The Avalanche made mental and structural mistakes to go down by four after 40 minutes in the 5-3 loss Thursday. They tried to stage a comeback against the Dallas Stars in the final period with three goals, but it was just too little, too late.
Colorado's elite players were held scoreless while it got two goals from bottom six forwards.
"Any good playoff team is going to have good depth there. That's a big thing for us working four lines and everyone trying to chip in," Brandon Duhaime, who scored his first career playoff goal in the loss, said.
The Avs' coach acknowledged the lack of production from his top line but was confident it would find a groove and get right back in the game.
Colorado had one of its worst second periods of the season with two penalties that Dallas capitalized on and uncharacteristic mistakes.
Related: Avalanche late comeback attempt falls short in 5-3 Game 2 loss to Stars
"The second period was probably the worst, last game for sure. We were giving up too many breakaway(s) almost, couple 2-on-1s. We were just making some decisions without the puck that we usually don't make," Mikko Rantanen said. "That's just mental preparedness, I think mentally we have to be more stronger than that to play full 60 against a good team. They won the conference, they're one of the best teams in the league. So if you fall asleep for 10 minutes, it might be three goals against, like they have shown, it's been like that."
Despite the 4-0 deficit, the team fought back in the third. The Avs have shown mental toughness throughout the playoffs with comeback wins and taken over other games with determination and compete — which Bednar said is solution-based mentality.
"We're trying to find solutions if something isn't going right. We're looking for solutions as a coaching staff, as players. So then you're really thinking about what your focus needs to be — what are the keys to tactically doing things better? Is it work ethic base, is it competitiveness, is it cleaning up some of your puck play? Then you try to give them direction, clarity and it's up to them to stay resilient and to be focused on the right things that will lead to success, no different than we've been doing all year," Bednar said. "It's about our process and getting back to, I don't know if you call it basics for us, but the things that work for us that make our identity strong and when we play that way then we're tough to beat."
Valeri Nichushkin will look to extend his goal-scoring streak to eight games as he has at least one in every playoff game this postseason. If he finds the back of the net, he would surpass Pat LaFontaine (7 GP in 1992 with the Buffalo Sabres) for the longest run in Stanley Cup Playoffs history.
Projected lineup
Valeri Nichushkin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Artturi Lehkonen — Casey Mittelstadt — Zach Parise
Miles Wood — Ross Colton — Joel Kiviranta
Brandon Duhaime — Yakov Trenin — Andrew Cogliano
Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Josh Manson
Jack Johnson — Sean Walker
Alexandar Georgiev
Justus Annunen
Game 3 is at Ball Arena Saturday night with the series tied one-all. Puck drops at 8 p.m. MT.
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