Nathan MacKinnon sheds light on Avs' plan to beat the Predators

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Whether it was the tried and true “Nobody believes in us, nobody gives us any respect, we’ll show ’em” bravado card or not, Nathan MacKinnon definitely seems to believe his Colorado Avalanche has a real chance to beat the NHL’s best regular-season team in a playoff series that starts tonight. 

“We have a game plan,” MacKinnon said after the Avs’ skate this afternoon at Bridgestone Arena, where the Avs play Game 1 of a Western Conference quarterfinal series. “We can’t try to be the Predators. We’re a fast team, we’re energetic, we have a lot of skill. People aren’t giving us much of a chance, but we feel good inside of this locker room.”

The Avs, to be sure, are massive underdogs against a team that has beaten them the last 10 regular-season meetings they’ve had, that had a league-best 117 points in the regular season and came within two wins of winning the Stanley Cup last spring.

The Avs go into the series without their No. 1 defenseman (Erik Johnson) and No. 1 goalie (Semyon Varlamov). The Predators are fully healthy, rested and ready to go in front of a home crowd that is acknowledged to be one of the loudest in the league. (In Nashville, the saying here is “Be the Seventh Man”).

MacKinnon and his teammates are undaunted by it all.

“In the playoffs, you get to prepare more,” defenseman Nikita Zadorov said. “We have more videos, more sessions, where you get to know every player, because you know you’re going to get at least four games against them. It’s different. Yeah, we lost every game, but I think the last two games we outplayed ’em. They just got a couple good bounces. Overall, I think we played better.”

MacKinnon, a leading candidate to win the Hart Trophy as NHL most valuable player, will face heavy attention from a Preds team that is big, tough and deep defensively. The stereotype of the Avs right now is that they are a one-line team; Shut down the MacKinnon top line and you’ll shut down the Avs.

This will be MacKinnon’s second career trip to the postseason. The other one, his rookie season of 2013-14, he was a second-line right winger. Now, he’s The Man.

“It’s different, for sure,” MacKinnon said. “I’m way more mature than when I was 18. I had just won the Memorial Cup in junior, and then make the playoffs. It felt so easy. I realize how hard it is now to make the playoffs. I feel much more fortunate and a lot more excited about it than when I was 18.”

NOTEBOOK

• Coach Jared Bednar will make one lineup change from the end of the regular season, for Game 1: David Warsofsky will replace Mark Alt in the defensive rotation. Bednar said he thinks Warsofsky’s puck-moving abilities will come in more handy against Nashville than more of the stay-at-home type of game Alt plays. For sure, this move will come under heavy second-guessing if things don’t work out in Game 1. Alt had become something of a fan favorite already.
• Jonathan Bernier, the starting Avs goalie, started Game 6 of the Western Conference finals against Nashville last season, for Anaheim. He allowed four goals on 16 shots in a 6-3 Ducks loss.
• The Avs used to stay in a hotel at home in the playoffs, to eliminate distractions. Captain Gabe Landeskog doesn’t think that will happen with this team. “I’ve got to see my dog,” he quipped.
• Colorado is 28-42-5-3 against Nashville in all regular-season meetings. This is the teams’ first playoff meeting.
• Bednar became just the secon coach in NHL history to record at least 20 more victories in his second season, from the first. Harry Sinden led the Boston Bruins to 37 wins in 1967-68 after winning 17 the previous season.
• Half the Avs’ 28 active players have playoff experience. Colin Wilson, with 47 games, has the most.
• The Avs’ 65 power-play goals was third in the league this season, behind Pittsburgh (68) and Tampa Bay (66).
• The Avs lost 293 man-games to injury in the regular season.