Parenteau steps up after Roy chat

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DENVER -- P.A. Parenteau on Saturday morning had the look of a player intent on raising his game.

During a brief exchange with ESPN.com after the morning skate, he talked about how big Game 5 would be that night, and his eyes widened with intensity. Little did we know that he also had received a pep talk heading into the game.

"I had a good conversation with P.A. after Game 4," Avs coach Patrick Roy said Sunday.

"It was nice to talk to him," Parenteau said Sunday. "He's always believed in me. It was good to have that chat for sure."

Parenteau was scuffling in the opening four games of the series, going pointless and especially struggling, like many of his teammates, in those two losses at Minnesota. To be fair, the veteran winger missed a month late in the regular season with a knee injury and played in only the last two regular-season games as a tuneup before the playoffs. It most often takes time for a player to find his rhythm again, and that certainly has been the case for Parenteau.

But on Saturday night, his game-tying goal capped a strong effort overall, helping the Avs capture a 4-3 overtime win and a 3-2 series lead. It's what Roy wanted to see.

"Confidence comes from how hard you want to work," Roy said. "If you go to Wal-Mart, you cannot buy confidence from the business of hockey because they don't sell confidence at Wal-Mart. At the same time, if you move your feet, and he's moving like he was [Saturday], it's totally different. He's a smart hockey player, really good hockey IQ, and he's capable of having an IQ by playing at a faster pace. And that's what he did. I thought it was a very good game for him, and we needed that."