The Colorado Avalanche have reached rock bottom.
Head coach Jared Bednar was blunt about the team's morale after collapsing in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 3-0 series lead.
"Well it's low. It's as low as it can get," Bednar told reporters postgame. "Because (we) have a big hill to climb. That's what the next 24-36 hours is for. (We) gotta find a way to get over it, regroup, and go again."
The Avalanche had a perfect start to the game, jumping out to a 3-0 lead after the first period. However, the Golden Knights stormed back and scored five unanswered goals to win the game.
To make matters worse for the Avalanche, Nathan MacKinnon suffered a leg injury while blocking a shot in the second period. He played sparingly the rest of the way and was clearly limited by the ailment.
Only four teams in Stanley Cup Playoff history have won a series after trailing 3-0: the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, the 1975 New York Islanders, the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers, and the 2014 Los Angeles Kings.
The Avalanche will need plenty to go their way in order to become the fifth team to pull off the improbable series comeback. Bednar, though, said it's too early to project how he expects his group to respond to the adversity.
"We're not there yet, I don't know. Everyone's down in the dumps right now," Bednar said. "Like I said, that's what the next 36 hours are for, to get our team back to where our focus is in the right place. Seems like a tough hill to climb, clearly, obviously. Especially against a team like Vegas. (We) just gotta break it down. Shift at a time, five at a time, period at a time, game at a time."
