Avs Have Rare Full-Team Practice While Awaiting Round 2 Opponent

There is still uncertainty regarding the Colorado Avalanche's Round 2 opponent and when its next series will begin, but the Avs are using the time to their advantage and had a rare full-team practice on Wednesday.
In the condensed 2020-21 regular season, Colorado played essentially every other day and the schedule did not allow for the squad to get very many skates in as a group outside of quick morning sessions on game days.
Head coach Jared Bednar said on Tuesday that he wants the team to have a couple of full practices before the puck drops in the second round, but the players are all getting what they need individually to be prepared for the start of the next best-of-seven series.

"We have a pretty good plan going forward here. We're touching a little bit on when we are going to play and what happens, but we have a good plan," said forward Andre Burakovsky. "We got to practice [today], and we have ice every day if you want it. Right now, it's just a matter of what you feel like is the best for you. If you feel like going out onto the ice is the best, it's going to help you be successful in the upcoming games, then do that. But, if you feel like doing other stuff, then do that. I think every individual is different so do whatever it takes to get prepared."
The Avs will face the winner of the Minnesota Wild-Vegas Golden Knights series, which the Knights lead 3-2. The clubs are meeting in the sixth game of their best-of-seven set on Wednesday evening in St. Paul.
Though Colorado faced both the Wild and Golden Knights eight times apiece in the regular season and is very familiar with each club, the Avs are watching their next possible foes closely as they battle it out.
"I watch it, I think it's good to watch," said Burakovsky. "We're going to play either of those teams, so it's good to see what kind of style they're playing now in the playoffs and where you can expose them and where I can find success against both those teams.
"I'm not really a huge fan of watching hockey during the regular season, but in playoffs I think it's a lot of fun to watch, so I'm watching."

BYRAM BACK WITH GROUP

Rookie defenseman Bowen Byram was with the team for practice on Wednesday, something he has also been doing when there are full-group skates since the start of the postseason. He hasn't played since March 25 when he suffered an upper-body injury against Vegas.
"It's definitely been a windy road to where I am now, but I'm just happy to be feeling 100 percent again," said the young rear guard. "It's definitely a tough thing to go through and it was frustrating me, being out for so long, but now just being back, being around the guys, being on the ice with them again, you just really appreciate that. Definitely thankful for feeling good again, feeling healthy, and I'm just looking forward to the playoffs here and hopefully the boys can keep going."
His most recent ailment was his second upper-body injury of the season as he was also out for nine games in the beginning of March. After making his NHL debut at the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 21, Byram skated in a total of 19 games this campaign and finished with two assists and a plus-1 rating.
"It's been tough, it's a long time away from the game, something I've been around my whole life. I've never really had an injury that's kept me out for that long before, so it's definitely something new to me, but I just tried to keep a good attitude," he said. "I couldn't change what happened or anything, so I was just trying to stay focused, doing everything I could to make me feel better, make me progress. I'm really happy where I'm at now."

CAPACITY INCREASE AT BALL ARENA

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Kroenke Sports & Entertainment announced on Wednesday morning that Ball Arena has received approval from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment to increase capacity for Avs games effective with the next home playoff contests.
The venue was previously approved to host 7,750 fans but will now be able to accomodate 10,500 fans per game, which is 57.3 percent of overall venue capacity.
Playoff ticket priority will be given to Avalanche ticket plan holders and partners.
Fans can sign up for the Limited Ticket Release Wait List to receive an advance notice on tickets as they become available for purchase.

PRACTICE LINE COMBINATIONS

Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
95 Andre Burakovsky - 37 J.T. Compher - 72 Joonas Donskoi
20 Brandon Saad - 17 Tyson Jost - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
34 Carl Soderberg - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 75 Sampo Ranta
91 Nazem Kadri - 44 Kiefer Sherwood
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 27 Ryan Graves
24 Patrik Nemeth - 22 Conor Timmins
4 Bowen Byram - 34 Jacob MacDonald
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
40 Devan Dubnyk
35 Jonas Johansson

QUOTABLES

Alex Newhook on how he is feeling after not finishing Game 4 versus St. Louis: "I'm feeling better every day. It's just a maintenance day (on Wednesday) and we have some time off, we're lucky in that aspect so trying to use that time to our advantage and clear everything up."
Bowen Byram on the past 12 months: "It's definitely a lot different than anything anybody's experienced before. It's been a really weird year, feels like the hockey season has kind of been 12 months of the year just because you don't know when anything's going to start or stop, or what's going to happen. I think the biggest thing for me is just being grateful to be able to play hockey. Throughout the pandemic, there's a lot of people that weren't able to do what they loved, so to be able to still have my job here with the Avalanche and everything and be able to compete in the World Juniors, it's definitely been tough, but also you got to look at the positive side and how grateful we are to be playing hockey right now. It's been a really cool experience to be honest with you. The Edmonton bubble in the playoffs, getting to experience playoff hockey for the first time in the NHL, and then competing at the World Juniors and then now in my first pro season in the NHL, which I don't think has gone quite the way I would've liked it to, but you just got to kind of roll with the punches now and I'm just focused on the playoffs."
Andre Burakovsky on getting ready for Round 2: "It was a tough first series against [St. Louis]. No matter what, we're going to have to come out and be prepared. It doesn't really matter [who it is]. We got to focus on ourselves, and we got to bring our best to every game and if we do, we have a good chance."