie If The Game Is Tied Late In The Third Period
"I have never been in that situation before, but that's what the circumstances call for. So hopefully we're not tied, we're up."
On If The Team Will Be More Aggressive If They Have A One-Goal Lead:
Keep playing our game, just keep playing our game and stick with it.
On Nathan MacKinnon:
"Huge. It's hard to express everything he's done for our team. He's the driving force to our offense, everybody knows it. He's has been extremely consistent, him and his linemates. Really our whole team for that matter, they've been pretty good. But that line, our team follows those guys. At home they have been even better than they have been on the road, so hopefully they have a big night tonight."
On Talking To Nathan MacKinnon Over The Past Few Weeks:
"There's some things tactically that we have shown them and will get to the interior of the ice, and making sure they are playing the same way they played when they were successful. It's tight checking right now so it becomes a little bit more difficult, the stakes running down the stretch, teams trying to fight to get it into the playoffs. You have to fight for every inch of their ice, and they have to make sure they aren't changing and just get better at what they do."
On If He Would Take Being In This Position Earlier In The Season:
"Take it all day long, especially on home ice in front of our crowd here and knowing how well we have played at home. I would sign that every day of the week."
On What He Has Learned Throughout The Season:
"I think you learn from every win and loss you have all year long, you have to. And you want to make sure that when you lose that you aren't repeating mistakes and that you are getting better and more consistent at what you do. And when you win, you look at the strengths in your team and why you won and you evaluate it honestly and you move on to the next game. I think our team has done a real nice job of staying on an even keel and not riding the ups and downs too much. Talking with our guys, they are excited about tonight. This is a great opportunity for our team to play in front of our fans. I'm sure it'll be a packed building tonight and we get a chance to win a game and get into the playoffs. It should be fun."
On His Coaching Style Through This Stretch:
"I like to try and take the advice that I'm giving our players. You try not to get too high or too low. In moments when you are frustrated, you try make sure you reset every day and come back to the rink and get ready to work and help your team get better. Trusting the players, I think is a big thing. Opens those lines of communication and making sure as a coach you have their best interest at heart. I'm really proud of our guys to get to this spot. A lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone into this. You start in the offseason with your training program that everyone buys into, our work through training camp, developing some of our young guys to be impact players for us. The leadership of the core guys that have come back and their approach to the whole entire season sets them up for this moment. They have given me the confidence to believe that we are going to win tonight because of all that they have put into it. My advice to them is I just want to make sure we go out and that we are playing with the right intensity right from the start and that we are having fun doing this thing. We know what makes us successful. We know what our identity is and we have to get to that right from the drop of the puck and make sure we stick with it through the 60 minutes. If we do that, we are going to give ourselves a real good chance to win and they are going to enjoy it.
On The Humboldt Broncos Tragedy:
"That's a tough day. That's my hometown. I grew up in Humboldt, my dad was stationed there twice. The bulk of my childhood was in that city, so I grew up as a young guy dreaming to play for the Broncos and then had the opportunity as a teenager and then moved on to the Western League. So, I know that team means to that town. I have a couple friends, one of their sons was the goaltender for the Broncos and he survived. He went to surgery last night in Saskatoon, and hopefully he's doing better. But it's a tough time for that town. It's a tight-knit community, it's only 6,000 people. We send our thoughts and prayers to them, for sure."

Colorado LW Gabriel Landeskog

On Preparing For Tonight:
"It's just about channeling those nerves and just making sure you're making them into some positive energy and come out with a lot of hunger to a win."
On The Team:
"Guys have stepped up in different ways, whether it's big saves, big blocks, big blocked shots, big goals, or whatever. Guys are stepping up, and we are looking to do the same thing tonight."
On Home-Ice Advantage:
"The fan support has been awesome all year, I think you guys have seen it. Coming off of last year we weren't really sure what was going to happen, what it was going to look like on a nightly basis, but it has exceeded all expectations and it has been awesome. Looking here tonight with a chance to go to the playoffs and knowing that it's going to be sold out and the whole town is cheering us on, it's going to mean a lot to us. Now, it's just a matter of going out there, having fun and playing hockey."
On If He's Nervous Or Excited Tonight's Matchup:
"I think if you aren't a little bit nervous at this point, there has to be something wrong with you. You work the whole season to get to this point, and to win this one tonight obviously going to change the next couple months drastically. So a little bit of both, but I think most excited just to start playing and getting out there and get this party started."

