Hey thanks so much for joining
us here on 9 News Plus I'm Chris
Bianchi and now we're out to Tampa,
FL at 9 News Sports reporter Ariel or
pseudo who joins us from Emily Arena
and Tampa for game four tonight between
the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa
Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Avalanche with A21 series lead,
but that got halved back on Monday night
when the Avalanche lost six to two.
It was a bit of a disappointing
performance coming off the seven nothing.
Then in Game 2,
back on Saturday night at Ball Arena.
But for a bit more on tonight's game,
four now joined by Ariel.
Thanks so much for taking time
to join us in Ariel.
What's your kind of general overview
about how things sit right now?
How?
What is the Avalanche locker
room feeling like at this point?
Yeah, you know, right?
Right now they're still in the driver seat.
They're up to one in the series,
so they still have that
advantage and they feel it.
They at least outwardly.
They're saying they feel it right
after the game they've been.
They were responding the
way they've been responding.
They were positive.
They were saying they're resilient,
and it's the way we've seen them react
that they're each one of the losses.
Which, by the way,
have only been three the entire postseason,
which is pretty crazy to think about.
But after the first two losses
in the Saint Louis series,
they were both home losses.
They responded the same way they were.
Saying that,
you know we're a resilient group,
we're going to bounce back
and they never lost back to
back games after that at all.
So that's the same way they came
out after the game the other night,
and we'll see if they can
keep that up here tonight.
We'll see. Obviously,
and maybe one potential boost is
that I know now some Kadri went
out there for the morning skate.
He's been out since the Edmonton
series believe his game.
Three of the Edmonton series area.
What's the latest on category?
Will he be able to suit up?
Yeah, well we saw him out there
for morning skate this morning.
He was wearing the the Burgundy
sweater indicating that he's probably
on the second power play unit.
He's usually on the 1st power play unit.
That's likely because he didn't
exactly look like he had all
of his power in his shooting.
It's it's his right thumb.
It's his shooting thumb,
so that's what you're gonna have to look
at to see if that he can actually go
out there and put some power behind that.
That wrist shot or anything like
that on the on the the stick.
I should say so it didn't really look
like he was putting a lot of power.
Kind anything.
So they did say Jared Bednar
said that he will be available.
He never releases lineup,
so he didn't say he'd be in the lineup.
He said he'd be available tonight.
The players also said that they're looking
forward to seeing him back in there tonight,
so he should probably be in there.
It's just a matter of how many
minutes he's going to play.
Is he going to be actually, you know,
used for his amount of minutes?
Probably not.
That's probably not what
you're going to see
out of there, Chris.
It's potentially a big
boost there with Kadri.
Then there's the other big
question and Darcy Kemper,
the regular starter for the Avalanche.
Old in the middle of the second
period after giving up five
goals back in game three,
is there any clarity as
to whether it will be?
Paper or his backup Pebble Francis
in between the pipes tonight.
Yeah, once again Jared Bednar.
Not one to ever release his lineup so
he did not clarify that it's going
to be Darcy Kemper in net tonight.
However, you can almost all
but assume that it will be.
They were using words like
Darcy as our starter.
You know that we believe in Darcy
and so Darcy probably all but 100%
will be between the pipes tonight.
He also was the goaltender in the
starting goal for morning skate.
That's usually an indication of who
will be the starting goaltender.
Pavil Francois was in the other net.
He's a reliable guy though.
I mean, he's not your usual starting goal.
Sorry, backup goaltender.
He's a very, very steady workhorse.
He's exactly who you want to be.
Your your backup.
He's got a he's he's got like
ice through his veins.
That's the kind of guy
that you want backing up,
but he's going to be the backup tonight in
my business is pretty clear it. Plus,
I mean Ariel is a bit more subjective here,
but it'd be tough to go to francos
and then go back to Kemper again.
I think this may be a bit of an intentional.
Is it not by head coach Jared Bednar?
Yeah, I think that's exactly what it is.
It's it's really tough on the mentality
of everybody in the dressing room.
If you flip flop back and
forth so you have to be steady,
you have to go with your starting
goaltender and that all season has
been Darcy Kemper and that's why you
have to go with him again tonight.
You have to say that we believe in him
and that's really gamesmanship as well.
Because if you go back to
Pavel Francois tonight,
then you're also telling John
Cooper on the other side of Tampa
that you know that you are not
so sure in your own in your own.
