There’s no question who a couple of the Colorado Avalanche players were rooting for Friday night when the Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights met in Game 6 of their opening-round series.
The Avs made it out of a first-round win against the Winnipeg Jets relatively healthy. Jonathan Drouin did not play in the series because of a skate-cut on his leg during Game 82 of the regular season against Edmonton. Joel Kiviranta was the only player who began the series but missed games, sitting out Games 4 and 5 with a lower-body injury.
Both players could use as much time as possible before the next round starts, so they were likely rooting for the Golden Knights to push that series to a Game 7.
“Both are getting better,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said after practice Friday. “(Drouin) is not on the ice yet. (Kiviranta) skated this morning on his own before when the goalies went out. Making progress, but nothing significant just yet.”
Bednar revealed after Game 5 that Drouin’s timeline was “four weeks or less” and the Avs are hoping he can get back a little early. It’s possible that Drouin could return before the end of the second round, particularly if his recovery time lands in the “less” part of that diagnosis.
Kiviranta’s timeline remains unclear. Nikolai Kovalenko made his NHL debut in Game 4 and took Kiviranta’s spot on the third line for each of the past two games.
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The Avs had a full practice Friday, more reminiscent of a training-camp workout than one from the middle of the season. Bednar has noted several times this season that he hasn’t always liked how his team plays after having extra rest.
“We’re going to go to work,” Bednar said. “Depending on when we start and who we play, we’re going to work through this break and try to keep the intensity up when we’re on the ice. Then we’re going to rest the other days and try to get healthy.”
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