Sure, the National Hockey League’s best team dusted the Los Angeles Kings in four games in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But since the season began, and especially since Quinn Hughes moved into the Central Division in December, the Avalanche have known that their playoff path becomes significantly harder in Round 2.
Game 2 is here Tuesday before the series goes on sabbatical for three days before resuming Saturday in St. Paul, Minn.
“I think it’s more mental than physical,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said after Sunday’s morning skate about ramping up for Round 2 intensity a full week after eliminating the Kings. “Now the challenge, coming back tonight – we’re a well-conditioned team; I trust our guys – but it’s about getting engaged mentally and getting engaged physically.
“They’re just coming off a hard-fought series. Easier for them to just kind of keep it going, and we’ve got to get back into it. So it’s got to happen early. You’ve got to hit and be hit early in the game, and you’ve got to get that emotional level … intensity where it needs to be.”
The Wild eliminated another top-six team when it finished off the Dallas Stars in six games with a 5-2 win on Thursday.
For months, Colorado knew this series was coming. The Avalanche just didn’t know whether their heavyweight opponent would be the Stars or Wild. Third in the Central Division with 104 points after sputtering a little in the final month of the regular season, the Wild dominated the 112-point Stars at five-on-five in Round 1.
In a golden age for exciting 20-something defencemen in the NHL, Hughes and the Avalanche’s Cale Makar have come to define the modern era for their position and are regarded as the best two blue-liners in the game. They have been rivals since Makar edged Hughes in Calder Trophy balloting when they were rookies in 2019-20.
Makar has since won a pair of Norris Trophies, Hughes one. Makar won a Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2022. After a mid-season trade from the Vancouver Canucks, Hughes hopes to win his first with Minnesota.
Hughes won an Olympic gold medal with Team USA in February, beating Makar and Team Canada in the final.
“He’s ultra competitive,” Hughes, 26, said of his 27-year-old rival. “He’s always attacking. He’s a great goal scorer — can really score and shoot the puck. He’s got great hockey sense, can skate, so he’s obviously going to be a problem (in this series). And I know he’s going to try to bring his best and, you know, we’ll try to do that, too.”
Since entering the NHL together – each got a smattering of games at the end of the 2018-19 season – Makar leads all defencemen in scoring with 136 goals and 507 points in 470 regular-season games, while Hughes is second with 482 points in 502 games. Nashville Predator defenceman Roman Josi is third at 431 points.
Former Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox of the New York Rangers was also a rookie in 2019-20, while Buffalo Sabre Rasmus Dahlen and Dallas’ Miro Heiskanen were NHL sophomores.
“It’s pretty cool to have been able to come in with him,” Hughes said of Makar. “He’s a year older, but pretty much the same age. There’s so many great defencemen in the league right now, honestly. And, you know, you want to play the best and we have that opportunity. . . this series with Colorado. They’ve got a great team, we’ve got a great team, and I’m just looking forward to the matchup.”
Both teams are relatively healthy, which is to say all but a couple of key players will be active tonight. The Wild are missing top centre Joel Eriksson Ek and shutdown defenceman Jonas Brodin, while rugged Josh Manson is out for the Avalanche. Colorado is also without winger Joel Kiviranta.
The starting goalies are Scott Wedgewood for Colorado and Jesper Wallstedt for Minnesota. Although Avalanche-Wild was a potential matchup when the season began, not many would have guessed Wedgewood and Wallstedt would be the starters. They have outperformed Mackenzie Blackwood and Filip Gustavsson, respectively.
“I think it’s a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league, right?” Bednar told reporters. “It’s why there’s changes, adaptations to lineups. It’s why. . . when you notice a player’s playing well, you get him out on the ice more. When a guy’s struggling, you may take him out of the lineup and insert someone else if they can provide something.
“If you’ve got a goalie that’s playing well, you’re going to keep riding him until he’s not. And then if the next guy gets hot, then he’s taking over. It’s about winning every night and trying to make the right decisions for your team and just helping them get to that finishing point as best you can.”
Minnesota forwards Marcus and Nick Foligno will open Round 2 in the arena where they watched from the stands, and then inside the Colorado dressing room, when the Avalanche hoisted the Stanley Cup in 2001.
Their dad, Mike Foligno, was Colorado’s minor-league coach back then. When the Hershey Bears were eliminated from the American League playoffs, the senior Foligno and several of his players joined the Avalanche contingent for the Cup run. Mike ran practices for the “black aces,” the extra skaters.
Marcus and Nick, then 9 and 13, and their mom, Janice, were invited to Denver to watch Game 7 as the Avalanche defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-1.
“It was so special,” Nick, 38, recalled Sunday. “It was so cool. Marcus’ favourite player was Adam Deadmarsh, I think, but mine was Peter Forsberg. I remember being in the room when they won. I was actually sitting in the room and the guys are going nuts and the champagne’s going. The parade, I remember as well. Honestly, it was really cool for me to see, like, what the tip of the mountain looks like when you get to the top.
“As a young kid to see that, it was like, ‘Wow, I want that to be me one day.’ I want that so badly for myself and to share it with my brother.”