We're about to find out if home ice will continue to be an advantage when the Avalanche looks to get its offense out of hibernation Saturday night at the Pepsi Center.
"Now it's our turn to — sorry for the words — put our balls on the table," coach Patrick Roy said Friday.
The first-round series with Minnesota is tied 2-2 after the Avalanche was outshot a combined 78-34 and outscored 3-1 in losing Games 3 and 4 at the Xcel Energy Center, where goalie Semyon Varlamov kept the team within striking distance.
"The goalies have to face lots of shots," Varlamov, a Vezina Trophy finalist, said Friday. "That's your job, stop the puck. Doesn't matter how many shots -- 15 or 45. You have to continue to work, continue to just work hard, keep fighting. We knew it was not going to be an easy series for us. It's going to be interesting games coming up. It's not frustration. We've been scoring lots of goals in the season and sometimes you just can't score. It's happened once in a while."
Roy pointed out that Western Conference teams have gone 15-1 at home in the playoffs and he remains "positive" about the way the Avalanche has handled things this year.
"Am I satisfied? The answer is no, but let's not forget we're playing against a good team, a team that played really well in their building," he said. "Their fans were outstanding and all they did to us is what we did to them. We know we can do better, and we will."
Defenseman Erik Johnson said he feels badly for Varlamov, who stopped 75 of 78 shots in Minnesota but didn't get any support.
"You look at how great Varly has played and you wish you could have popped a few more goals by (Wild goalie Darcy) Kuemper," Johnson said. "As a group we’ve been resilient all year, we haven’t let anything let us down. That’s not going to change. We’ve had no fear all season long and there’s no reason for us to have it now."
The Avalanche hasn't gotten a point from the third or fourth lines and just four assists from the defense -- two of those by Tyson Barrie, now out with a knee injury. And Roy said Friday that center Matt Duchene, who skated again and took shots, will not play in Game 5.
"For Dutchie, it's going well," Roy said. "He's been skating since Monday and we're very happy with where he is right now. Now is he going to play in this series? We'll see. He won't play (Saturday), same with John Mitchell (concussion)."
The Gabriel Landeskog-Paul Stastny-Nathan MacKinnon line was shut out in Minnesota after combining for seven goals and 10 assists in the first two games. Ryan O'Reilly (two goals) and Jamie McGinn (one) are the only other Avalanche players with a goal.
"We didn't have the same jump, we didn't come with speed, we didn't get pucks deep and things like that," Landeskog said of the past two games. "They made us look slow and kept us to the outside. They did a good job of doing those things to slow us down and certainly they can get their matchups right in their arena.
"It's not easy to win on the road. We're confident coming back here. We know that we've got some areas to work on and some areas need to get better, but there's no panic in our room. We believe in ourselves. It's 2-2 and it's certainly going to be fun from here on."
Including Game 2, when Kuemper stopped all 14 shots he faced in relief of Ilya Bryzgalov, the 23-year-old rookie has turned aside 47 of 48 shots against the Avalanche.
The power play has been brutal: 1-for-15 in the series (Stastny's empty-netter in Game 2) after going 0-for-11 against the Wild in the regular season. Just one power-play goal in the two losses would have been huge.
"That can be a turning point," Johnson said. "If you’re not going to score a goal you have to be in charge of getting momentum for your team. We haven’t done a good job of that. We’ve had a little bit of chances, but we haven’t really generated any momentum. If you’re not going to score, the momentum has to be there and we haven’t done that as a group.
"We might be looking for too pretty a play. We have such a skilled group of forwards, sometimes you might look for the perfect play when a simple shot on net is the case. As a power play we have to be in charge of generating momentum if we’re not going to score. That’s clearly an issue that’s been magnified the last two games. It didn’t matter when we won the first two games at home, but those things stand out more when you lose."
Roy took exception when asked if the Avalanche "would show up" Saturday after being outplayed in Minnesota, though he actually took the question the wrong way (You had to be there).
"We need to be patient with our group," he said. "This is a young team, a team -- let's not forget -- that finished 29th last year. This is a huge step and this is a learning process. I think it's rude to ask are we going to show up. I think we deserve more respect. I'm proud of my team and I'm not going to throw them under the bus because I'm their partner. My glass is half full."
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Varlamov, Boston's Tuukka Rask and Tampa Bay's Ben Bishop are finalists for the Vezina Trophy. The league's general managers voted for the award, which will be presented June 24 in Las Vegas.
"I'm so happy for him, he's been outstanding all year," Roy said. "Even in the playoffs, let's not kid ourselves, even if we had a chance to win in Minnesota it was because of him. I'm proud of him. These are not baby steps he made. He wanted to be more consistent and a difference maker on our team, and he's been doing more than that. He's been winning games for us."
Varlamov posted a 41-14-6 record with two shutouts, a 2.41 goals-against average and .927 save percentage. He led the NHL and set a franchise record for wins, breaking the mark set by Roy (40) in 2000-01. He led the league in shots faced (2,013) and saves (1,867).
Varlamov went 7-1-1 when facing 40 or more shots and 32-4-4 when facing 30 or more shots. He's the first Avalanche goalie nominated for the award since Roy finished second to Montreal's Jose Theodore in 2001-02.
"I'm real excited," Varlamov said. "Of course it's a big deal for me. I've never been nominated for the Vezina. It's a great feeling. Without my teammates, I don't think I could win this trophy, because my teammates have done a great job for me this year, played very well for me. My coaches, Francois Allaire, Patrick, they've done a great job for me as well. That's why I have a good result. I'm excited about it."