In case you didn’t already know, Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon made it clear that he’s never going to be okay with losing.
The 29 year old superstar wasn’t quite saying the same things he said back in 2021 when his team lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round, but he wasn’t that far off. He was clearly frustrated that his team has failed to get anything done on home-ice for two straight years. Last year against Seattle, they lost three of four at home, and this year against Dallas, they lost all three of their games on home-ice. Not how you would have expected it to end for the best home team in the NHL this season.
On the other end of it all, you have Zach Parise, who gave it everything he has in what is expected to be his final NHL game. He nearly won the game in overtime on a backhand but couldn’t put it past Jake Oettinger. He was clearly very emotional after the loss, which you would expect given everything.
Jonathan Drouin might have played his last game in a Colorado uniform, and spoke after the loss. He wants to come back to Denver, but the salary cap might have other ideas. Was this Andrew Cogliano’s last NHL game as well? He said he’ll have to speak to his family and make a decision from there on what he will do next.
Watch the availabilities of those four, as well as Devon Toews and Alexandar Georgiev. The locker room is kind of a mad dash after the final game, as the team doesn’t do locker room cleanup days a few days after the season ends. We’ll see if we get any availabilities in the next week.
Jared Bednar also spoke for 13 minutes and I’ll kind of dissect his presser over the coming days, but he did speak about Gabriel Landeskog and where he’s at. Needless to say, he never got close, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has been following along.
Avalanche Forward Nathan MacKinnon
Avalanche Forward Zach Parise
Avalanche Forward Jonathan Drouin
Avalanche Defenseman Devon Toews
Avalanche Forward Andrew Cogliano
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar
HOW EMOTIONAL HAS THE LAST WEEK BEEN?
“It’s always emotional this time of year in the playoffs because the stakes are so high. I think our guys handled it pretty well. They’re kind of riding that emotional roller coaster after games and then trying to get even keel before the next one and get focused in on what you need to do to win. Guys did that. They played hard. It’s always taxing in the playoffs, especially when you’re playing teams like this, it’s tough to win and you know you’ve got to be at your best to do it. I think, end of the day, all you can ask is for the guys to give everything they got and I think they did that.”
WAS LANDESKOG EVER CLOSE TO PLAYING AND ARE YOU OPTIMISTIC YOU’LL GET YOUR CAPTAIN BACK?
“I’m optimistic and hopeful. I don’t think we got close to getting him back. He just hit that year mark, which would have made it okay if the progress would have just been perfect. I trust Gabe, and I know he’s doing everything he can with our staff, with other people, to make sure…I think that it got to the point where he wasn’t going to be able to play this year, so then they can be cautious and he has the summer to get ready and he’s going to take it step-by-step and be methodical with it, but he’s going to put his all into it. I’m really hoping, not just for us, but for Gabe that he’s able to play again. He wants to play and it’s been a long road for him. I’d like nothing more than to see him be able to come back and play. And I think that can happen. If anyone can do it, Gabe can do it.”
