MacKinnon Excited to Get Playoffs Started

The Colorado Avalanche faced an uphill battle in the final week of the season in its quest to secure home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs and the West Division title. To accomplish those goals, the Avs needed to win each of their last five games of the regular season or get some help with the Vegas Golden Knights losing a couple.
The Knights didn't really oblige, so the Avalanche had to do the work on its own and did just that to achieve its regular-season goal.
Colorado finished the main campaign on a five-game winning streak, which featured two back-to-back sweeps of the Los Angeles Kings and a win in Vegas. The Avs also did so without the services of Nathan MacKinnon, who missed four of final five regular-season games with two separate lower-body injuries.

"They played great. It was great to watch that," said MacKinnon of watching his teammates keep winning while he was out. "The Kings are a stingy team, and we stuck with it, which is great. We didn't get impatient. Guys played great on both sides of the puck, and it looks like everyone is feeling great heading into playoffs."
MacKinnon's only game he did appear in during that time came last Monday in the victory against the Golden Knights where he saw 20:28 of ice time. He ended up finishing second on the team in scoring this year with 65 points, recording 20 goals and 45 assists in 48 regular-season outings.
MacKinnon has skated the past two days with Colorado, and head coach Jared Bednar said on Saturday that he expects the center to play in Game 1 of the Round 1 series versus the St. Louis Blues on Monday. MacKinnon participated in the optional skate on Saturday and returned to a line with his usual wingers, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, for Sunday's session.

"I want to play every game. Obviously [needed to] take care of some little things," MacKinnon said of sitting out those four contests. "It wasn't anything major, I just wanted to be healthy come Game 1. Got some rest and some good treatment, and I'm feeling good."
Having MacKinnon back in the fold, as well as left wing Brandon Saad--who had missed the last 11 games with a lower-body injury--only adds to the Avalanche's offense ad experience heading into the matchup against the Blues.
"I'm proud of the way the guys have worked this year," said Landeskog. "We got [313] man games lost to injury and two COVID breaks and losing key guys at different times of the season… We found a way to put ourselves in this position, so we're excited obviously that we're healthy now and a lot of guys are coming back, but it's not going to change much for us. We know what the goal is, and we know what we have to do when we step on the ice. Having said that, it's exciting having guys back in the lineup."
For MacKinnon, playing in the NHL's second season and with a chance to win the Stanley Cup makes this the best time of the year and is rejuvenating for him.
"Every year, it feels like we're a little closer, getting better and better as a team, the team that [general manager Joe Sakic] has put together obviously," MacKinnon said. "I thought last year was the first year that we had a really good chance in the bubble, and this year feels the same. Obviously, that doesn't mean anything, we're playing an amazing team. All we have to do is focus on Game 1 and hopefully get a win tomorrow night and keep rolling from there."

RARE FULL-TEAM PRACTICE

The Avalanche practiced for roughly 45 minutes at Ball Arena late Sunday morning, marking the first full-team practice in three weeks and only the second in nine weeks. Colorado last had a regular practice session on April 21 following a pause to its season from the league's COVID-19 protocol.
Except for their seven-day break in action from April 15-21 due to quarantine requirements, the Avs have played at least every other day since the NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe game on Feb. 20.
"There hasn't been a whole lot of practices all year really. It's been morning skates and play, and then optional skates and some days off," said Landeskog of the rarity of full-team sessions. "A little bit different and some of the drills that we were doing out there today are drills that we do every single practice during a normal season, so you get to know them pretty well, but today we had to go over a few of them just to refresh our minds. It's been kind of the cool thing about this season, it's been different scheduling wise.
"We've had to play it by ear and [head coach Jared Bednar] has done a good job, the coaching staff has done a good job of making sure we get the rest. So it's been good having a couple of days off the ice and a good practice today. We'll be ready to go tomorrow."

There will likely just be just optional practices for the remainder of the playoffs for Colorado to ensure that the players are rested and recovered for the next game. Only if the schedule allows a few days between contests would the Avs likely hold a full-team session.
At Sunday's practice, MacKinnon, Saad and Bowen Byram all skated for the second straight day after missing time with injuries and were full participants. Colorado started with 5-on-5 rush and zone drills before closing the day with special-teams work.

ONE TIMERS

Nathan MacKinnon on if playing St. Louis eight times during the regular season is an advantage heading into the series: "They know us too, so I think it's a wash. Playoffs are a different season, brand new. Obviously, we have a familiarity with them, but they could probably say the same, so just excited to get going. It kind of just gives you a breath of fresh air and rejuvenated a little bit. It was a bit of a grind of a year with all of these COVID stops and whatever, I think every team had to go through something. Excited to get rolling here, things feel a little more back to normal around the room, you know living your life, so it's fun to be a part of the playoffs right now."
Gabriel Landeskog on his linemates Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen: "I think it starts with hard work with all three of us. All three of us want to be a difference-maker and drive our team and drive the play. Obviously, you have top-end talent in both Nate and Mikko. Nate, I think it goes without saying that he's very dangerous every time he steps on the ice and makes the defensemen back off and they have to respect that speed. Mikko, I don't know how, but I think he's still not getting the love that he deserves around the league and around the hockey world. He's making plays every single night, down low in the O-zone, strong on the puck, he is a really great passer."