Jared Bednar to surpass Bob Hartley as Avalanche’s longest-tenured head coach Thursday at St. Louis

© Provided by Denver Post Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar in third period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, March 6, 2021, in Denver. The Ducks won 5-4 in overtime.

Jared Bednar will coach his 360th NHL game with the Avalanche on Thursday night at St. Louis to break the club record he shares with Bob Hartley, who led the Avs to the 2001 Stanley Cup.

“Hopefully, I can coach another 360-some games for the Avalanche,” Bednar said after the morning skate at Enterprise Center.

Bednar, 49, is in his fifth season with the Avs. He was hired in 2016 with no NHL head-coaching experience and inherited a bad team that went on to finish with club-lows in wins (22) and points (48). Hartley, who inherited a stellar team with no NHL coaching experience in 1998, was fired 31 games into his fifth season with the Avs in 2002-03.

“I try to live in the moment and coach in the moment,” Bednar said before the Avs’ first game in more than a week. “I don’t really look back on too much of the past. Right now we’re just trying to move forward and better our hockey team and that’s my goal. Same message I’m giving to our players, that if you take care of the process and habits and details, we’ll get the results we want.”

Bednar is second to Hartley on the Avs’ all-time coaching wins list. Bednar (175) is bound to catch Hartley (193) early next season. Colorado has 13 remaining games this regular season.

“I think that it’s important, as a coach, that you practice what you preach, so that’s what I try to do with our players. I’m fortunate to have made it through that first tough year. I’m thankful to the organization, our ownership group, and (general managers) Joe (Sakic) and Chris (MacFarland), and I’m really excited to coach our team. It’s an exciting team. I think we move forward every year and we’re looking forward to the playoffs this year.”

Joe Sacco is third in head-coaching games for the Avalanche at 294 (three full seasons plus the 2012-13 lockout-shortened year), and Marc Crawford, Joel Quenneville and Patrick Roy each are at 246 (three seasons). The Avs’ seventh head coach, Tony Granato, coached two-plus seasons in two stints between 2003-09.

Footnote. The Avalanche is without forwards Mikko Rantanen and Joonas Donskoi and goalie Philipp Grubauer, who each are on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol absence list and not on the trip. Rantanen is only in contact tracing protocol; Donskoi and Grubauer tested positive and are in quarantine.