Avs Ready to Raise Intensity as Playoffs Begin

Now that the Stanley Cup Qualifiers are in the books and the 16-team Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to start on Tuesday, the Colorado Avalanche is preparing to officially begin its postseason run that has elimination consequences to it.

The Avs played three games in the qualifiers and went 2-0-1 to finish the round robin as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, and their first series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin on Wednesday against the No. 7 seed Arizona Coyotes.

Colorado had a strong approach to the round-robin games with the top seed on the line, and the level of passion in the contests was high for the players. The team expects that to ramp up even more as the number of teams remaining in the postseason begins to dwindle down.

"I liked our intensity through [the round robin], I thought it got better a little bit as it went on. I think it's hard to simulate playoffs, it really is," said head coach Jared Bednar. "It is why we tried to give our team something tangible to go after and have a short-term goal and that was winning the west and getting home-ice advantage. It kept us hungry, it kept us raising our intensity and trying to do the right things and play the right way. That is the beauty of having a short-term goal like that and being in the mix, it was something that we wanted to accomplish, and we fell a little bit short. We didn't play our best game against Vegas the other night--it wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good or maybe didn't meet the expectations that we would have liked.

"But, now it's different. It's playoff time. To me, you can log the stats wherever you want in the round robin, it still for us was regular season. It was still trying to accomplish the goal that we set forth in training camp and now it's done. Our intensity will have to go up, our competitiveness will have to go up. I am happy with where it's been but it's going to get harder and harder as you play on. Every game is going to get tougher and tougher from here on out."

Since Colorado opened its Phase 3 Training camp on July 13, Bednar and his staff have placed an emphasis on ramping up his team's compete level to make sure they are prepared to play their most competitive hockey of the year.

"We had one exhibition and a little bit of training camp so we didn't have a ton of games to get tuned up and dialed in so I think there is a bit of a feeling out process to start maybe for some teams, but we felt really good as a group I think," veteran defenseman Erik Johnson said of the squad. "Our execution was really, really good. Probably save for the last game, our intensity was good. I think guys are really ready to play. I still think it will pick up a little bit. Obviously with no fans, you have to create your own energy and your own momentum, the crowd really provides that so you have to create that as a group, but I think it will still pick up a bit and I think that is good for us. We are a fast team; we play fast, and I think that will suit to us."

The Coyotes are a tight-checking team and upset the Nashville Predators in four games during their best-of-five qualifying round. Colorado went 1-1-0 against the desert dogs in the regular season, with the outings occurring on Oct. 12 and Nov. 2.

The teams were scheduled to meet again on March 31, but that matchup never took place due to the season's pause.

"We've had a handful of experiences playing against them in the regular season the last couple years. They are a stingy team, they don't give up a whole lot, but they can also score some goals," said Johnson. "I think they are a four-line team--everyone plays pretty equally. They have some D that can contribute to the offense and their goalie has been playing really, really well. Top to bottom a solid team that we are looking forward to the challenge."

Although the Avs are facing a squad that is efficient at limiting the chances its opposition can create in a game, the Colorado bench boss wants his team to keep its focus on playing to its structure, unrelated to the opponent it faces.

The Avalanche finished the regular season tied for third among all teams in goals (236), ranked fourth in goals-per-game (3.37) and shared the league lead in 5-on-5 tallies (162). At the same time, the team was tied for fifth in NHL by only allowing 190 goals against and finished with a plus-46 goal differential, the best in the Western Conference and third in the NHL.

"I expect our team to play to our identity. We have been doing it all year, it doesn't matter if we are playing a real defensive team [or] a real offensive team, we have an identity, certain things that we talk about all the time," said Bednar. "There is going to have to be a high level of determination because [Arizona], they check, they play the right way; they have a clear-cut identity of their own that they are going to play to I am guessing regardless of opponent, and same thing with us. We are going to play to our strengths and keep doing exactly what we have been doing all year long."

This is Colorado's third straight playoff appearance, which ranks as the third-longest run in franchise history. The Nordiques/Avalanche made 11 straight trips to the postseason from 1994-95 to 2005-06 and Quebec went seven consecutive years from 1980-87. Colorado's .657 points percentage this season was its third highest since relocating to Denver, trailing only the 2000-01 team (.720) and the 2013-14 squad (.683).

After falling in seven games in the second round to the San Jose Sharks last year, the Avs are looking to take advantage of this opportunity and build off if its previous postseason runs.

"I think with experience you feel better and better. I think for everyone in our group, every year you play in the NHL you realize you don't have many chances and for me this feels like my first real chance to win, which really excites me and I think it excites everyone," said Avs forward Nathan MacKinnon. "Obviously, it is not easy to get in this position, we are second in the West and that is kind of where we finished if there wasn't a qualifier and the round robin or whatever for our team. Personally, I feel comfortable. This is my fourth playoffs now and third straight obviously with everyone else, but I feel good and hopefully I can be a key guy in the first round."

The puck is set to drop in Game 1 at 3:30 p.m. MT on Wednesday.