"It's a fun time of the year": Avalanche hoping high stakes bring out their best

The comparisons to last year were inevitable. The Avalanche are sitting on the outside of the playoffs looking in but knowing they successfully climbed the last-season playoff push mountain last year, they’re confident they can do it again.

When Tyson Jost heard the question, he just smiled. Talking about last year’s success has that effect on a lot of the guys on this team.

“It’s a fun time of the year,” Jost said. “Coming to the rink today was fun. Everyone was excited. We know what’s at stake. As a hockey player, this is what you want to be playing for. You don’t want to be out of it this time of year so you want to be in a spot where you’re fighting for a spot or in a playoff spot. We have the opportunity to do that so it’s a fun time of the year right now.”

The Avalanche enter a huge contest tonight against the Minnesota Wild sitting just four points back of the Arizona Coyotes for the final playoff spot. The Wild are three points above the Avs and just one behind Arizona. A win from the Wild tonight, especially in regulation, could essentially eliminate Colorado from the race.

With their season on the line every night in the final 10 games of the year, they are using their experience last year to find their footing and confidence.

“Last year a lot of us didn’t really know what to expect,” Jost told BSN Denver. “We knew we were fighting for a playoff spot but this year we have that experience from last year you rely on. We have that in our back pocket. You feel, not more at ease, but you feel more experienced. You’re used to it because we went through a very similar situation last year.”

It was like running into the dark without a flashlight?

“That’s exactly what we were doing,” Jost affirmed. “Maybe one or two guys were in that position before. Probably 70% of our locker room experienced it last year so it’s nice to have.”

In hopes of bolstering the locker room with more of that playoff experience, the Avalanche went out and snagged a couple of veteran players with Stanley Cup-winning pedigree. These are the moments those guys were brought in for.

“It’s awesome, especially [Ian Cole] winning two Cups and [Philipp Grubauer] last year,” Jost said. “[Derick Brassard] is another vet. It’s awesome to have that experience and knowledge throughout the locker room. It’s great to be able to pick their brains about a couple things about stuff they went to. They’re good people to look up to.”

Grubauer will be the man in the spotlight as he gets the start against the Wild tonight, his second straight. He has three shutouts in his last five appearances. As Grubauer has found his game following a lengthy absence, Jost has also started to show more and more why the Avalanche has thought so highly of him since drafting him tenth overall in 2016. While the points are still slow to come, Jost’s overall game has taken a significant rise as he’s begun driving his line a bit more and they’ve created a number of chances. In the last two games with Jost on the ice at 5v5, the Avalanche have had 31 shot attempts for and just 10 against.

Going back a bit further, in Jost’s 17 games since returning from his stint in the AHL with the Colorado Eagles, Jost’s Corsi For percentage is an eye-popping 53.9% at 5v5. In the last six games, it’s been 68.7% (!). When I tell him this, he laughs again.

“I feel awesome, especially my last handful of games,” Jost said. “I went on a little bit of a cold streak where I wasn’t putting anything up but I’m still playing really really good hockey. As you can see, I’m getting a ton of chances and giving my linemates a ton of chances. I like how I’m playing right now. The points are going to come, I’m not too worried about that. I’m just really happy I’m playing good, solid hockey right now and I want to keep that consistency up.”

With that improved form, his minutes have started to stabilize in the 14 range, which is up from his average of 13:08. That kind of steady presence on the ice only helps a young player whose entire life has been about puck touches.

“It is a lot easier,” Jost admitted. “Obviously, it’s tough when you’re playing lower minutes. It’s hard to get into the swing of things and feel the momentum of the game. I really like my line with [Matt Calvert] and [Alexander Kerfoot]. I really like how we’re playing; it seems like we’re always in the offensive zone buzzing around and putting constant pressure on teams. We’re getting a little frustrated because we’d like to put one in the back of the net and we’re always like ‘Holy…can one go in for us here?’ We always say it’s good, we’re doing the right things and it’s bound to come for us. It would be more disappointing if we weren’t getting chances like that.”

With the Avalanche looking to even the season series with Minnesota tonight at two wins apiece, Jost and his linemates need to continue their recent dominance for the Avalanche to get the job done. It would really help if they could even put one or two into the back of the net. In the end, they’re just trying to make like 2017-18 and find a way.