Colorado's head coach shifted players around and said he liked one particular move he made and planned on keeping that change going into the Washington Capitals matchup. While it was a full team breakdown in the loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday, Jared Bednar said he was impressed with the line including Ross Colton and Logan O'Connor. "I thought the O'Connor/Colton started with (Jonathan) Drouin, then went to (Miles) Wood for a while — that was a really hard-working line. That was actually the only line that spent more time in the offensive zone than they did in the D-zone in that game," Bednar said after practice in South Florida on Monday. "It was part of the message this morning if you looked at the detail of their game, they were connected the whole time. And they were highly competitive too." The Avalanche's head coach said he felt that line was "playing the right way" for most of the game, even though they weren't able to find the back of the net. "When you fall behind — two, three, four — you're pressing and trying different things and usually that doesn't work out very well. Why I say catch-up hockey is losing hockey but I did think when we split up the lines those players continued to play pretty well. I'd like to go back to one of the line setups that we had prior to the third period — give them a chance to respond tomorrow." Colorado beat the Washington Capitals 6-2 in the second to last game before the long All-Star break — both Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen had five-point games. MacKinnon netted four goals in that matchup for the second time this season. PROJECTED LINEUP Jonathan Drouin — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen Zach Parise — Ryan Johansen — Artturi Lehkonen Miles Wood — Ross Colton — Logan O'Connor Andrew Cogliano — Fredrik Olofsson — Joel Kiviranta Devon Toews — Cale Makar Samuel Girard — Josh Manson Bowen Byram — Jack Johnson Alexandar Georgiev Justus Annunen Puck drops at 5 p.m. MT at Capital One Arena. RECENT AVALANCHE ARTICLES Avalanche trying to 'stay positive' after 4-0 loss to Panthers [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/news/avalanche-trying-to-stay-positive-after-4-0-loss-to-panthers] Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar says team can't lose confidence after 4 losses [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/news/avalanche-defenseman-cale-makar-says-team-cant-lose-confidence-after-4-losses] Miles Wood says Avs 'need to bring our best to beat this team' [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/news/miles-wood-says-avs-need-to-bring-our-best-to-beat-this-team] Avs inconsistent last 2 games, defensive details important against Canes [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/news/avs-inconsistent-last-2-games-defensive-details-important-against-canes]
