Following their 3-0 victory over the Dallas Stars Wednesday night, the Colorado Avalanche spent their Thanksgiving morning with a fun-oriented practice. Head coach Jared Bednar turned everything into a competition, from odd-man rushes to shooting into an empty net with different conditions applied to the players.

It was a practice filled with laughter and cheers as the team was relaxed on and off the ice, spending their time in the locker room chattering about the NFL game on the TV while packing up their gear as they prepared to leave for Minnesota. One of the more laid back players was defenseman Nikita Zadorov, who was fresh off a strong performance against the Stars last night.

“I think it’s been good,” Zadorov said of his return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for multiple games. “Our team winning is the most important thing. It’s always fun to put up a good game and get more confident. Our d core was pretty decent the last four or five games and that’s probably why we’re winning.”

As the lineup continues to fluctuate due to ineffectiveness and injury, the group continues to work to find a cohesiveness as a unit they feel they have lacked most of this season.

“We talk a lot, we chatter,” Zadorov explained. “We talk to the coaches about everything, if it’s more time we need to get more confident on the ice together, there’s lots of communication out there about that.”

One of the biggest changes to the lineup came with the addition of Sam Girard to the blueline in the Matt Duchene trade. The former Nashville Predator has shown flashes of brilliance, especially with the puck, and his confidence at just 19-years-old has been contagious among the defensemen.

“Well when you see [Girard], what he’s doing with the puck, have you seen that?” Zadorov asked while laughing. “When you see all that crazy stuff, it brings you confidence. When you see that it’s like ‘If he can do that, I can do that’ and you go out and play and try the same thing. We’re kind of pushing each other, you know? Like some of us make a great play, we all cheer for it and then go out there and try to do the same thing.”

The increased skill level Girard has brought to the defense has helped changed the group’s dynamic as the rotation next to top defenseman Erik Johnson has largely come to a halt. For now, it’s Girard’s spot and the rest of the defense is benefitting from his presence.

“Everyone saw his skill, it’s great,” Zadorov said. “We had size before, we had physicality and it was hard to play against us for the forwards but we didn’t have the jump. We had [Tyson Barrie] only pretty much with the jump like that to make those plays. He’s a great addition and whatever he’s doing with the puck, it’s unreal.”

As the team heads north to take on the Wild for a Friday matinee, they know they need to take some of their home swagger, where they’re 7-1-1, and apply it to their mental approach on the road, where they currently sit 4-7-0. Zadorov readily admits there’s plenty of room for improvement from this young team.

“It has to be better,” Zadorov said, suddenly serious. “We’re a pretty good team at home and we were opposite last year, pretty good on the road. We just need to focus. It’s not a big deal. We have many nights off and great hotels. It does have to be different playing other teams in tough buildings. It’s the NHL, you have to be ready for that. We have to go up there and play hard, play like we do at home, bring the same game as we did yesterday, and play it tomorrow.”

The lineup for tomorrow’s game against the Wild is still being determined but the Avalanche did confirm goaltender Jonathan Bernier, fresh off a 28-save shutout against Dallas, will get the start again in net as Semyon Varlamov continues to recover from an illness. Andrew Hammond is expected to be his backup.