Denver, Colo. – The Colorado Avalanche polished off their regular season with a win over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday. Now, they get five days of rest and preparation to prepare for round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which start league-wide this Saturday. The schedule, per a source with the team, will not be released until the final game of the regular season concludes on Thursday.
With that said, E. J. Hradek with NHL Network says sources tell him things for the Avalanche will get started on Saturday.
As we await the official playoff schedule, I’m hearing there will be 2 games on Saturday, including the @DallasStars@Avalanche opener.
— E.J. Hradek (@EJHradek_NHL) April 15, 2025
Tuesday marks the first practice since the team returned home from their final two road games in California. It was an optional skate for the team, but some missing faces made an appearance today: Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin, Devon Toews, Cale Makar, Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen, Josh Manson. Ryan Lindgren joined the team as well, but worked on his own.
Head Coach Jared Bednar says he hopes to have a full lineup come the start of playoffs this weekend.
“We’ll see what the week brings, but I think tomorrow will tell us a lot and how guys respond coming out of that.”
Says they’ll start their prep for the series as a team…
— Bailey Curtis (@baileyycurtis) April 15, 2025
Gabriel Landeskog was also on the ice after it was announced this morning that his conditioning stint with the Colorado Eagles has been terminated. The Sweden native played in both games for the Eagles this past weekend and notched two points (1 goal/1 assist).
The 32-year-old is still listed on LTIR and was not available to the media following practice, but Head Coach Jared Bednar said he is an option for game 1 against the Dallas Stars, but there is a lot that goes into the decision to put him in the lineup.
I think [his leadership] has to play a small role, but the decision has to be mainly on what he can do first on the ice. But I do think you have to take everything into account when you talk about putting them in the lineup.
– Bednar on what factors into putting Landeskog in the lineup.
The Stars pose a heavy challenge to the team as a whole, regardless of the makeup of the team Bednar rolls out against them.
I think they were a dangerous team last year, offensively, and they’re a dangerous team again this year. They finished top six in goals-for and goals-against this season…They’ve struggled a little bit here recently keeping the puck out of their net, but I think that’s part of where they were in the standings and the circumstances that they’re in sort of comfortably in that second spot and I expect them to bounce back and that it’ll be a hard-fought series. So, I think in areas of our game that we should be better than we were last year, and it was a hard-fought series…It was a pretty close series, ended in six [games] and we were on the sort end of that, so we have to be incrementally better in a few different areas.
– Bednar on Round 1 against the Stars
Per Bednar following practice, the team as a whole will begin their preparation for the upcoming series tomorrow.
Per Avalanche media relations, the team will practice tomorrow at Family Sports Center with player availability in the locker room to follow. General Manager Chris MacFarland will be available following player availability.
Denver, Colo. – The Colorado Avalanche polished off their regular season with a win over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday. Now, they get five days of rest and preparation to prepare for round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which start league-wide this Saturday. The schedule, per a source with the team, will not be released until the final game of the regular season concludes on Thursday.
With that said, E. J. Hradek with NHL Network says sources tell him things for the Avalanche will get started on Saturday.
As we await the official playoff schedule, I’m hearing there will be 2 games on Saturday, including the @DallasStars@Avalanche opener.
— E.J. Hradek (@EJHradek_NHL) April 15, 2025
Tuesday marks the first practice since the team returned home from their final two road games in California. It was an optional skate for the team, but some missing faces made an appearance today: Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin, Devon Toews, Cale Makar, Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen, Josh Manson. Ryan Lindgren joined the team as well, but worked on his own.
Head Coach Jared Bednar says he hopes to have a full lineup come the start of playoffs this weekend.
“We’ll see what the week brings, but I think tomorrow will tell us a lot and how guys respond coming out of that.”
Says they’ll start their prep for the series as a team…
— Bailey Curtis (@baileyycurtis) April 15, 2025
Gabriel Landeskog was also on the ice after it was announced this morning that his conditioning stint with the Colorado Eagles has been terminated. The Sweden native played in both games for the Eagles this past weekend and notched two points (1 goal/1 assist).
The 32-year-old is still listed on LTIR and was not available to the media following practice, but Head Coach Jared Bednar said he is an option for game 1 against the Dallas Stars, but there is a lot that goes into the decision to put him in the lineup.
I think [his leadership] has to play a small role, but the decision has to be mainly on what he can do first on the ice. But I do think you have to take everything into account when you talk about putting them in the lineup.
– Bednar on what factors into putting Landeskog in the lineup.
The Stars pose a heavy challenge to the team as a whole, regardless of the makeup of the team Bednar rolls out against them.
I think they were a dangerous team last year, offensively, and they’re a dangerous team again this year. They finished top six in goals-for and goals-against this season…They’ve struggled a little bit here recently keeping the puck out of their net, but I think that’s part of where they were in the standings and the circumstances that they’re in sort of comfortably in that second spot and I expect them to bounce back and that it’ll be a hard-fought series. So, I think in areas of our game that we should be better than we were last year, and it was a hard-fought series…It was a pretty close series, ended in six [games] and we were on the sort end of that, so we have to be incrementally better in a few different areas.
– Bednar on Round 1 against the Stars
Per Bednar following practice, the team as a whole will begin their preparation for the upcoming series tomorrow.
Per Avalanche media relations, the team will practice tomorrow at Family Sports Center with player availability in the locker room to follow. General Manager Chris MacFarland will be available following player availability.
