BSN Exclusive: The Avs are on a mission to "shut up" Vegas fans in potential playoff preview

With the thrilling victory over the Vegas Golden Knights in their rearview mirror, the Colorado Avalanche returned to practice today before boarding a flight to Nevada to take on those same Golden Knights on Monday night.

Following practice, the locker room was still abuzz with talk of the atmosphere at Pepsi Center yesterday. Captain Gabe Landeskog told reporters that before media got into the room, Mikko Rantanen told him it was the loudest he’d ever heard the Pepsi Center. Today, Tyson Jost was so excited to talk about the crowd he didn’t bother listening to the end of the question before diving right in.

“It was unbelievable,” Jost told BSN Denver. “It was exciting. We knew what was at stake and, obviously, we needed to bounce back from our game before against LA. I thought we played a really good game. Pepsi Center was really bumpin’ and it gave us energy. That’s probably the loudest I’ve heard it all year. It was really exciting and definitely gave us a lot of energy and gave us that playoff feeling. It was exciting for us. It’s good that we can come out with a nice win like that, learn how to win those 2-1 games, those tight hockey games. It was really fun to play.”

The response to the team’s embarrassing 7-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday evening was a big part of the team’s pregame conversation. As a team, the Avalanche have overachieved quite a bit this year versus preseason expectations but have still been prone to the occasional blowout loss. Last year, those losses turned into losing streaks, something this year’s squad has done well to avoid. The strong response against the best team the Pacific Division has to offer was no surprise to the Avalanche players.

“I think everybody in this dressing room knew we’d be all right,” Jost explained. “Obviously, LA wasn’t how we’ve been playing hockey this year. We slipped away from our game plan a little bit. We reset and regroup. I was confident in our group that we would bounce back. I’m sure if you ask anybody else they would give you the same answer, too. It was a fun hockey game and we were confident going into that game because we knew what was at stake. It was a huge game for us in the standings. It’s a really tight race right now and it’s going to be a battle to the end and we can’t be giving up points like that. I really liked the way we played against Vegas and now we have another big match going into their home rink here.”

The home-and-home series against Vegas could serve as a potential playoff preview but the Avalanche are shying away from that conversation for the time being. Instead, they are focusing on the positives of playing the same team twice in a row as they’ll study yesterday’s game and figure out what worked in hopes of repeating it on Monday. As far as Jost is concerned, there won’t be many adjustments needed.

“We’ll break down video but I think we played really well,” he said. “I think we had a lot of chances and I think we could shoot the puck a little bit more. I think we had a lot of o-zone time where we sustained pressure and we kind of kept it on the perimeter. We could fill gaps a little bit more and get more pucks on the net. I think we’ve just got to play the same way we did. We played really, really well. That’s the standard we set for ourselves and we expect from ourselves every single night. If we do that, we give ourselves a chance to win. With our confidence in one another in this dressing room, it’s really fun to play with when everybody is jumping like that.”

Yesterday’s game brought some unique challenges to the lineup as the Avalanche rolled out a non-traditional group consisting of eleven forwards and seven defensemen. That meant a little more shuffling than is normal but Jost felt team responded well to the situation.

“It was different because of having eleven forwards so we weren’t out there all the time but I thought we played really well when we were,” he stated. “We weren’t in the d-zone a lot of the time, we were in the o-zone snapping it around. We had a lot of chances. I hit the post there and Compher just missed on one so we had a ton of chances. It’s too bad when Comph gave me that pass in the slot I just rang it off the post. It would have been nice to go in.”

There’s a certain allure when traveling to Vegas, especially this year with the team enjoying its successful inaugural season, that may not exist for some of the other cities on the schedule that don’t contain quite the same reputation for fun.

“Part of the excitement is how the crowd and the city has rallied behind their team,” the 20-year-old Jost said. “Every team wants to go and play there right now and not because it’s just Vegas but the new team and how everyone has rallied around their team. It’s a fun place to play and everyone is excited. We know what’s at stake so it should be a really fun atmosphere.”

In the team’s previous trip to Vegas back in October, they lost 7-0 on Nevada Day in a game that ended up being a pivotal part of the season. The atmosphere that day was a precursor to the raucous crowds that have filled T-Mobile Arena to the brim with a desert full of hockey converts. While appreciative of their passion, the goal for tomorrow is silence.

“We’ve got to try and shut them up I guess you can say,” Jost said laughing. “Our fans were unbelievable when they came to our rink so I expect the same from theirs.”

News and Notes

• The lineup for tomorrow is undecided for now. With Jonathan Bernier not practicing today, expect Semyon Varlamov to get the start once again tomorrow.
• Alexander Kerfoot accidentally clipped Jost with a shot during practice. Jost said afterward his ankle was sore but no big deal. Kerfoot was quick to apologize to him in the locker room but the two predictably laughed the incident off.
• While he’s not regularly playing, Nail Yakupov sure seems to still be enjoying himself out there. He celebrates wildly after every goal in practice and his teammates are very fond of the outgoing winger.
• Speaking of teammates fondness, two of the team’s quieter players seem to have developed quite a bond. Carl Soderberg and Patrik Nemeth chatted at length after practice while still wearing their gear. The two don’t sit near each other so Nemeth traversed the locker room to sit next to Soderberg and chat him up for quite a while.
• With the Avalanche having so many bodies around right now, Vladislav Kamenev and Spencer Martin are forced to use a fold-up plastic table in the middle of the locker room as their gear stations with the team out of locker space. Have to feel for Martin, who has separate gear for the Avalanche and Rampage and one big gear bag for each, as he tried to remember which gear was supposed to go in which bag after practice.