Despite recent frustrations, Jared Bednar knows that Valeri Nichushkin can find his game

Valeri Nichushkin has not been on his A game for the Colorado Avalanche in the first five games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the frustration has been mounting for the winger. He smashed a stick in Monday’s loss to Dallas, and then smashed another one at morning skate leading up to Game 6 on Thursday.

Nichushkin, who is one of the best offensive players for Colorado when he’s on the ice, has just one goal in five games this series, and it was a goal that was practically handed to him as Matt Duchene left him wide open in the middle of the ice in Game 3. He has no assists and was a -3 in Game 5 as the second line couldn’t get anything going.

Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar knows that the Chu Chu Train hasn’t been playing his best hockey, but is also confident that he can find his game at the right time with his back against the wall.

“I don’t love seeing [him smash his sticks] because it means that he’s not happy with the way he’s playing … I do know that he holds himself to a very high standard of play … He’s had a couple games in this series that haven’t been great,” Bednar said Thursday morning. “I just go back again to Game 4, he was one of the best players on the ice, and I know that he can repeat that so I relay that to him. It’s just, put the work first and the rest of your game will follow.”

The 30-year-old led the Avalanche in goals last postseason, with nine, and had the fifth-most points on the team during the 2022 run to the Stanley Cup. His play is vital for Colorado to make a deep playoff run, and it showed last year after he was suspended before Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals.

Nichushkin is still slated to be on the second line in Game 6, and he and the rest of that line will need a much stronger performance after getting run out of the American Airlines Center in Game 5. Even if he’s not playing his best, having him on the ice is better than the last two postseasons when he wasn’t, but he needs to level up his game to keep the team’s hopes of another Stanley Cup alive.

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