'It's going to be the biggest test we've had all season': Confidence is key for Avalanche vs Jets

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The Colorado Avalanche face off against the Winnipeg Jets in a pre-playoff game Saturday afternoon. The teams are tied in points — Winnipeg has the upper hand with two more regulation wins than Colorado.

“It’s going to be the biggest test we’ve had all season. Both rested teams and coming down the stretch here. It’s obviously, probably going to be a first round matchup so it’ll be a really interesting one,” Cale Makar said. “For us, we got to make sure our confidence is high and establish our game early and see where it takes us. They’re a really good team, we haven’t seen them in awhile so it should be a fun one.”

The Avs took two days off after the 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild but had high energy at a full practice on Friday.

“I think it’s been a good couple of days for us — to get with some of the signs of fatigue we had both mentally and physical. You know, I think it was important for us to get away from the rink for a couple of days. We’ve (been) gone a lot and busy a lot,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “So that’s important and then after the days it’s nice to have a good video session again and kind of go through the Minnesota game because we liked a lot.”

With only three games left in the regular season, second-line center Casey Mittelstadt said he continues to work on adjusting to the Avs’ system since joining the team right before the trade deadline.

“I think, especially the system, I think every game I start to feel a little more comfortable — little less thinking, more reacting,” Mittelstadt said. “I think that’s the place I’m trying to get to, you know I think I’m really close, really close. It’s been a lot of fun, and I’m excited to keep going.”

The Jets won both matchups against the Avs this season: 4-2 loss on Dec. 7 at Ball Arena and 6-2 loss Dec. 16 at Winnipeg.

Projected lineup

Bednar said Mikko Rantanen (concussion) was “probable” for the game but Miles Wood was “probably doubtful” (lower-body injury).

Jonathan Drouin — Nathan MacKinnon — Artturi Lehkonen

Valeri Nichushkin — Casey Mittelstadt — Mikko Rantanen

Zach Parise — Ross Colton — Brandon Duhaime

Yakov Trenin — Andrew Cogliano — Joel Kiviranta

Devon Toews — Cale Makar

Samuel Girard — Josh Manson

Jack Johnson — Sean Walker

Alexandar Georgiev

Justus Annunen

The puck drops at 2 p.m. MT.

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