Avalanche star MacKinnon, coach Bednar move on after heated verbal exchange

MONTREAL — Colorado Avalanche star centre Nathan MacKinnon and coach Jared Bednar seem to have put an ugly incident behind them.

While meeting with reporters on Friday, MacKinnon and Bednar did their best to play down a dispute caught on camera on the bench on Wednesday night in Calgary.

An emotional MacKinnon appeared to be mouthing “Do your job” to Bednar toward the end of the Avalanche’s 5-3 loss to the Flames, Colorado’s eighth defeat in the past nine games. MacKinnon said he felt the team should have pulled the goalie earlier, but was clear he didn’t feel he handled the situation the right way.

“I saw it after Calgary game and was pretty rattled in my hotel room,” MacKinnon said. “Just looking like an idiot screaming. That can’t happen again.”

MacKinnon said he talked with Bednar shortly after the game.

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“I love playing for Bedsy. Everyone loves playing for Bedsy in here. That’s on me and I take responsibility for it,” MacKinnon said.

Bednar doesn’t sound like he’ll be holding a grudge

“It didn’t bother me at all,” he said. “That’s what I love about Nathan and certain guys on our team, the fire, passion and emotion they play with and they have. That’s what you need in this game. It’s an important part of the game.

“That’s what makes him so good, so I never want to curb that. My job as a coach is to make sure we’re driving that emotion and passion and energy into the right places and focusing on the right place — and we’re doing it in a positive way and that will lead to winning. I forgot about it by the time we went down the tunnel. I thought we should chat about it and we did and we’re good.”

The Avalanche face the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

The Canadian Press