It took a bit of time for Casey Mittelstadt to get comfortable with the No. 1 power-play unit but his special teams linemates had confidence he would.
Casey Mittelstadt shifted to the top power-play unit with the loss of Valeri Nichushkin to a lower-body injury. While special teams did not have success in the shootout loss to the New York Rangers, the second-line center practiced with PP1 on Friday to improve chemistry and communication ahead of the matchup with the Nashville Predators.
"He's a great player and great passer and yeah, he's fitting in well," Nathan MacKinnon said about Mittelstadt. "I thought we had some really good chances last game against a good PK (penalty kill), so just need to keep building on it more."
Mittelstadt scored on the Avs first power play after Mikko Rantanen was shoved from behind into Preds goaltender Kevin Lankinen. Mittelstadt grabbed the puck and shoveled it over the goal line in the corner.
Mittelstadt got thrown on that top special teams line so it was not expected to be a fluid transition. But Mikko Rantanen said the unit would improve with practice.
"We have a lot of depth in our lineup so losing one guy, you know, it shouldn't affect that much and I think obviously, we haven't played with Mittsy (Mittelstadt) yet so I think the chemistry needs to build up and we worked on it again today," Rantanen said Friday. "Last game was first game together so I think it needs time to develop some chemistry with him but he's obviously a really good player, so I'm not worried at all."
Head coach Jared Bednar said he thought the unit played "ok" but agreed it needed more time and practice to come together.
Mittelstadt's goal was just one of three on the power play after 40 minutes through the game.