MINNEAPOLIS — With the Avs at the playoff crossroads where they often take a really bad turn for the worse, is Jared Bednar the right coach to keep this team on the right track?

Well, history tells us: Don’t count on it.

“I’m unoffendable,” Bednar said Sunday.

No offense. But here’s my truth: Teams coached by Bednar have a nasty habit of pumping the brakes instead of dropping the hammer in the postseason. In their never-ending pursuit of beautiful hockey, the Avs often forget that what’s needed most to close out a playoff series is a ruthless killer instinct.

In the wicked, twisted road to the Stanley Cup, trouble will find you, no matter how magnificently talented the team.

With Minnesota having punched a hole in the Avs’ aura of invincibility, Bednar has serious decisions to make for the first time this postseason. 

Don’t mess it up again, Coach.

Who is the team’s starting goalie now?

If Bednar switches to Mackenzie Blackwood from Scott Wedgewood, there’s a whiff of panic after Wedgie got chased to the bench early by Minnesota in Game 3.

But if Blackwood doesn’t get his shot now, Bednar’s promise to use both goalies in the playoffs could begin to ring hollow in the ears of a guy who has been left to gather dust on the bench.

Which way to turn for an answer between the pipes might not even be the biggest current issue for Colorado.

He’s known as Coach Blend-nar for a reason, and that reason was on full display during the first loss to Minnesota in this best-of-seven series.

Bednar gave Gabe Landeskog a look on the top line, flashed center Jack Drury on the second line, tinkering and fidgeting to find the jump suddenly missing from an offense that blitzed the Wild with 14 goals while taking a 2-0 series lead.

“There’s definitely lots of talk … about how we want to structure our lines,” said Bednar, who met with players in their cushy, posh hotel digs the day after a soft and uninspired playoff performance only a mother could love.

There have been problems festering in the top six for more than a hot minute, and they’re not cheap concerns.

In Brock Nelson and Val Nichushkin, the Avs are paying a combined $13.6 million in salaries to two skaters who have lost their offensive mojo. While Denver fans stood up and cheered the return of Nazem Kadri at the trade deadline, at age 35, there are nights when he appears to have lost a step, which makes him late to the puck.

The heavy hits and clamp-down defense that have been such a source of newfound pride for the Avs can also diminish the run-and-gun aggressiveness that makes them so dangerous. 

“Oftentimes,” Bednar said, “you have to give up something to get something.”

After a decisive 5-1 victory by the Wild cast a shadow of doubt on the Avs for the first time in this postseason, it was impossible not to ask:

Haven’t we seen this movie, and its unhappy ending, somewhere before?

Oh, yeah.

Round 2 of the NHL playoffs has long been the Avalanche’s bugaboo.

Game 7 against San Jose in 2019.

Game 7 against Dallas in 2020.

Game 6 against Vegas in 2021.

Game 6 against Dallas in 2024.

Bednar has won 445 regular-season games for Colorado, more than any other coach in franchise history.

But his record with the Avs in the second round of the playoffs?

It’s 1-4. That’s not acceptable. Not even close.

Should the prohibitive favorites to win the Cup get bounced in Round 2 again, despite being blessed with two of the league’s top five players in Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar?

Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

Win Game 4 to regain an ironclad grip on this series and we can banish all those ugly thoughts about the Avalanche letting championship-or-bust aspirations slip-slide away.

“I only have one way to coach,” Bednar said. “And I told them from Day 1 when I got here 10 years ago: ‘I’m going to tell you the truth, whether you like it or not.’ You might not like what I say, or even how I say it. I’ll say it as respectfully as I can. But I’m going to do the work and the breakdown and the preparation to give you the message I think is correct.”

With all due respect, if this incredibly talented Colorado team somehow falls short of a championship in 2026, it will be one of the greatest coaching failures in recent NHL history.

Even a wagon as loaded as the Avs doesn’t roll to the Stanley Cup without a steady hand on the reins when there are bumps in the road.

Your move, Mr. Bednar.