"With game conditioning, there's things you just can't replicate in a practice that happen in a game," Francis said after a practice last week. "The intensity is higher in a game, you're battling all-out against opposition. It is more physically demanding."
Head coach Dave Hakstol and his coaching staff took multiple measures to simulate game action, including encouraging teammate-on-teammate puck battles and more physical play than typical during regular-season practices.
Each workout ended with skating drills intended to keep lungs and minds in game frame. One example: Two players sprint-skate nearly rink length, then both stop at a blue line. One continues at full speed the opposite direction, joined by a fresh teammate who creates a new race for the player on his second length. Nobody dogged it.
The question for Francis, Hakstol and fans alike is, can the Kraken can keep up and rejoin game-level intensity against Colorado, which has righted its Stanley Cup-contender direction after a sluggish early season of its own?
The answer will come in sections:
"As players, you are creatures of habit, you want to get into a routine or rhythm," said Francis, when asked to ponder how the two long breaks from games might have affected him during his Hall of Fame playing days. "You want to have a mindset, this is gameday and this is what I need to do to get ready."
The reset starts Monday.
