The aves just wrapped up practice here at Family Sports Center.

Their first practice ahead of the Western Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Knights. We've got a lot to touch on here, a lot of guys on the ice. Some guys not. Coach Bednar gave us some injury updates on those guys. We were able to talk to the locker room and Coach Bednar about their thoughts on this matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights coming up. coming up. But before we get into all of that, make sure you guys are liking and subscribing to us here at DNBR Sports. We've been here all year, practices, games, availability. We have all of the daily news for you guys. So make sure you are hitting that big red subscribe button down below. Clicking that notification icon so you never miss an upload. We've got pregames, post games, watch-alongs, your heart desires as far as Aves' playoff hockey is concerned. Now, as I mentioned, there were a lot of guys on the ice. This was a full practice for the team. Despite that, some guys were missing on the ice. Guy who was there though, Sam Malinski, this was his first appearance on the ice since MorningSgate ahead of game four in Minnesota. Due to an upper body

injury, he was a late scratch during warmups. But there's some good signs. Molinsky is back on the

ice. He was in a non-contact jersey, maybe not taking drills the way that he should have been.

But seeing him back on the ice is a good step forward for Sam Malinski in returning to the lineup. Another guy who was on the ice, but only for a short while, Josh Manson was at practice today. He started practice with the rest of the group, but he did leave five to ten minutes into the practice heading back to the locker room. We got some updates on him, as well as the three other guys that were not on the

ice in Arturi Lekan, Kail McCarr, and Brent Burns. Coach Bednar said they are still dealing

with some things as far as injuries are concerned. He does expect some of them to make an

appearance on the ice for practices ahead of the first game of the Western Conference final.

What I thought was very interesting,

though, he made sure to skirt around the word all. He did not say all of them would be returning,

so keep your eye on that as practices continue heading into the Western Conference Final.

Now, going inside the locker room, we had a chance to talk to a bunch of different guys about

this matchup coming up ahead against the Vegas Golden Knights.

And every single one of them were very quick to say that this is a very good, very talented team.

What I thought was interesting in particular with Gabe Landisog when he talked was he said that John Tortorella has been a key part of that room,

and they've played really well underneath him since he's come in and taken over that locker room. Now I went and did some research on this. Since John Tortorella arrived in Vegas, during the regular season, they went 7-0-1 in their last run leading into the playoffs. In this current playoffs now, though, they are 8 and 4. So maybe not as good as that regular season record, but you're still looking at a very talented

Vegas team that can turn that around and, again, responds really well to John Tortorella and what he's been doing on the ice and in the locker room. Another thing that came up a lot in the locker room with talking with the guys today was veteran presence and experience. And they all said that the Vegas Golden Knights have a lot of it. They've got guys up and down their lineup who have spent a lot of time on the ice and in postseason runs in the last couple of years. But what I thought was really interesting when Jack Derry was asked about this specifically, you said the Colorado Avalanche have a lot of veteran guys and guys with a lot of experience as well. Four of those guys, Nathan McKinnon, Gabe Landisog,

Cail McCar, and Devon Taves, he said have specifically been very instrumental in making

sure this group is ready to go ahead of game one. Now, a long rest is not something the Colorado

Avalanche are unfamiliar to in this postseason run so far, but Jared Bednar was quick to talk about

the rest that this team is experiencing currently. As I mentioned beforehand, a lot of the guys in the room are dealing with some little things

that they're excited for this period of rest particularly to make sure that they're ready

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