Avalanche confident facing adversity entering Game 2 of West Final

CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- The Colorado Avalanche don’t take well to losing.

The winners of the Presidents’ Trophy for having the NHL’s best record lost 16 of 82 games in regulation during the regular season.

Never was it more than two games in a row, which happened only three times, most recently from March 14-16.

So don’t expect a trash can-throwing tantrum or a fire-and-brimstone speech from Colorado coach Jared Bednar with his team down 1-0 in the best-of-7 Western Conference Final heading into Game 2 at Ball Arena here on Friday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC). 

“I know our team, and I know our goals, and I know the mindset of our group,” Bednar said. “So it's not like I'm going in there and giving some speech that's going to turn the series around. Or get it going in the right direction.”

The Vegas Golden Knights stole home-ice advantage with a 4-2 win on Wednesday, jumping out to a three-goal lead and then holding on through a third-period pushback from the home team. 

Colorado spent Thursday going over film and holding an optional skate at its practice facility. All-everything defenseman Cale Makar, who missed Game 1 with an undisclosed injury, took part in the skate.

Bednar said he had no update on Makar, who is a finalist this season for Norris Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s best defenseman, and that he remains day to day. Makar has skated each of the past two days after missing three practices since the Avalanche eliminated the Minnesota Wild in a five-game second-round victory on May 13.

The film work and some hard conversations delivered the message the team needed to hear. It is a process that has worked for the Avalanche throughout the regular season and through the first two rounds of the playoffs, in which they went a tidy 8-1.

“It's pretty pointed on what we need to do and what we think we can do,” Bednar said, “and like, to me, it's like the motivation to play is there for all of our guys. It's about us going and trying to be the best version of ourselves that we could be, because we weren't last night.

“And we still had a chance in that hockey game, and we feel like we can be better than that and our guys understand it. Once they get a clear understanding, it's about their individual preparation and preparation as a group to get ready to go better our performance from last night, which we'll have to do.”

The veterans within the team thrive on accountability; they don’t mind being negatively highlighted in a video session or the harsh words that may come their way. They know it is all part of the journey they want to take.

“Well, I know there's going to be a response,” forward Nazem Kadri said. “There's no question about it. I think even in the last series, when we lost Game 3, we responded in Game 4 (with a 5-2 win).

“I think some people thought the sky was falling then, and we certainly believe we have a process that we stick to, and we're not going to waver from that.”

Bednar wants to see better puck movement in each of the three zones. He wants his team to cut down on the Golden Knights’ transition chances and move the puck of the defensive zone quickly. The Avalanche had 38 shots on goal, which is a healthy number, but Bednar wants to see quality over quantity.

The other thing that would help is getting a lead, especially against a defensively stout Vegas team.

“We haven't done a great job of getting out to leads early,” defenseman Devon Toews said. “So, we're learning to play from behind, and we’ve got to start to try to take the lead a little bit more in these games, and put our foot down and put pressure on teams to try to attack us instead of us having to attack them.”

If the Avalanche make the majority of those things happen in Game 2, the tenor of this series will change as it heads to Las Vegas for Games 3 and 4.

“Well, we're a good team,” Kadri said. “I think we have full confidence in our capabilities, and I don't think that really wavers depending on if you win or lose, especially early in the series. 

“I felt like we did a lot of great things last game -- a little bit sloppy at times, but felt like we did enough to win the game. But credit to them, they stole one. Now we’ve got to respond.”