Move on and play better.
Avalanche players have vowed to do the first Thursday night in the wake of Tyson Barrie's knee injury, and they had better do the second or come home in a 2-2 series tie with the Minnesota Wild for Saturday's Game 5 at the Pepsi Center.
Can't see the Avalanche trying to retaliate for the Matt Cooke knee-on-knee hit in Game 3 that resulted in the loss of Barrie for between four and six weeks. What for? Cooke is gone for the remainder of the series, having been suspended for seven games by the NHL, and Avalanche players need to concentrate on hockey and playing with a lot more energy than they did in Monday's 1-0 overtime loss.
Ryan Wilson, who spent most of the season in coach Patrick Roy's doghouse, will replace Barrie in the lineup, a huge opportunity to show that he is capable of making a contribution rather than simply taking up space. If he can't, Stefan Elliott is waiting for his chance.
It'll be interesting to watch Avalanche rookie Joey Hishon, the team's first-round draft pick (17th overall) in 2010, make his NHL debut. Plagued by injuries, mostly concussions, the 22-year-old will become the 12th Avalanche player to play his first Stanley Cup playoff game. He's expected to skate on the fourth line with Brad Malone and Patrick Bordeleau, and see some time on what has been a sputtering power play.
The Avalanche has gone 1-for-11 in the series -- the only goal came from Paul Stastny into an empty net in Game 2 -- after going 0-for-11 in five regular-season games against the Wild.
Goalie Semyon Varlamov would appreciate a lot more support -- at both ends of the ice -- than he received Monday when the Wild outshot the Avalanche 46-22.
The Jamie McGinn-Ryan O'Reilly-PA Parenteau line has been silent for two games and needs to create some quality scoring chances against Wild goalie Darcy Kuemper, who has stopped all 36 shots he's faced in this series. The Gabriel Landeskog-Stastny-Nathan MacKinnon line can't do it all; one-line teams are doomed to fail in the playoffs, and injuries to Matt Duchene and John Mitchell have severely cut into the team's depth.
*****
Cooke addressed the media this morning and made the following statement:
"First and foremost, I want to say that I'm disappointed and sorry Tyson Barrie can't play for the Colorado Avalanche tonight. I wish he could. Unfortunately, it was not my intent to collide with him knee on knee. It was my intent to finish my check. Playoffs are a hard and physical time and it's my job to be physical. I've led my team in hits in all three games and it's an intense time. I've led my team this year in hits and in the series.
"Since March 20, 2011 (his previous suspension) I've been a changed player. I've approached the game differently. I think differently about the game. The stats that I've collected over those three seasons prove that I'm a changed player and the plays that I make and the plays that I don't make prove to that point as well. At the end of the day, this situation was not my intent."
Here are the projected lineups for Game 4:
AVALANCHE Gabriel Landeskog-Paul Stastny-Nathan MacKinnon Jamie McGinn-Ryan O’Reilly-PA Parenteau Cody McLeod-Marc-Andre Cliche-Max Talbot Brad Malone-Joey Hishon-Patrick Bordeleau
Jan Hejda-Erik Johnson Nate Guenin-Ryan Wilson Andre Benoit-Nick Holden
Semyon Varlamov Jean-Sebastien Giguere
Scratched: Reto Berra, Paul Carey, Stefan Elliott Injured: Tyson Barrie (knee), Matt Duchene (knee), John Mitchell (concussion) Cory Sarich (back), Alex Tanguay (hip surgery)
WILD Zach Parise - Mikael Granlund-Jason Pominville Matt Moulson - Mikko Koivu-Charlie Coyle Nino Niederreiter- Erik Haula - Justin Fontaine Dany Heatley-Kyle Brodziak-Cody McCormick
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon Jonas Brodin-Marco Scandella Nate Prosser-Clayton Stoner
Darcy Kuemper Ilya Bryzgalov
Scratched: Jonathon Blum, John Curry, Mike Rupp, Stephane Veilleux Injured: Niklas Backstrom (abdominal), Keith Ballard (groin), Josh Harding (illness), Jason Zucker (quad) Suspended: Matt Cooke
*****
Boston's Patrice Bergeron, Los Angeles' Anze Kopitar and Chicago's Jonathan Toews are the finalists for the Selke Trophy, which is awarded to the NHL's best defensive forward.
Thought O'Reilly might have a chance after leading the Avalanche in goals and the NHL in takeaways. He said earlier he thought his plus/minus (-1) might work against him. I guess it did.