DENVER – Nazem Kadri, who has lived through enough playoff chaos to write a trilogy, was as unbothered as anyone.
As much as a series-opening loss to the Golden Knights stung, the Colorado Avalanche returned to their practice facility Thursday looking more like they misplaced a charging cord than they lost Game 1.
After all, the task at hand is now to do what they do better than anyone else: bounce back.
Case in point: Only once in the last three-and-a-half months have the Avs lost two straight games.
Once.
Mid‑March.
That’s how rare a sustained wobble has been for the Presidents’ Trophy winners.
“I know there's going to be a response, there's no question about it,” said Kadri following an optional skate and not-so-optional video session.
“I think even in the last series, when we lost Game 3 (in Minnesota), we responded in Game 4. I think some people thought the sky was falling then, and we certainly believe we have a process that we stick to, and we're not going to waver from that.”
This is what a team with a track record looks and sounds like – a deep, veteran club that responds to a gut punch with a blink, shrug, and a haymaker.
Given how little adversity his club has faced while going wire to wire atop the league standings, Kadri was asked why he was so confident his club would rebound Friday in Game 2 (8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, Sportsnet and Sportsnet+).
“Well, we're a good team,” he shrugged.
“I think we have full confidence in our capabilities, and I don't think that really wavers depending on if you win or lose, especially early in the series. I felt like we did a lot of great things last game, a little bit sloppy at times, but felt like we did enough to win the game. But credit to them, they stole one. Now we’ve got to respond.”
That’s the theme of the day: Vegas didn’t beat the Avs. Vegas stole one.
Colorado outshot Vegas 38-28 and had ten more high-danger scoring chances (23-13), but simply couldn’t solve game star Carter Hart in a 4-2 shocker Wednesday.
"We missed the net on a couple of our really good ones, which doesn’t help,” said coach Jared Bednar, whose group found the net on fewer than 80 of its shot attempts.
“But I was happy with what we produced. I thought their goalie played well. I think we got into the net-front areas at times in that game for deflections, rebounds, that kind of thing enough.”
“I think we can create more if we execute a little bit better, and I think there's a handful of plays in the game where I felt like we gave them easy scoring chances. I didn't think we'd made them earn their chances that were the difference-makers in the game.”
Translation: Colorado beat Colorado. And that almost never happens twice in a row.
Especially in an arena where the Avs have gone 31-10-6 this season.
Bednar said after the game it was his team’s “history” that made him believe Game 2 would be better — especially after a video breakdown showed the boys where they can improve.
In essence, Bednar said the staff showed players everything — the good, the bad, the repeatable, the correctable — because that’s how they’ve operated all year.
Expectations are high, and if one guy makes a mistake, someone else will face the same situation later. The Avs reviewed their errors, recognized most were self‑inflicted and fixable, added tactical tweaks, reinforced the positives and mentally reset for Friday.
That’s not panic. That’s the process Kadri referred to.
“Once you see it on film, I think it gives you a bit of a different perspective,” said Kadri.
“We understand the things we’ve got to do. Offensively, I think we dominated the game, and defensively, I think we’ve got to tighten up some things, which we will.”
Easier said than done if Cale Makar misses his second straight game. Makar skated with the team Thursday morning, but the team provided no update on his status for Game 2.
Bednar said he liked his lines better in the third period when he promoted Artturi Lehkonen to Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog’s top trio. It put Martin Necas with Brock Nelson and Valeri Nichushkin, whose nifty redirect got the Avs on the board in the third.
You can bet Kadri will continue to get bumped into the top six, as happened late in Game 1.
“I know our team, and I know our goals, and I know the mindset of our group, so it's not like I'm going in there and giving some speech that's going to turn the series around, or get it going in the right direction,” said Bednar, who seemed comfortable enough to start Scott Wedgewood again.
“It's pretty pointed on what we need to do and what we think we can do. The motivation to play is there for all of our guys. It's about us going and trying to be the best version of ourselves that we could be, because we weren't last night. We still had a chance in that hockey game, and we feel like we can be better than that.”
Game 2 isn’t a must‑win. It’s a must‑respond.
And these Avs always do.
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