Avs' Bednar: 'Half the team' didn't show up in Game 1

Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar wasn't happy with how his team performed in a 5-3 loss to the Dallas Stars in Game 1 on Saturday night.

"The biggest thing was we had half our team not show up to play," Bednar said postgame, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen.

Bednar didn't mention anyone by name but made it clear to whom he was referencing.

"Obviously, our big guys had a good night," he said. "They were here to compete, play to win the hockey game, and we had a lot of guys that weren't. When I say a lot, I'm talking half the team."

The top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, and Mikko Rantanen - who combined for six points - had a strong outing. Second-line center Nazem Kadri - who's tied for the playoff lead with six goals and picked up an assist in the game - also appeared to be excused from Bednar's comments.

"I did not like our D-corps tonight. I did not like our middle-six wingers," Bednar added, according to The Athletic's Ryan Clark.

Colorado's middle-six wingers were Andre Burakovsky, Joonas Donskoi, Tyson Jost, and Valeri Nichushkin. None posted a positive shot-attempt differential in the contest, according to Natural Stat Trick.

"We had a couple workers in the bottom six, but we did not have enough people playing," Bednar said. "You might be able to get away with one or two passengers this time of year, but you're not getting away with any more than that. Not against a team like Dallas. So, that's on us. That's on me as the head coach."

Perhaps nobody had a rougher night than blue-liner Nikita Zadorov. The 6-foot-6 rearguard was on the ice for zero high-danger scoring chances at five-on-five compared to nine against.

Game 2 is set for Monday at 9:45 p.m. ET.

Copyright (C) 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.