ST. LOUIS — Without coach Jared Bednar, Nazem Kadri flies off the handle, past Elon Musk and straight into orbit.
Without Bednar, the Avalanche’s volatile center melts down in Game 4 the way an ice cream cookie does on an August picnic table.
Only two things stood between an angry mob and Kadri at the Enterprise Center last week: Plexiglass and Bednar. Colorado’s bench found itself surrounded by a forest of Blues fans extending middle fingers of friendship. And those were the nice ones.
And yet, whenever the temperature threatened to boil over, there was Bednar, always in Kadri’s ear, always coaching. An island of cool in a sea of deafening chaos.
“This is an emotional time,” Bednar explained with his familiar, Saskatchewan calm late Friday after Darren Helm’s rocket cinched a Game 6 victory and made him the first Avs coach to lead his team to the conference finals in 20 years. “Our team hasn’t been under that kind of stress a lot during the season.”
Without Bednar, they likely crumble. Without Bednar, Kadri loses his head. Without Bednar, goaltender Darcy Kuemper loses his mojo. Without Bednar, the Avs don’t wake up Saturday four wins away from the Stanley Cup Finals.
“There’s only one winner. We want it to be us,” the coach said. “I’m happy and proud of our guys, proud of our season to this point. But we’re just starting to work.”
Yes, hindsight makes geniuses of us all. Yes, the entirety of Game 2 and the third period of Game 5 turned into raging dumpster fires.
But the Avs found a way to respond.
Game 2: Blues goalie Jordan Binnington stands on his head. Panic ensues.
Game 3: Tweaking time. Lost in the noise of Kadri versus Binnington is an early goal from Logan O’Connor — whom Bednar decides to insert into the lineup after scratching the former Pio for the opening two games of the series.
Game 5: Avs blow a 3-0 lead at home. More panic.
Game 6: The finger-pointing is kept to a minimum, at least publicly. Bednar doubles down on Kuemper, who despite some shaky moments this past Friday, still manages to keep the Avs within shouting distance.
“I think the goalie is going to put a lot on himself, and I’m encouraging him not to,” Bednar noted a few hours before Game 6. “He’s perfectly capable of winning this (game) single-handedly.”
Or, in this case, almost losing it. But when the veteran goalie does go off the rails — or at the end of the second period, goes sliding on his back — his teammates are there to pick him up.
Josh Manson, the defenseman acquired in mid-March from Anaheim, sees a prone, helpless Kuemper and jumps in front of a wide-open net the way Superman used to jump in front of oncoming locomotives. Manson takes a puck from Jordan Kyrou off his chest, preventing the Blues from riding a 3-1 cushion into the third period.
“You know, you’re not going 16-0 to win the Stanley Cup,” Bednar said. “You understand that you’re going to face adversity. It’s how you respond and (how) you put away the tough times and keep dwelling on the good times you need to go back (to) after wins and (to) get a bounce-back after losses.”
Good coaches know where the buck stops. When the going got tough at Dove Valley, Uncle Vic Fangio tended to be quick with the finger and slow on the thumb.
Bednar’s emotions, win or lose, run the emotional gamut from A to B. Good coaches delegate authority, not blame.
The Kroenkes often treat the Avs like a burgundy-headed stepchild compared to the gazillions KSE rakes in from the Los Angeles Rams and London’s Arsenal Football Club. But they trust general manager Joe Sakic. Sakic, in turn, trusts Bednar.
Bednar, in turn, trusts captain Gabe Landeskog. When the occasional bud starts to dangle in that locker room, it doesn’t take long before the thing gets nipped.
“We’ve been through some dark times together and some tough times,” Landeskog said after Game 6. “It’s obviously rewarding getting over this hump. But at the same time, we’ve got a big goal in mind.”
Bednar isn’t a mastermind like Mike Shanahan. He’s doesn’t have George Karl’s esoteric whims or Bud Black’s chummy ease. His wit runs as dry as two-day old toast.
But if you’re going to bash the man for the sins of playoffs past, then give him credit for the last eight days, too. For lessons learned the hard way.
“You talked a lot about the players and what this means to advance the Western Conference finals,” a reporter asked the Avs coach after Game 6. “What are your emotions like? What does this look like for you, for your career, getting this far?”
Translation: Does this moment finally, ya know, get you off the hot seat?
Bednar, who knows exactly what this looks like, didn’t flinch.
“Honestly, I don’t really think about it for my career,” the coach replied. “I just — I know how much our players want it.”
Without Bednar, Helm isn’t on the ice with six seconds left of Game 6, with the score tied 2-2. How’d that work out?
