With a chance to advance halfway to the Stanley Cup with a win in Game 5 of their second-round matchup against the Minnesota Wild, the Avalanche have not closed out a playoff series at home since 2008.
They are 0-4 in closeout games in Denver since then.
During the Avalanche’s last Stanley Cup victory four years ago, they won all four rounds on the road and were 0-2 in closeout games at home, losing Game 5s in the second round against St. Louis and the final against Tampa.
Dominant for most of their 5-2 win Monday in St. Paul, Minn., the Avalanche should eliminate the Wild on Wednesday night (8 p.m. ET on Sportsnet, Sportsnet+).
Injured Minnesota players Joel Eriksson Ek and Jonas Brodin are not coming to the rescue, goaltending and special teams have been fine — not the fixable issues that gave the Wild a boost after falling behind 0-2 in the series — and the Avalanche simply look like the better (and deeper) team when on their game.
But they were better than the Blues and Lightning, too, but lost those closeout games at home four years ago.
“The challenge is keeping your focus on the things you need to keep them on, right?” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said after Wednesday’s morning skate. “So I go back to the biggest one for me, St. Louis at home in 2022, and guys are like, ‘We’re in a position to close out a series.’ (But) if you’re not focused on the right things — Tampa, same thing that year — if you’re not focused on the right things and what you need to do to be successful in the moment, then your mind is going to wander at all these other distractions.
“Like right now, we’re in the second round. It’s Game 5. There shouldn’t be a lot of distractions. Our guys are thinking about what we have to do tonight, and that’s exactly the way we want it.”
There are obvious benefits for the Avalanche to win this series in five games. Not only does it give them half of the 16 victories required to win the Stanley Cup, they’ll also qualify for the Western Conference Final in only one more game (nine in total) than it took the soaring Carolina Hurricanes to clinch a spot in the Eastern final.
Extra days to rest and heal are immensely important during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Colorado defenceman Cale Makar, for instance, has been managing a lower-body injury sustained or exacerbated in Game 1 against the Wild. And top-half-of-the-lineup defenceman Sam Malinski and winger Artturi Lehkonen missed Game 4 in Minnesota and are expected to sit out again Wednesday night with what Bednar claims are day-to-day injuries.
“Can’t hurt, in my opinion, because there’s guys that are banged up,” Bednar said of the chance to earn extra rest in the middle of the Stanley Cup marathon. “Everyone playing this time of the year is banged up a little bit, so an extra day or two in some situations can make a big difference. So, yeah, there’s motivation there, for sure.”
Mackenzie Blackwood, who replaced Scott Wedgewood as Colorado’s starter for Game 4, will be back in net opposite Minnesota’s Jesper Wallstedt.
“I think it’s just we have a really good team,” Hynes said of trying to extend the Wild’s season. “We have guys who play hard for each other. Usually when we take the lessons out of a game — there were lots to take last game — usually we come back totally committed to how we need to play. That’s why we’ve been able to be a really good team this year and have responded, regular season, playoffs, no matter the circumstances. We’re expecting it to be no different tonight.”
Despite leading the NHL in wins since 2018, the Avalanche have been past the second round only once during their era of superiority.
“I don’t think anyone’s really thinking like that,” Avalanche winger Ross Colton, who won a Stanley Cup with Tampa in 2021, said. “We’ve just got to come out, dictate the pace now that we’re back home, just play the right way and do our thing. And I think we’ll be fine.”
“People always talk about it’s the hardest one to win,” Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said, “and it is because you’re going to play a desperate team that’s not ready to go home and doesn’t want to go home. But I think for us, if we can repeat our effort from last game and come out with the same sense of urgency and same attention to detail — just kind of relentless pressure — I’d like to see more of that.”
The puck drop for Game 5 is 6:10 p.m. Denver time.
If necessary, Game 6 will be Friday in St. Paul.