Colorado’s Bednar on verge of making history with final win
Colorado coach Jared Bednar entered this Stanley Cup final four wins shy of becoming hockey’s first head coach to win the Kelly Cup, the Calder Cup and the Stanley Cup.
“Yeah, well, I mean, my focus is on this cup. I want to add it, I want our team to finish the job,” Bednar said as he primed the Colorado Avalanche to face the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning in a star-studded Stanley Cup final.
Bednar isn’t necessarily one to go down memory lane, not when there’s a wide-open highway to hockey heaven ahead.
He does allow, however, that the philosophies that propelled him to titles in the ECHL and American Hockey League are the same ones he has used to navigate his way from a 48-point season in 201617 to the cusp of Colorado’s first championship in 21 years.
“What’s been consistent? Just my approach to the game and focus on the process of what I feel we need to do to be successful,” he said.
Third time’s a charm
WhileTampa Bay’s Pat Maroon, who won with St. Louis in 2019, goes for a fourth consecutive championship, firstyear teammate Corey Perry is in a very different position. Perry is the final for a third year in a row with three different teams after losing to Tampa Bay with Dallas in 2020 and Montreal in 2021.
Perry is the first player since Marian Hossa (2008 Penguins, 2009 Red Wings and 2010 Blackhawks) to do that.
Hossa lost the first two before winning with Chicago.
“It has been a strange road,” Perry said. “Hopefully the third time’s the charm.”
Another chance
Tampa Bay’s core of Steven Stamkos, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat and Alex Killorn is in the final for the fourth time since 2015. The Lightning reached at least the East final six times in that span.
Having been here before and experienced the thrill of winning, Stamkos said he and his teammates consciously talk about not wasting another opportunity to hoist the Cup.
“Our group is too good to not give ourselves a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup, and we’ve shown that, especially this year,” he said. “We’ve been down a couple situations. We never panicked. We stick to what makes us successful, and I’m proud of that effort and here we are.”
Makar’s mark
Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar does hockey like nobody else. At age 23, his skating, vision, passing, and shooting are beyond elite. They are supernatural.
Take it from the Great One, Wayne Gretzky.
“The closest player we’ve ever seen offensively and defensively that can make an impact on the game that much — probably Bobby Orr,” Gretzky said of Makar on TNT. “We’ve got to go all the way back to Bobby Orr.”
Orr, the legendary defenseman, ranks No. 1 in all-time NHL postseason points-pergame among blueliners at 1.24. Makar, who tied an Avalanche record, regardless of position, with five points in Game 4 against Edmonton in the Western Conference finals, is second at 1.08.