The Avalanche will try to climb back into their first-round playoff series with Nashville without defenseman
Samuel Girard, who will miss his second game in a row with an upper-body injury.
The Predators lead 2-0 in the series with Game 3 set for Monday at the Pepsi Center.
The
GAME NOTES.
Girard, who took some big hits in Game 1, didn’t practice Sunday or take part in the morning skate Monday.
Duncan Siemens will remain in the lineup in Girard’s place.
“Day to day, hopefully he’s back for Game 4,” coach
Jared Bednar said. “We miss him a little bit from a puck moving standpoint, certainly power play. I mean, he’s grown into a top defender for us. He plays a lot of minutes, especially down the stretch. I felt like his game is peaking, he’s gotten better as the year’s gone on. He’s a big loss for us.”
The Avalanche tied a franchise record with 28 regular-season wins at home, but the Predators had the NHL’s best road record (25-9-7) and won 12 consecutive games between the teams.
“Guys are a little banged up, but we need everybody tonight,” captain
Gabriel Landeskog said. “We need a big game from everybody and I’ve got a good feeling for tonight.
“We know it’s an important game, we really don’t have to harp on that, but even coming into this season, coming into this playoff, we really didn’t have any pressure on ourselves, so we’re not going to start halfway through to put pressure on us. We feel like all the pressure’s on them. They're the ones that are Presidents’ Trophy winners.
“Being down 2-0, you look through the history of the playoffs, it’s not uncommon that it starts out 2-0 and a lot of series end up going six or seven games. Anything can happen. We just got to take one game at a time and take care of business here at home.”
Only four teams have won an NHL series after losing the first three games: Los Angeles against San Jose in the first round in 2014; Philadelphia against Boston in the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals; the New York Islanders against Pittsburgh in the 1975 quarterfinals; and Toronto against Detroit in the 1942 Stanley Cup Final.
“It’s the biggest game of the season for us,”
Mark Barberio said. “There’s a big difference between being down 2-1 or being down 3-0. We’re going to have to come out with a lot of desperation. That’s what you should expect to see tonight, a desperate hockey team.
“Going into the series we had nothing to lose. We got into the playoffs on the last day of the season. For a lot of guys in this room this is the first time in the playoffs. It’s a great opportunity to gain more experience. They took care of their home ice, now it’s our turn to do the same.
“We’ve got a good home record and we’re going to feed off the energy of the crowd. I think we can play with these guys. A lot of times it’s our own mistakes that have cost us. When they get a lead they’re a patient team. They have the skill and ability to capitalize on mistakes. The thing for us is to minimize those mental errors in the game and continue to attack them. We feel we’re right there with them.”
The Avalanche have gone 1-for-8 on power plays and allowed two power-play goals in seven chances. They’ve also been outscored 4-3 while 5-on-5 and 2-1 while 4-on-4.
“Where we’ve come up a little bit short is on some of the special situations,” Bednar said. “We’re down a goal 4-on-4, we’re down a goal on power plays, so we have to be a little bit better in those areas. We also have to make sure we’re staying out of the box and playing 5-on-5, that’s the most important thing.”
They also will need superior goaltending from
Jonathan Bernier, especially with Vezina Trophy candidate
Pekka Rinne at the other end.
The Avalanche lineup:
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Tyson Jost -- Alexander Kerfoot -- Sven Andrighetto
Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau
Colin Wilson -- J.T. Compher -- Gabriel Bourque
Nikita Zadorov -- Tyson Barrie
Patrik Nemeth – Mark Barberio
Duncan Siemens -- David Warsofsky
Jonathan Bernier
Andrew Hammond
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • 
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