As the first National League team to qualify for the second round of the playoffs, the Colorado Avalanche have made full use of their days off and are ready to take on the St. Louis Blues.
By the time they hit the ball arena’s rink for Tuesday’s first game, it will be eight days since head coach Jared Bednar’s men’s last round game, which defeated the Nashville Predators. The excitement is very present in the locker room of those who finished the regular season in first place in the Western Conference.
“I’m sick of waiting,” Bednar admitted during his Sunday press conference. It took us a few days to rest, and once we knew St. Louis were our next opponents, it took us, the coaches, a few days to come up with a plan and present it to the players. We are ready.”
“We had some good practices,” Nathan MacKinnon noted in his meeting with the media on Monday. Everyone is ready and focused. It’s good to see that everyone is on the same wavelength. I’m looking forward to playing.”
Contrary to popular belief, the skaters on the Denver-playing team don’t see that long game-free time as a rust to get rid of in the first few minutes of the first game, but as a major asset.
“It was good to have a few days off to rest our body but also our mind to be able to switch off completely,” said Gabriel Landeskog. Quiet is a plus at this time of year. Even the blues ended their streak [contre le Wild du Minnesota] in six games and they get about five days off. I do not think so [au concept de la rouille après un trop long congé]I think that’s a good thing, especially when you’re going through a long, hard stretch like this.
Valuable time for Kuemper
Nobody will have enjoyed the days off like goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper. On an accidental play in the third game against the “Preds,” the goaltender saw the blade of Ryan Johansen’s racquet slip through the mesh of his mask and reach him at eye level.
Not only had he left the encounter, but he also missed the fourth duel, his eyesight severely reduced due to swelling.
“[Mon oeil] I’m fine, I can see it now,” he said, smiling.
“I didn’t understand what happened until I saw the recovery. It was so quick. It’s always scary when your eyes are affected, but I was lucky it wasn’t worse.
“Personally, it was good to have all this time to heal from the injury and get my rhythm back.”
The masked man will look to build on his success, having won 2-0-0 before the incident with 1.63 goals against average and 0.934 percent in saves.