"It's about the process and using the regular season to develop the habits that we need to be successful come playoff time," Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said following the win over Carolina. "We'll win a game that we don't play that well in or that we don't defend that well in. Say it's 5-4 or whatever the score is, our guys will be in the room afterwards and they'll be a little bit disappointed in our game. I like that. It shows that we're raising the bar and setting a higher standard than in years past. Not that we didn't try to do that in years past, but I just think it's the growth of our team and leadership."
And after three-straight seasons of being eliminated in the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Avalanche haven't sugarcoated the disappointment. Instead, they've used the sting and stun of defeat as the ultimate motivator for this season.
"You have to keep working at it," Bednar said. "We've had a little bit of heartache. I think that helps drive home the points. We've been disappointed in the playoffs for a couple of years now for a couple of different reasons. Last year was the one that really stung for me because it was about our play. We didn't have any injuries. We didn't have anything going on. It was our play that wasn't good enough at the most important time of the year."
Saturday night's performance was a prime example of the emanating tenacity of this Colorado squad. Against the Hurricanes, who boast a 48-20-8 record and 104 points tied with Toronto for the second most in the Eastern Conference and third most in the league, the Avalanche put on a full-team clinic as they became the first team since the 1995-96 season to record nine or more games with seven or more goals scored. There was some vengeance on Colorado's part after being shut out 2-0 - for the first and only time this season - by Carolina on March 10.
So, in Saturday's redemption game, the Avalanche received scoring from the entirety of their lineup - including from Ben Meyers, who scored in his NHL debut - dominated the special teams battle with a 2-for-5 execution on the power play against Carolina's top-ranked penalty kill, benefited from Darcy Kuemper's sharp netminding and 29-save performance, all while never allowing the Hurricanes to trim their deficit any closer than by a two-goal margin.
"When they scored those couple of goals to bring it back 4-2, we felt our game was good," Bednar said as he explained an instance where Nathan MacKinnon - who scored twice in the win and now has nine goals in his last six games - made a comment to keep the bench calm and composed, despite the push from Carolina.