Coach Jared Bednar wants his Colorado Avalanche to play with 'passion' in Game 5 vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

DENVER — Colorado has a chance to clinch its first Stanley Cup since 2001 with a victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5 of the Cup Final on Friday, and the Avalanche are managing their emotions accordingly.

Instead of shying away from the naturally occurring nerves, coach Jared Bednar is encouraging his team to use those as fuel to be at their best come puck drop.

«You always hear about controlled emotion. I'm kind of the opposite with our team,» Bednar said on Friday. «Besides running around and getting out of our game plan, I want us to use our energy and nervous energy and emotion to go play the game with passion, play hard and stay on our toes and getting after it. That's my message to our team, has been all year. I want to harness that. I want our team to get on the attack.»

The Avalanche took a 2-0 lead over Tampa Bay in the Cup Final with a pair of strong performances at home. A 6-2 drubbing by the Lightning in Game 3 was Colorado's most lopsided defeat of the playoffs, and they responded with a tightly contested 3-2 overtime win in Game 4.

That lined up the opportunity at hand to potentially hoist the Cup on home ice Friday night. It's the biggest game of the Avalanche's season to date, and a monumental moment for the franchise. Colorado is staying immune to that pressure by treating the tilt like any other along the way.

«You're just sticking to your routine and knowing that you've got to go play a hockey game tonight,» J.T. Compher said. «We had some stuff we talked about cleaning up going into Game 5 tonight, and we're just focusing on ourselves, making sure we're mentally prepared to play a good, hard hockey game, check the right way and do all the things that made us successful.»

That's hardly lip