Avalanche look to keep playing with 'urgency,' eliminate Wild in Game 5

DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche returned home feeling optimistic about their chances of closing out the Minnesota Wild in Game 5 of the Western Conference Second Round at Ball Arena on Wednesday (HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC).

Colorado holds a 3-1 lead in the best-of-7 series and are one win from advancing to the conference final after a 5-2 victory at Minnesota in Game 4 on Monday. The Avalanche are 4-0 at home in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, winning Games 1 and 2 here against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round and the Wild in this round.

"We feel as though our game plan last night and how we played is super repeatable," forward Logan O'Connor said. "Especially when you come home, the ability to feed off our fans, which have been amazing all year for us, have the last change, quick reset here with the day off today and try to get back after it tomorrow.

"The main message is the urgency, the competitiveness, the game plan, the structure are all repeatable for our group."

Colorado got the split it was hoping for in Minnesota, responding from a 5-1 loss in Game 3 on Saturday. But the Avalanche know they're likely facing their toughest test yet Wednesday.

"It's hard to close teams out; they get desperate," defenseman Brett Kulak said. "It's do-or-die now for them. They know what's at stake. You're going to expect their best. Every player up and down the lineup will give everything they've got, leave everything on the ice. Those are hard games to win in any situation, especially when you have a team on the ropes and you're hoping to finish them off. It's tough to do.

"We're excited, though. We're excited for the opportunity. We have a good team. To build off the momentum yesterday, it's nice we don't have to wait a few days here now to get back to it. The one day off in between is going to be good for us."

The Avalanche will also see if the day off helps two of their injured players. Artturi Lehkonen and Sam Malinski were late scratches for Game 4, the forward and defenseman each out with an upper-body injury. Lehkonen usually plays left wing on the top line with center Nathan MacKinnon and right wing Martin Necas; Malinski plays with Kulak on the second defense pair.

Colorado coach Jared Bednar said Lehkonen and Malinski "got dinged up the game before" and are day to day.

"Obviously, we're not doing a lot today besides flying back, so, we'll see how both those guys present tomorrow and then just make decisions from there," Bednar said.

"That was an important game. You're up 2-0 in the series, then you lose the first one in their building. We had to raise the level of urgency that we played with from the drop of the puck, and I thought we did that. And we're going to have to try and even go up another level tomorrow in a closeout game."