Avs tired of waiting while St. Louis recovers from six-game series
The advantage of sweeping a Stanley Cup playoff series is rest and recovery for the next one and potentially open against a tired opponent. The Avalanche appeared set to have those advantages before five of the NHL’s eight first-round series went to Game 7s.
When Colorado finally opens the Western Conference semifinal series against St. Louis on Tuesday or Wednesday, the Blues figure to be fully recovered from their firstround series against Minnesota. The Blues finished off the Wild in six games on Thursday.
The Avs, who compiled their sweep over Nashville on May 9, will have more than a week off between games.
“Tired of waiting,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said after Sunday’s practice at Ball Arena. “We needed the time to get it a couple of days for rest and once we found out that it was St. Louis and we needed a few days to prepare as coaches before we start presenting stuff to our players to get organized. But now that we’ve had those days, we’re ready to go.”
Make that more than ready.
“Now we’re just giving them rest,” Bednar said of the Blues, who practiced in St. Louis on Monday. “I think the advantage of closing out a series early is to be able to get rest and then play a tired team. That doesn’t seem like it’s going to be the case. So it is what it is. Both teams will be hungry and champing at the bit, rested and refreshed. So should be a good series.”
The Avs will again practice on Monday at Ball Arena while the Blues skate in St. Louis before traveling to Denver. Bednar led his team through a litany of drills on Sunday, including small-ice 1-on-1 and 2-on-2 battles. He called it a “more extensive version of what we do in the regular season with pre-scout.”
“It’s just day-by-day for us at this point,” Avs defenseman Devon Toews said. “We want to play soon, hopefully. But we’re just trying to focus on dayto-day, doing what we need to do to prepare for St. Louis at this point.”
“Just got to stay sharp every day,” added defensive partner Cale Makar.
Norris partners. Makar was asked about his Norris Trophy candidacy and that winning the league’s best defenseman award could partly stem from him playing with Toews, who will also get Norris votes.
“I’m completely fine with it hurting my chances if I get to play with this guy,” said Makar, who was sitting beside Toews. “Taser’s obviously an incredible player. He could easily be up there for the award as well. It’s not something that’s really on my mind right now. But yeah, when you get to play with a guy like this every night, you don’t take it for granted, that’s for sure.”
Footnote. Avalanche left wing and team captain Gabe Landeskog did not practice on Sunday, along with veteran defenseman Erik Johnson. Bednar said they both took maintenance days.