Colorado struggled through Game 4 against the Dallas Stars and is now in a must-win situation going into Game 5. The Colorado Avalanche did not play well and the Dallas Stars kept their game at a high pace in the 5-1 Game 4 loss on Monday night. The news of Valeri Nichushkin departing the team dropped just before the puck did but head coach Jared Bednar said that wasn't an excuse for his team's defeat. "I am not going … we're not going to use it as an excuse. I mean, we can't and we won't. We treat it just like (Logan O’Connor) – injured, done for the year. You get news like that all the time. You continue to play with the players that you have," Bednar said. "We have the ability to play a heck of a lot better than we did today, regardless of any news like that. I can't think of news that you can't work through. We have to be mentally tough. I honestly don't think that is an excuse. I don’t." The Avs were not sharp for the first 40 minutes and when they showed some energy in the third period, it was not enough. They have staged multiple comebacks this postseason, so the game was not out of reach after the second period, down 3-1. "Bottom line is we didn’t play good enough. They were better than us in a lot of areas. It wasn’t an effort thing. We’re trying and we just have to find ways to dig deeper. There’s nothing else to say," Andrew Cogliano said. "We know the game plan, we know our structure works. We just have to dig deeper in terms of trying to create offense. They’re a good team in suppressing but it comes down to compete and will and getting to the net and ultimately getting hungry to score more." Jonathan Drouin got an assist on the only goal of the game from Casey Mittelstadt in his first game back after a few weeks out due to a lower-body injury. “Yeah, it's fun, it’s not easy but it’s fun. Obviously when you miss a month, close to a month and you come back and now second round playoffs, some shifts are a little tougher than others but at the end of the day, it was fun playing and kind of getting back with the team a little bit there. "I don’t think we were playing our game, we’re complicating our plays. They're going to make life hard for you in the neutral zone. And you just got to chip it in, I know it sounds boring. But especially in the first period, you got to do it. You got to forecheck and just stay on them," Drouin said. The Avalanche were dealt another blow when the organization announced that defenseman Devon Toews was out due to illness. "Missing (Toews) is tough. Obviously, he's a huge part of the backend, provides stability for us, but at the end of the day, we've got to be able to remove anybody and find a way still," Cale Makar said. "Obviously it was in the back of our head, but at the same time, we're juggling the pairs back there and we got to find a way to be consistent. Unfortunately, that just wasn't what we were doing tonight." Bednar and his team said they need to move on from the disappointing loss and focus on Game 5 back in Dallas on Wednesday. RECENT COLORADO AVALANCHE ARTICLES Jonathan Drouin returns to lineup, Devon Toews out for Game 4 vs Dallas Stars [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/latest-news/jonathan-drouin-returns-to-lineup-devon-toews-out-for-game-4-vs-dallas-stars] Avalanche strategy to win Game 4: 'It's got to be all about ourselves' [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/game-day/avalanche-strategy-to-win-game-4-its-got-to-be-all-about-ourselves] Avalanche effort not enough, lose Game 3 to Stars [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/game-day/avalanche-effort-not-enough-lose-game-3-to-stars]
