Bowen Byram has potentially been the most frustrating player on the Colorado Avalanche this season. Everyone knows he’s extremely talented, but he’s been remarkably inconsistent on the ice, and he knows it. The young defenseman has been critical of his game all year, but in the last week, he’s looked a bit more like the Byram we saw last season.
As it turns out, a meeting he had with his coach could be the reason why.
I asked Jared Bednar how much more noticeable Byram has been over the last three Avalanche games, and he explained that a meeting Byram had with Nolan Pratt has made an immediate impact. Jack Johnson didn’t have much to say after the win, especially to my question, but he was one of the stars on the evening with a two point performance.
Watch Johnson and Makar’s availability, and read what Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar had to say.
Jack Johnson
Bednar on the game overall:
“I liked the game in a lot of ways for us. To get the result is huge. Whenever you’re coming off of a crappy road trip and you’re digging in and guys are playing hard, very competitive tonight, especially in some of the areas that we talked about 5-on-5, you want to get results. It was tough sledding at times, because we gave up a couple really good chances and a couple goals. They get the powerplay goal early. I didn’t think our mindset changed much when it came to the work we had to do to win the hockey game. It was definitely a close game, but my feeling is they’re kind of going through the exact same thing we were. They were going to be digging in, paying attention to all the things that they need to to have success as well. It’s a good hockey team. They’ve given us trouble the last couple years, so to be able to get the results we wanted I think is huge.”
Bednar on the reviews:
“It certainly slowed down a little bit, but I think they made the right call on all of them. Our offside, we kind of had the one blueline camera that looks like it’s pretty obvious. And then our goal was definitely offside. I thought Nate’s was a good call too, so at least they got all the calls right. If you’re going to take that kind of time and sort through it, that’s what it’s for, make sure you get it right.”
Bednar on Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram getting more active:
“Very noticeable. (Nolan Pratt) had a meeting with Bo and went over some things, looked at some video. I think he was just caught in a rut, and right away, the last three games, that was the day that they watched the video together, I just see a more involved player. More assertive in all areas. When he’s playing like that, he has the ability and the talent and the vision to be able to make plays and help us score goals, and that’s what he’s done the last three games. I find when he’s playing like that, his defending is better as well.”
Bednar on Chris Wagner‘s first game back with the Avalanche:
“He had a good game. We shrunk the bench in the third period, but I bet if you look at his shifts and what he did, he was rock solid.”
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