How speedy Avalanche won Stanley Cup
Playing hockey on fast forward, the Colorado Avalanche blazed their way to the Stanley Cup championship with a mix of speed and high-end skill that needed only a defined focus to get over the top.
There was never any denying a team featuring Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen has enough talent to win. But after four consecutive early playoff exits, the Avalanche authored a different ending and knocked off the back -to- back defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning by concentrating on something simple: winning each 5-minute burst at a time.
“They never thought
ahead — they just prepared every day and just focused on that,” general manager Joe Sakic said. “This group, it was a great group. They believed in each other all year and really stuck together
and never let anything faze them, really. If they had a bad game, they got right up the next day ready to be better.”
Coach Jared Bednar, in his sixth season behind the bench, is behind that strategy of breaking games down into 5-minute increments. It’s a lesson he learned from the playoff disappointments and one that served as Colorado’s internal mantra way more than the marketing slogan, “Find a way.”
“We have a good five minutes and we’re moving on to the next,” Bednar said. “It just helps guys stay focused and in the moment and committed to what you’re trying to do.”
Even before the final against Tampa Bay, Bednar praised his team for buying into that philosophy, and players acknowledged echoing it on the bench during games. The chatter became a soundtrack to the Avalanche cruising through the playoffs with 16 wins in 20 games.