Colorado C Nathan MacKinnon

On How To Be Successful Tonight:
"I think a good start, a fast start. We need to come out skating and moving and be good in the forecheck and try to eat up some time in their zone. It's no secret, I think everyone kind of plays the same way these days, but we just need to play to our strengths here."
On The Meaning Of Tonight's Game:
"There's a couple ways to look at it. This one game shouldn't really define our season, but at the same time it kind of does too. You either make the playoffs or you don't. Looking back, you're really not going to check and see which game meant the most in history. I think the biggest thing is just giving ourselves a chance to win. Anytime you can do that you just really never know, you see a lot of eight seeds go to the finals and win the cup. The Kings won it, Nashville went to the finals last year being a 16-seed. We just want to get in and give ourselves a chance."
On The Expectations Of The Playoff Push:
"It is now, compared to August. I think for a few months now we have expected to be in this position. We have been playing well and we would have taken this position if we were offered it in October. We would have liked to clinch a couple weeks ago, but we are happy with where we are at."

Colorado RW Mikko Rantanen

On The Playoff Push:
"It's going to be a big game for us. Obviously, it's one win away from the playoffs and not a lot of people outside this locker room believed that we would here in Game 82 with a win to clinch a playoff spot. I think the biggest thing is we just have to enjoy the game and play like we used to at home."
On Tonight's Matchup:
"Obviously you can't really think it's a normal game because it's not a normal game. It's a hockey game but it has pretty big stakes, but I think we have an advantage here at home. Our fans are amazing so we have to take energy from that and have a good three periods and have to see what the score is after that."
On The Fans:
"They have been amazing. Tough year last year and tough couple years here, we haven't made the playoffs but it's a different story this year. We have been winning a lot, and I think the fans have been enjoying. Have to thank all the fans for coming to the games, it has been a lot of fun to play for them."

Colorado D Tyson Barrie

On The Playoff Push:
"It's an exciting time of year, it has been exciting for the last month. Every game has been big, and it's kind of crazy how it boils down to this one game. If you were looking two weeks ago you maybe thought that it might come down to this and it does. You have to be proud of the guys for putting ourselves in a position we win one and we are in, so it's going to be a great game tonight and it's going to be a lot of fun."
On The Home Ice Advantage:
"I think we have been good here all year and the fans have been great here all year. Nowhere else we would rather play. It's going to be a good test, but it's going to be something that I think a lot of these guys are going to really enjoy."
On Being Nervous For Tonight's Game:
"I think the nerves are natural. If you are nervous for a game, I think it means that you have put yourself in a position to be playing a big game. I think that's normal and you just try to keep your game day routine as normal as possible. You can't really control what you are feeling before the game, but I know from playing in some big World Junior games and playoff games that once you get your first shift under you, you can kind of settle down and play hockey."
On The Meaning Of Tonight's Game:
"Everybody would have liked to have had it wrapped up by the last game of the season, but we are in a positon where we have worked hard all year, we haven't taken any games off in my opinion and it is what it is. If you would have told us at the beginning of the year that we would have to win one game at home to get into the playoffs, I don't think there's a person on the team or in the city that wouldn't have taken that. We have done a good job putting ourselves in this position now we just have to capitalize on that."

Colorado C Tyson Jost

On The Playoff Push:
"It's all in our hands. We really believed in each other right from the start, we knew that we had the potential in this locker room to make a push in the playoffs and make a good push in the regular season. It's been an unbelievable ride so far and we don't want it to end tonight. I know everyone is going to come out with guns-a-blazing, we are going to play with a lot of heart. The Pepsi Center is going to be absolutely rocking and I know we are really excited. This is what you dream about, this is a Game 7 right now and I really believe in everyone in this locker room."
On Tonight's Matchup:
"I really liked our game last time against them. I thought all four lines were clicking and we were sticking to our systems and we were playing fast. We are a fast team and when we play like that we are really hard to beat. I know everybody is going to have their legs tonight, so that's definitely going to be a positive for us. Obviously, they played in Chicago last night and had a good game, so it's going to be battle tonight but it's going to be a fun one. Like I said before, these are the games you dream of when you are a little kid playing hockey in your basement or your driveway. It's going to be really exciting for all of us."

Quotes compiled by ColoradoAvalanche.com's Taylor Hodapp