It’s time for the Avalanche to Brock n’ Roll.

Bring me New York Islanders center Brock Nelson before the looming NHL trade deadline.

Or don’t come crying to me when Colorado coach Jared Bednar and the Avs do what they do best: Get dumped out of the NHL playoffs in time to book a cottage on the lake for Memorial Day.

An early playoff exit is no way to turn a profit from hockey for Stan and Josh Kroenke, who have a multi-billion fortune at their disposal, but have every right to run the Avalanche like a business.

On a Tuesday night when the Avs were often sloppy and slow, they escaped with a 4-1 victory against a sad group of Penguins not worthy of being on the ice with Pittsburgh legend Sidney Crosby.

“To know you can win when you don’t have your ‘A’ game is definitely a confidence boost,” said Avalanche center Casey Mittelstadt, who broke a 1-1 tie nearly 16 minutes into the third period with a power-play goal set up by smooth as butter stick work and a sweet as sugar pass from teammate Val Nichushkin.

Ahem … if the regular season is all about building playoff habits, this was the meh hockey that gets a team beat in the postseason.

“We beat up the puck pretty bad … worst I’ve seen in a while,” Bednar said.

For a team with not one but two generational talents in Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, the Avs are spectacular underachievers. Despite having exactly one magnificent playoff run and a whole lot of nothing during an affable coach’s eight seasons on the Colorado bench, a much-too-forgiving fan base allows Bednar to skate from any responsibility.

With the clock loudly ticking toward the trade deadline on Friday afternoon, the pressure is on Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland to make one more big move that makes a difference.

The most obvious target is Nelson, a 33-year-old center who can still be hell on wheels. He has 20 goals and 43 points in 61 games. After beating Winnipeg 3-2 in what could be his final game of a 12-season career with the Isles, Nelson fought back tears.

Free agency awaits Nelson, which could make him a rental. But in the quest for a Cup, he would be a significant upgrade from Mittelstadt, who is definitely not a championship-worthy answer at 2C, no matter how MacFarland wishes it to be so.

Earlier this week, MacFarland threw a bone to Mittelstadt, who doesn’t need a home of his own in metro Denver, seeing as he lives nearly 24/7 in Bednar’s doghouse.

MacFarland reminded us Mittelstadt played his best hockey last season during the playoffs.

“We definitely need to see that version of Casey, and I’m confident that we will,” MacFarland said.

And what did that work by Mittelstadt get the Avalanche?

The regrets that result from this team’s nasty habit of flaming out in the second round of the playoffs.

Since hoisting the Cup in 2022, the Avs have been forced to wait for next year for too many reasons.

If it’s not wishing that Nichushkin gets his life together, it’s praying that captain Gabe Landeskog can find a miracle cure for his broken body or searching for the second-line center that’s worthy of jumping over the boards when MacKinnon steps off the ice.

OK, let me interrupt this rant to give MacFarland his flowers. While way too many Avaholics moaned, groaned and cried in their Labatt’s Blue when the team traded away Mikko Rantanen, it was absolutely the right thing to do, as I insisted at the time. The Moose is a righteous dude that began to care more about how much he was going to get paid in free agency than going on a deep playoff run with his buds in the Colorado locker room.

After Martin Necas came over in the trade from Carolina and blended seamlessly with MacKinnon, it should now be obvious to all that the Avs have a top line fully capable of winning the Cup.

Equally obvious: Nearly three years later, Colorado still hasn’t filled the hole at 2C since Nazem Kadri rode the championship parade straight out of town.

While MacFarland gets heat because his name isn’t Joe Sakic, the current architect of the Avalanche roster certainly hasn’t been afraid to shake up a roster in need of a jolt.

If not Nelson, you could talk me into feisty Seattle veteran Yanni Gourde or Chicago Blackhawks firebrand Ryan Donato.

But if this is the group that opens the playoffs for the Avs, they can make reservations at the lake and watch the Stanley Cup final on television.