The Avs' next few games will be higher intensity against top teams in the league.

Colorado will face off against the Florida Panthers on Saturday afternoon, followed by a Monday night game against the Boston Bruins and a Wednesday night game versus the Vegas Golden Knights. It's essentially the top teams in their divisions — the Atlantic's No. 1 and 2, and the Pacific's No. 2, respectively, as of Friday.

The Avs have home-ice advantage in the next three matchups, which has fared well for them this season. The team has only lost four of the 20 games at Ball Arena, and has earned the highest number of points in the league on home ice (32).

"This last stretch of hockey that we've played has been really good ...," head coach Jared Bednar said after an optional practice on Friday. "Whenever you're putting together large stretches of hockey that looks the way you want it to look and you're getting results against good teams home and road, etcetera — that's a positive sign." 

The 5-4 overtime win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center helped continue the momentum the team has been driving and boosted its confidence even more so — two important factors to keep winning games. 

"We know we're going to have to up our game, and those little mistakes you might not be able to get away with against these top teams," Josh Manson said. "So we're gonna have to tighten it up a little bit but we want to keep building off what we've been doing. We feel we've been playing a better game, a style more suited to how we need to have success."

The Avalanche have won six of their last seven games and sit atop the Central Division, the Western Conference and are tied with the New York Rangers for No. 1 in the league standings. 

"Sometimes playing the top opponents in the league draws the best out of your team. It's gonna be tough, no question ...," Bednar said. "Every team is gonna provide us with different challenges and different opportunities to show what we have. Our guys are aware of that but I don't think we approach it any different. We feel confident in our game that if we play the way we can we have the ability to win on a nightly basis. That's our expectation — has been that way for years. It will continue to be that way. So tomorrow's really just another game but certainly we know that we're gonna have to play really well in order to beat Florida." 

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