Inside the Avalanche's plan to break out of this mess

ARLINGTON, Va. – Win the game 1-0.

That’s the mindset, the new motto if you will, of the Colorado Avalanche. Before anybody cracks wise about that – because, no, the Avs have not won any 1-0 games lately – the result isn’t the important thing here. It’s the mindset.

Jared Bednar pounded that motto into his players’ heads at practice Friday at the MedStar Capitals Iceplex here in Virginia. Bednar believes his players have to think more that the only way to win is if they allow zero goals. Of course, the odds are stacked against that happening in any game, even for the best defensive teams. But you get the point.

“We have to know that (teams) are going to check us hard. We have to know that’s coming and we can’t let it frustrate us,” Bednar said. “We’ve got to just continue to work, skate onto the puck and support is going to be huge. I believe that if you continue to play the right way and put pucks into the right areas, eventually you’ll break them down and get your chances.”

At 5-on-5, the Avs have actually been playing pretty well of late. They’re not giving up loads of chances in that situation, not getting outshot by huge margins or anything. The problems of late have been: too many penalties, not good enough penalty killing and not enough in the way of timely saves. Yeah, scoring depth has been a big problem, too.

Which is why Bednar wants his team to “win one-nothin.”

Saturday afternoon, the Avs will play the team with the fewest goals allowed in the NHL – the New York Islanders. For a team that is 5-15-4 in the last 24 games, it doesn’t get any easier. But maybe – maybe – this is just the kind of opponent that can best drill into the minds of Avs players that, yeah, they really will may have to win 1-0. The Islanders check very hard under coach Barry Trotz’s layered system. Bednar has always been a defense-first coach, and he’s trying to get his players into the same mindset.

“We can’t open things up because they’re going to check us. We have to know that it’s coming, and we can’t let it frustrate us,” Bednar said.

Avalanche GM Joe Sakic has talked more with players about the need to play better defensively, away from the puck. Sakic was in Washington Thursday night, and has been in close contact lately with the coaches, probably more so than usual.

Maybe the realization has set in, that the Avs really aren’t the high-flying, offensively talented team everybody – maybe even themselves – thought they were. Sure, the top line is elite, but goal scoring has been a major issue otherwise for a couple months now. A defense-first mindset represents the best vehicle by which to get out of this mess.

“We have to limit the opposing chances,” captain Gabe Landeskog said. “When (Bednar) says we need to win 1-0, it’s definitely more the mindset than that actual final score. But we’ll take a win by any score right now.”

NOTEBOOK

• Defenseman Ian Cole did not practice, and is being further evaluated, the team said. Cole may have been injured from his fight in the third period with Washington’s Tom Wilson. Cole did not seem hurt after the game, but obviously things changed in the interim. His status will be updated when I know anything.
• The Avs went through a full practice here, with a lot of time spent on transitions out of the defensive zone.
• Bednar would not reveal his goalie for the game with the Islanders.
• Bednar said he was still deciding whether he’ll make a lineup change or two for the game with New York. The top line will stay together, though. The decision to keep them together, sink or swim, seems to have been made.
• Avs goalie Philipp Grubauer said it was “pretty special”, the video tribute he received in the first period of Thursday’s game in Washington. The former Caps goalie said, “I didn’t expect that at all…I’m really thankful for the organization and what they did.”
• Defenseman Tyson Barrie, whose gaffe with the puck led to Washington’s game-winner in overtime, described the play thusly: “I was just trying to drive it low and get a little scissor play going there. I didn’t put it in the right spot for him. I think it hit his skate and it went down the other way. It’s disappointing, but it was a good comeback by us. But we gotta find a way to start getting two points.”