Avalanche embrace road start for Round 2 series of Stanley Cup Playoffs
usatsi_23156316_168400956_lowres
Colorado will start the second series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the road but winning in the opponent’s building was not a problem for them in the first round.
“We enjoy starting on the road. I think going back a few years we’ve enjoyed playing playoff games on the road and had you know a lot of success doing it. Obviously I think during the season, the regular season, we didn’t have as much success on the road but we found our game lately later in the season,” Devon Toews said. “We’ve found our game on the road and then playoffs as well. So we enjoy it. It’s a good test. You know you’re playing against a team with a great crowd and everybody’s cheering against you. So it’s kind of fun that way.”
Nathan MacKinnon said the positive side of kicking off Round 2 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas was the ability for the players to get some bonding time in ahead of a tough matchup against the Stars.
Casey Mittelstadt is soaking in his first trip to the postseason. He has intently been gathering information and learning what it takes to get where his team is at and hoping to end up.
“We had about a week at home there so, just practicing and think it’s nice to get on the road and, be with the guys and get yourself ready to go. I think there’s just no distractions on the road. It’s pretty easy to get ready to play. So I think it’s a good way to start.
“Even just plane rides and bus rides and meals, I know it’s little things but I feel like they go a long way — spending time with the guys, especially for me a newer guy. I think we all enjoy being on the road and being together and obviously we’re trying to build the camaraderie and the chemistry to take this thing pretty deep,” the 25-year-old second-line center said.
MacKinnon said the team was “humble” going into the first-round series with the Winnipeg Jets and his linemate Mikko Rantanen said it is trying to maintain that mentality going into the next round.
“We’re once again, we’re humble. We were third in our division. And now we’re, we got past the second and now we’re facing the best team in our conference,” the 27-year-old Finn said. “So I think we’re really humbled. I think we want to keep the same mentality we had against Winnipeg. And because this is a really good, really good team and they just been a really good team in Vegas. So we’re mentally, I think we’re well prepared and humbled.”
The team was high energy at morning skate ahead of Game 1 and head coach Jared Bednar contributed that to the angst of waiting a week to play the next postseason game.
“They’re all prepared now for what to expect from from Dallas, and it’s like time to go so guys have great energy because we’ve been resting and practicing and no one loves to practice at this time of the year — play games and it’s the best part of the game,” Bednar said. “So yeah, I think we’re in a good spot. Now it’s about the mental side of it, getting mentally ready to be engaged. They’ve been doing it every second day and we haven’t so getting back to where we left off in the Winnipeg series and, getting the intensity and urgency back in our game as quickly as we possibly can.”
The puck is scheduled to drop at 7:52 p.m. MT for Game 1.
More Colorado Avalanche articles
‘We’re up for the challenge’: Avalanche confidence high ahead of 2nd round matchup with Stars
Avalanche different from last season’s early playoff exit team
Colorado Avalanche advance to 2nd round after defeating Winnipeg Jets in 5 games