Is it too early for the Avalanche to talk about having home-ice advantage in the postseason? Not at all. The Avalanche have apparently been talking about it for months.

With a 4-2 win on Saturday night over the Nashville Predators and a Dallas Stars loss, the Avalanche extended their lead to six points in the race for the top spot in the Central Division. It’s only Dec. 13 so there’s plenty of hockey left to be played, but the Avalanche have put themselves in a good spot to have home-ice advantage throughout the postseason.

That’s exactly what they want.

“We talked about it before training camp started,” Bednar said of home-ice advantage. “It’s not something we’re visiting on a daily basis because we know how important it can be. Yeah, I think that’s brought up. We talk about it as a group, we set our mind to something, and then we move on.”

“I think it should be always in the back of our mind, especially this year.”

Every year, if you’re in the Central Division, a division that continues to be the cream of the crop in the NHL. This week, it got even tougher.

The Minnesota Wild, currently sitting in third place behind Colorado and Dallas in the Central, found a way to get even better, acquiring one of the best defensemen in the world in Quinn Hughes. They had to give up a fair bit to make it happen, including former DU phenom Zeev Buium, but when you have a chance to acquire a top-flight player like Hughes, it won’t come cheap.

“Obviously, with Hughes going to (Minnesota), they’re better. They’re immediately better,” Bednar said. “And they’re already one of the top teams in the league and a really good team in our division right now. Something we’re going to probably have to deal with at some point.”

“At some point” will be next weekend, when the Avalanche travel to Minnesota for their first look at Hughes in a Wild uniform. If things go as planned the rest of the season for the Avalanche, the Stars and Wild will beat each other up in the first round before Colorado has to face the eventual winner.

And having most of those games take place at Ball Arena isn’t something the Avalanche are afraid to talk about. It’s a far different tone from the Avalanche of the last two seasons, who started slow and just wanted to be playing well when the playoffs started.

Another sign that this year’s team might just be built differently.

Avalanche 4, Predators 2

What happened: It wasn’t Colorado’s best performance, but even on average nights, they still peppered the opposing goaltender with 42 shots.

What went right: The Avalanche have started hot frequently this season. Nathan MacKinnon’s early goal was the ninth time the Avalanche have scored in the first 90 seconds of a game this season.

What went wrong: Colorado changed up their power play units and setup on Saturday, but got the same result. An 0-for-4 evening for the Avalanche with the man advantage, although they did score 6-on-5 on a delayed Predators penalty. Unfortunately, that doesn’t count as a power play goal.

Avalanche goal scorers: MacKinnon (26), Drury (5), Olofsson (7), Nichushkin (8)

Predators goal scorers: Marchessault (7), Jost (2)

Between the pipes: Scott Wedgewood was solid in net, stopping 27 shots for another win.

What’s next: The Avalanche hit the road for one game, getting their first look at the Seattle Kraken this season on Tuesday at 8 p.m.