Jonathan Bernier knows firsthand how underdogs can win in NHL playoffs

CENTENNIAL – They started the season as 150-1 underdogs to win a Stanley Cup, at least according to the wiseguys in Las Vegas. As of Monday, the oddsmakers had moved them up to 33-1 to win a Cup. The Nashville Predators, though, are 15-4 to win it all, the best odds given any NHL team.

So, the Avalanche has no illusions about the challenge ahead. For the second time in team history, the Avs are starting a playoff series as the last seed in the Western Conference, playing a team that won the Presidents’ Trophy with 117 points and went to a sixth game of the Stanley Cup Finals last spring.

But, oh yeah, the Predators were the 16th-seeded team in the 16-team playoffs last spring. Stuff can happen in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Avs goalie Jonathan Bernier knows this only too well.

“If you want to get further, you have to beat the best teams. We’re starting with the best team,” Bernier said. “I played against them last year and they’re a great team and it’s a very tough building. I’ll try to share that with the guys, that it’s very loud. You don’t think that Nashville would be tough play in, but in my opinion it’s probably the toughest building to play in.”

Few Avs fans probably realize this, but Bernier actually started two playoff games last year against Nashville, in the Western Conference finals for the Anaheim Ducks. He was the losing goalie in both, including a Game 6 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena in which he allowed four goals on 16 shots in a 6-3 loss.

“We’ve just got to go game by game. There’s a lot of young guys in this group, and we’re the underdog. The only thing we can do is just go out and work hard,” said Bernier, who practiced Monday. ”

Bernier also knows as well as anyone that underdogs can and do win in the NHL playoffs. He was a member of the 2011-12 Los Angeles Kings team that got into the Western Conference postseason as the No. 8 team – just like the Avs now – and won a Stanley Cup.

“If you work hard for 60 minutes, you usually get paid,” Bernier said.

NOTEBOOK

• Nathan MacKinnon, J.T. Compher and Blake Comeau all were given the day off from practice. Coach Jared Bednar, however, said there was nothing more to it than that – just giving them some rest.
• Bernier is still wearing a generic white mask at practice, though he wears a painted one for games.
• The Avs will practice again Tuesday at Family Sports Center, but will leave for Nashville later that day. They will practice at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Bridgestone Arena.
• The Predators have won the last 10 meetings with the Avalanche. The Avs last beat the Predators on March 28, 2016.
• Here’s what Predators coach Peter Laviolette had to say about facing the Avalanche, as told to the Nashville Tennessean: “We know that we’re going to have to play fast. We know that we’re going to have to be sharp defensively. Their top line is one of the best lines in the league. We’re going to have our hands full with that.”