Building that you're not so sure of
your own goaltending and that really
doesn't give a whole sense of of the
fact that you're sure of your own team.
So I think it's also it's some
gamesmanship there as well.
You have to go with your starting
to go. Sounds like it's
gonna be the starter again,
Kemper in probably in that for tonight.
Curious. Having been in Tampa and having
been at Ball Arena for games one and two,
how the atmospheres compare at Emily
Arena there in Tampa compared to
what it was like here in Denver at
Ball Arena for games. One and two.
Was it louder or quieter?
And one arena or the other?
You know it's comparable.
I have to admit I've been to a lot of
different arenas and this one is pretty loud.
I do think there's actually probably.
I haven't counted and I actually
didn't even see the official chart,
but it seems like there's actually more
seats here than there are in ballerina,
but there's nothing.
There is nothing compared to
the atmosphere of ballerina,
especially during the playoffs.
Games, one games,
two this series where the loudest
things I've ever heard in all of
my years of covering this team.
But the game three it was pretty good,
especially as this team was just
piling on in that second period,
so they're going to have to
take the crowd out of it like.
That should do that.
You've got to start peppering
Andre Vasilevsky early and often,
and perhaps a goal from Neath McKinnon,
who, surprisingly through three games
has two assists but no goals yet.
As their discussion on the avalanche
side of having to get him a bit
more involved in the series.
Yeah, he's got some helpers,
but but no goals. But I mean, hey,
you know he's Nathan McKinnon.
No matter what, he's still out there.
He's still contributing.
He's still is almost always in the plus
of the plus minus on every single game.
So it's not like he's out there
just laying an egg every night.
I mean, he's still.
They have to double him up on every
single play and when he gets doubled up,
someone is left open and typically that's
been that's been somebody else on the
power play that's been Mikko Rantanen,
who's been able to get seven points.
The most of any Avalanche player
ever in a Stanley Cup final,
he has seven points so far.
All of them have been assists,
though for for the Moose
so he can actually pat.
He can make he can make history tonight
if he can get two more points tonight,
he could be the first player
ever to score multiple points
in four straight Stanley Cup
Final. It's so funny.
I kind of remember back to the
Predators series and I think the
beginning of the Blues series
where all the discussion it was.
Where's Ranton and then suddenly he's come
on strong here in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
So those things tend to kind of oscillate.
A little bit and Ariel I might put
you on the spot here a little bit.
I know you're out there on a reporting basis,
but I'm curious what you think
happens here tonight in Game 4.
Ohh man, I think I think I've
already told you this and if I
haven't you're gonna hear it now.
I do not do predictions ever.
I don't do predictions, so at least
from a win loss basis I never do win,
loss, win loss predictions.
So how about I give you more of
like a like an atmosphere or a vibe,
or like how I feel like this is going
to go is that. Is that OK can we?
Can we agree on that?
Take it, we'll take it early.
No, that's fine, yeah.
OK, OK, I think this one is going to
be a significantly different game.
I don't think it's going.
I don't think you're going to see the like
the 70 swing that you saw in game two.
You know with the Avalanche, but I
think they are going to come out firing.
I think they are going to get the
the first goal again here tonight,
but I don't think it's going
to be the last one they get.
How about that?
OK? Well that sounds as a self admitted.
I know what we're supposed
to be a neutral here I am.
I'm certainly not neutral. I'm a long,
lifelong diehard Colorado Avalanche,
so I'm going to fan.
I'm gonna go ahead and say that off the
bat here, so that sounds good to me.
Ariel, I will.
I will take that and run with it.
But Ariel, thanks so much for taking
the time to join us here on 9 News Plus
for a detailed look at tonight's game
four between the Avs and Lightning.
Thanks again for joining us here today.
Hey, thank you so much for having me.
It's always fun chatting with you and
and this has been quite the experience.
I mean I would never trade this for anything.
Being able to cover this team from
the beginning of the season all the
way to the final game of the season.
I mean what what an incredible experience.
We'll see you back here.
We know we'll see you back here
in Denver with the Avalanche
on Friday night as well.
So we know that there's still
another leg of the journey to go.
And we'll find out tonight
whether it may be another trip
back to Tampa for you as well.
Early next week.
So again Ariel or Sudo joining
us from Emily Arena in Tampa.
Thanks again.
Thank you.