The Avalanche’s ascension toward a playoff berth has all the frills of a prime-time television thriller. Surprise performances. Unexpected turns. Nail-biting finishes.
Does Colorado simply enjoy extra drama, like a 3-2 shootout win Friday against the Coyotes, in their chase for the postseason? Defenseman Tyson Barrie laughed. “Not at all,” he said.
Of course the Avs would prefer a less arduous road toward a Western Conference wild-card selection, where they held the No. 2 slot entering Saturday’s games with 85 points, behind Dallas (88) and ahead of Arizona (82), with four regular-season games left. Then again, few Colorado players have responded to adversity with excellence quite like Barrie. The Avalanche owns one loss over its last seven outings, with Barrie accounting for eight points: five goals and three assists.
“I love his intensity level,” coach said. “Itap rising at the most important time of the year.”
Barrie, in his eighth Colorado season, has reached historic levels of success in an Avalanche sweater. He recently surpassed Sandis Ozolinsh as the team’s all-time leader in goals (73), assists (231) and points (304) by a defenseman. Asked prior to the puck drop Friday about his recent uptick in play, Barrie said: “I don’t know if I’ve changed a whole lot. Some of the (shots) that maybe weren’t going in or hitting the post, they’re finding their way in. Itap definitely nice, but I’ve got to keep it going with five games left.”
Barrie’s Avalanche future beyond this year, though, hangs in the balance. The 27-year-old Canadian will enter the final year of his contract next season with a $5.5 million salary cap hit. Waiting in the wings is UMass star Cale Makar, a highly skilled defender with a style similar to Barrie, who could be added to Colorado’s postseason roster should UMass get bumped from the NCAA tournament.
Both players represent a new-age NHL defender who relies more on technique than brute force to succeed. Makar has the benefit of youth at 20 years old.
“The teams you see winning cups are doing it through the draft, and they’re developing their guys,” Barrie said. “We’ve got a good core of guys in here that we drafted, and it sounds like we’ve got a couple more good ones coming. Itap an exciting time to be an Avs fan.”
Speculation about Barrie’s future, for now, can wait. He’s too important quarterbacking the Avs’ power play unit, making critical blocks, attacking the opposing net and everthing in between.
“We rely on Tyson to do a lot of things for us,” Bednar said. “The success he’s having recently, we need it from him and we expect it from him.”
Colorado now turns its attention toward a Monday road test against a team that already has clinched a playoff spot: the St. Louis Blues.
“You can’t let your foot off the gas,” Barrie said. “We’ve got four huge games against some good teams. Nothing changes for us. You have to have that same Game 7 mentality going into it.”
