Backs Against The Wall

With the series set to shift from Denver to Dallas, the Presidents trophy winning Colorado Avalanche find themselves in a tough spot down two games to their division rival in the Dallas Stars.

Avs captain Mark Giordano was quick to point out at morning skate that panic is the last thing on their mind "We were down 3 - 1 last year in this exact spot (conference semis against Minnesota) a lot of people counted us out, and they are now but this is a strong room and we'll be fine."

Wayne Simmonds echoed that sentiment "Coming in here (from Pittsburgh) I knew I would get to play with a ton of great players, but what has stuck out to me the most is the resiliency of this group, we're strong mentally and our approach for tonight wouldn't change if we were up two games." 

That approach will be important, as two nights ago the Avs blew a three nothing first period lead. We will see just how mentally strong they really are. "It's something we talked about (blowing the three goal lead)" Marc Crawford Avs head coach explained to us this morning "but it is also something that we are not going to be focused on, time to move on and get a win tonight." 

This was a club built for moments like these; After last season's run fell short in the Cup Finals to the Senators, GM Kirklan Lycar knew he had work to do. "On paper we knew we were coming back with a team that could compete again, we lost some key pieces like Marchy (Brad Marchand) but we thought we were still the class of our division."

"Then, here comes Thomas Gidlow and the *explicitive*  31 -1 thing starts happening in Chicago. On top of that Bob decided to take a run at things in Dallas. After the first twenty games or so we felt we lost our stranglehold on the central division and it was time to make moves."

So moves were made! Often thought of as two of the more agressive GM's in the league Kirklan Lycar and Travis Fleming struck a deal with hopes of turning both teams seasons in a different direction, Colorado sent Justin Williams, Kris Letang and Morgan Geekie to Vancouver for Max Pacioretty and Ron Hainsey. Avs GM Lycar speaks wonders about the move "Max and Ron came in here and instantly changed our room, first and formost they are good people, and they have a desire to win, we would be a different team without them." In the coming weeks Lycar proceeded to add Jason Spezza, Alex Burrows, Wayne Simmonds and Jake Allen all into the mix. A late deadline deal to add Alec Martinez and here we are! 

Kirklan Lycar finished his media availabilty with this "Our group is one that many in the media have picked to win the EHE, this is a group that expects to win, being down two nothing right now is unacceptable, but we have the right men in that room. We've assembled a group of winners and it's expected of them to turn this series around tonight."