The Avs had two days off after a stellar 8-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks and the time was utilized wisely.
Colorado beat Anaheim 8-2 on Wednesday night in a high-energy game but the team needed some downtime before heading on the road.
Head coach Jared Bednar said he planned on working his team hard on Thursday but it ended up being an optional practice.
"I think you've always got to listen. Our players aren't scared of the work, so I think we got to listen to them a little bit," Bednar said. "I'd rather have one good practice as a whole out of these two days and do some specialty work — so we'll get that out of these two days regardless of how we flip flop them."
Part of Bednar's job is to improve his team's work ethic, and his players appreciate his. Some guys were still lagging from the late night in Seattle and travel back to Denver then playing Wednesday night.
Ryan Johansen said players individually got out of the optional practice day what they needed — whether it was rest, conditioning or whatever to reset.
"Rest but also feel fresh for today. All about getting ready for the game tomorrow," Johansen said after an intense practice on Friday. "Been a lot of games, a lot of traveling — it was good to have a little optional yesterday."
Days off aren't always for physical rest, some players need the mental break as well. Mikko Rantanen said he worked out and got some treatment on the optional skate day and that the rest is important with a lot of games through the end of the year.
"It's mentally good to get some time off, off the rink, think about something else than hockey, cause we play a lot of games," the 27-year-old forward said. "Got to enjoy the days we have off the rink or off the ice."
Jonathan Drouin was on the ice both days but said Thursday was a light day. He and Nathan MacKinnon worked on shots and skills but it wasn't very tiring for him.
"It's good to have a coach that listens to his players or gets the feedback from his players and does something with that," Drouin said. "I think it's great. Everyone's different so it's hard for a coach to single out everyone and make sure everyone's ok. We're all different a little bit."
Bednar said some of his players let him know they needed some rest, which is why he adjusted the practice schedule.
"That's a thing I respect a lot about him (Bednar) is that he listens — exactly what he said — he listens to what we need. Whether it's Mack (MacKinnon) or Cogs (Andrew Cogliano) or Mikko, Cale, somebody saying 'hey, I think we need a day' or whatever it might be, he's always responsive to it," Bowen Byram said after Friday's skate. "Just makes it really enjoyable (to) come to the rink every day, play for a coach that understands the players — it makes it fun."
Byram said he spent Thursday taking care of himself with a workout, massage and other treatments.
"Even when we get days off or optional skates or whatever it might be — he trusts the group to know we're going to do what we need to do. We're not just going to loaf around," he said. "We're still going to get what we need in and I think our group does a really good job of that."
The team faces off against the Dallas Stars — who are 11-3-1 and three points ahed of Colorado in the Central Division — at American Airlines Center at 6 p.m. MT. It will be the first time Joel Kiviranta faces his former team, coming off a three-point game against Anaheim.
"Dallas is going to be a really good team and we're going into their building, so we have to be ready to play," Rantanen said.
