SEATTLE — On the drive to Game 1, Bo Byram found himself auto-piloting into his old ways.
At some point early in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs — he doesn’t exactly recall when or how — the young defenseman developed a habit during his drive to the rink. Approaching Ball Arena from the south on Speer Blvd., Byram convinced himself he needed to stay in the second lane from the left for the entire drive. “A bit ridiculous,” he called it.
But the Avs were winning, so he couldn’t abandon the plan. He would wait until almost the last second to get over two lanes, into the left-turn lane off Speer to Ball Arena.