Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar explained why his team's depth is so crucial. A couple keys to the Colorado Avalanche's Game 2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday were depth and structure. The team recognized and analyzed what worked and will look to continue that momentum in Game 3 on Friday night. While Colorado's top line was the most consistent in the regular season, other lines and defense have produced in both playoff games. "We've talked a lot about depth here, but certainly so far in this series, they've done a really nice job. They're chipping in with the offense. They've been really pretty good on the defensive side of things," head coach Jared Bednar said. "If you want to advance in current playoff format, you have to be a four-line team. You have to get contributions throughout your lineup, not just your forwards but your D (defense). You got to have guys waiting in the wings, if there's injuries. It's just the way it is when you're playing teams that finish the same place you finish, and or ahead of you in the first round, you need everybody. And they're doing a nice job so far in this series of contributing." The Avs' regular-season points leader Nathan MacKinnon said his team needs everybody to contribute and so far they have. "We need every line to be able to compete against anybody over there. So far it's been solid, we could definitely get better at it," MacKinnon said. "Those guys have been playing unreal. That line — Colts (Ross Colton), Woody (Miles Wood) and Kivi (Joel Kiviranta) — they've scored some huge goals for us and defensively been rock solid so it's been great to see." The Avalanche have studied and learned what worked for them in the victory over the Jets, and will dial in on that going into Game 3. "We're just trying to focus on ourselves, pretty much. We know what we got to do to be successful out there and just trying to stick to that and trust that the outcome will come," Artturi Lehkonen said after practice on Thursday. The Avs said that they needed to simplify their game when mistakes cost them a win during the regular season. Head coach Jared Bednar said there were things about his team's play in the first period of Game 2 that he didn't like but they regrouped and played a more structured 40 minutes to earn the win. "It's just going to have to be getting better at everything we're doing. Making sure that we play to our strengths," Cale Makar said. Bednar said after Game 2 that the better his team defends, the more offense it creates. As much as that is Hockey 101, it is a factor of the game that can mean a win or a loss. "Defending is — you do it because it's what the game requires. But when you do it well, then you're turning pucks from grinding in your own zone to taking off and trying to catch them before they can get in their structure," Bednar said. "So playing ahead of another team's structure. But there's also more areas to it than that being simple." Colorado has the home-ice advantage on Friday night. If the team plays to its strengths, as Makar said, and Alexandar Georgiev is dialed in like last game, it will be a hard-fought battle — with very good chances for a win. RECENT COLORADO AVALANCHE NEWS Jets star gives big praise to Avalanche's top players [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/latest-news/jets-star-gives-big-praise-to-avalanches-top-players] Avalanche reassign 3 players to Eagles [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/latest-news/avalanche-reassign-3-players-to-eagles] Colorado Avalanche vs Winnipeg Jets: Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 schedule [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche/latest-news/colorado-avalanche-vs-winnipeg-jets-stanley-cup-playoffs-round-1-schedule]
