ST. PAUL, Minn. — Just like there’s the game within the game, there can also be a change within the change — and it’s one of the reasons why the Colorado Avalanche are now a win away from the Western Conference finals.

The tactical decisions Avalanche coach Jared Bednar made to change his defensive pairings, forward lines and starting goaltender had the desired effect in his team’s 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild in Game 4 of their second-round series on Monday night.

It also had another consequence: The Avalanche, a team that has been known more for their skill, skating and speed, finished with more than 30 hits for the first time this postseason.

A team taking a more physical approach in the playoffs? OK, sure. That’s to be expected. What made the Avalanche’s 32-hit performance against the Wild significant is how they’ve added a layer to their game, after already establishing themselves as one of the NHL’s most successful regular-season teams.

“I think there’s two things. One, it’s what the game requires this time of year, right? The biggest change from regular-season hockey and playoff hockey is the buy-in and the commitment to defend from every team,” Bednar said. “And the second thing is intensity and physicality. It’s going to go off. There’s less room, there’s less space. If you want to check the puck back, you’ve got to be physical. If you want to hang onto the puck, you’ve got to be more physical.”

No team has won more regular-season games or scored more goals than the Avalanche going back to the 2021-22 campaign in which they won their third Stanley Cup in franchise history. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Avs are also in the top five in shot share in 5-on-5 play within that timeframe, another sign of how much they control possession.

It’s a contrast to how many — or rather, how few — hits the Avs deliver in the regular season compared to the playoffs.

They’ve been among the bottom teams in the NHL in hits given in the regular season from 2021-22 to 2025-26, according to MoneyPuck. Colorado has finished no higher than 24th, with an average of 18 hits per game over that time. They finished 31st this season, the Avalanche’s lowest seasonal ranking in that category, averaging 15.4.

The postseasons going back to 2022 show a different story. The Avs came into this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs averaging 35.6 hits per playoff game over the past four years. That’s nearly double what they’ve averaged in the regular season over that same window.

In the Avs’ first seven games — a sweep of the Los Angeles Kings in Round 1 and the first three against the Wild — they averaged approximately 25 hits per game. The 32 in Game 4 represented a ramping up, something that may well continue into Game 5 on Wednesday in Denver.

“I think it’s just what the time of year calls for, really,” Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “You’re right. It’s not one of those things that you — you don’t talk about it. You don’t have to talk about it. It’s not part of the game plan. It’s just kind of heightened because it’s the playoffs.”

NINE PLAYERS REMAIN from the Avalanche team that won the Stanley Cup in 2022. (That number dipped after the club traded defenseman Samuel Girard, but returned to nine when general manager Chris MacFarland reacquired Nazem Kadri at the trade deadline.)

It’s a core that features a Hart Trophy winner in Nathan MacKinnon, a two-time Norris Trophy winner in Cale Makar, in addition to Kadri, Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen, Logan O’Connor, Josh Manson, Valeri Nichushkin, Devon Toews.

One challenge for MacFarland and his front office staff has been finding players who can offer physicality and play within Bednar’s structure at team-friendly prices. The need for those players became clear during that Cup run, when Landeskog, Darren Helm and Erik Johnson were among the top 10 in hits per game.

Altogether, the Avs averaged 35.3 hits in the 2022 postseason.

Helm played 11 games the next season before retiring. Johnson spent one more season with the Avs, while Landeskog wouldn’t return until the 2025 playoffs as he recovered from a chronic right knee injury.

Colorado averaged 31 hits per game in the year after winning the Cup but was eliminated in the first round. Even with the physicality, a lack of secondary scoring doomed the Avs while further reinforcing the need to find players who could do both.

Enter Ross Colton, whom MacFarland traded for after the 2023 postseason. Colton was part of the Tampa Bay Lightning teams that won consecutive Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021 before they lost to the Avs in 2022. He has provided the Avs with another top-nine scoring option who was also among the top 10 in hits per game during the 2022 postseason.

“It’s really the mentality,” Colton said. “We might not be the biggest team, but we play fast and I think when you’re doing things the right way and putting pucks behind their [defense] and kind of making them turn and you’re finishing off guys like [Quinn] Hughes and [Brock] Faber.

“We got mature guys in this room who know what it takes. Those guys like to get through to the neutral zone and make plays, but there’s a time and a place for that. We preach that in the room. Get them deep and make them turn and wear them out with it being a long series.”

To Colton’s point about the Avs not being the biggest team, he’s right: Following Game 3, Elite Prospects ranked the Avs 27th in the NHL in height (average of 6-foot-1). The Avs are also on the lighter side, checking in at 28th with an average weight of 196 pounds.

That’s what made it so important for MacFarland to get the trade deadline right. Kadri is familiar with their system and gives them another top-nine center. Defenseman Brett Kulak and center Nicolas Roy were also key acquisitions at the deadline. Kulak, who is 6-1 and 192 pounds, provides more size on the back end. Roy (6-4, 200 pounds) provides versatility in that he can play down the middle or on the wing.

Another key ingredient to the Avs’ deadline haul: all three players have Stanley Cup Final experience. Kulak has played in three finals (for the Montreal Canadiens in 2021 and the Edmonton Oilers in 2024 and 2025), while Roy won a Stanley Cup in 2023 with the Vegas Golden Knights.

“I think I’m just trying to play my game and always be physical,” Roy said about adapting to the Avalanche. “You just try to be hard to play against in those battles. Wherever I’ve played, it’s going to be part of my identity. It’s just how I play. This team is not going to see the most hits on the board, but we’re hard to play against.”

BEDNAR WANTS HIS team to be physical. He also admits there’s nuance to what the Avalanche’s brand of physical looks like.

He explained how teams that hold onto the puck and control possession aren’t likely going to be in a position to frequently deliver hits.

“It’s not even a stat that I track. The eye test tells me when we’re getting outmuscled and out-physicaled enough over the course of the regular season,” Bednar said. “And if I feel like the physicality needs to [ramp] up in games, then we address it with our team, but it usually does. But if you’re going to possess the puck, you’re going to have less hits than the other team.”

That’s another reason the Avs’ Game 4 win over the Wild was comprehensive: they controlled the puck and still delivered slightly more hits. The Avs had a 64% shot share in 5-on-5 play, according to Natural Stat Trick. They also had a plus-three hit differential against the Wild.

A 5-1 loss in Game 3 against the Wild was the Avs’ first of the postseason. It also led to numerous changes. Bednar made adjustments to all of his forward lines, with Colton and Roy being moved to the second line with Brock Nelson, while Kadri centered the third line with Nichushkin and O’Connor.

The Avs’ second line had nine shots in Game 4, with Colton scoring the go-ahead goal in the third period to make it 2-1 and Nelson adding an empty-netter. The Avs’ third line also had nine shots, with Kadri scoring a power-play goal that tied the game at 1 in the second period.

Those two lines combined to deliver 14 hits, while the Avs’ fourth line led by Parker Kelly — who scored the game-winning goal — added eight. That’s 22 hits delivered by forwards beyond the Avs’ top line, also showing that most of the physicality doesn’t need to be generated by their defensemen.

“I think it’s a balance, and especially a player like myself, I can’t be running around all year,” Kadri said. “That’s a good way to exhaust yourself and possibly lead to injuries. You’ve got to be smart with it. It’s all about balance. Obviously, in the playoffs, things get more physical. But the physicality, that’s kind of expected this time of year.”