Both physically and mentally.

The Avs, who still believe in the morning skate, were in suburban southeast Denver, working out at their practice facilily, the Family Sports Center. The facility, which has been in the news lately because it's changing ownership and may require the Avalanche to kick in a few bucks, is an upbeat place with a golf course outside and just about every arcade game known to man on the inside.

Aside from the media, who made the journey to cover practice, there were a bunch of fans peeking through some plexiglas windows at their heroes. On the ice, those heroes looked like a bunch of kids enjoying the Memorial Day holiday away from school. They were smiling and laughing throughout the hour-long session. I guess that's what a 5-0 win in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final will do for you.

As a team, the Avs displayed lots of jump in their very high-tempo workout, which featured some serious banging and crashing along the boards – somewhat unusual for a practice during the Cup finals.

Rob Blake, who some thought might have been injured in third period of Game 1, wore his usual boyish grin as he jabbed back and forth with Ville Nieminen, who shares a ride to practice with Blake ("I pay the gas," noted a smiling Nieminen after practice). Blake ended any lingering speculation about his physical condition by declaring himself 100 percent healthy.

Throughout the Avs' smallish practice locker room, Blake and the rest of his teammates were singing just one tune after practice. It went something like this:

The Devils will play much better in Game 2.

To a man, every Avs player sang it loudly to the media. And, they sang it with a smile.

A few hours later, those Devils – who like to practice in the afternoon – took the ice at the downtown Pepsi Center, empty except for the maintance staff and a small army of media covering the series, making for a very subdued environment.

The defending champs didn't flash many smiles during their session, which lasted about 45 minutes. The Devils seemed all business as they went through some drills designed for them to react faster to the hard-charging Avs.

Based on practice, it appears coach Larry Robinson will juggle his lines in Game 2, forming an all-Russian line of LW Sergei Brylin, C Sergei Nemchinov and RW Alexander Mogilny, who hasn't scored a goal in his last 11 games. Robinson also watched an all-centers line with Scott Gomez (no points in his last six games), Bobby Holik and Bob Corkum, a likely replacement for the injured Randy McKay. On this line, Holik will center, while Gomez plays LW and Corkum moves to the right side.

After their workout, the Devils – appearing a bit tighter than their Western Conference foe – shrugged off any questions about the line changes and sang their own tune. That one went like this:

We'll be better in Game 2.

To a man, every Devils player sang their song with full voice to the attending press.

Unlike their counterparts, though, the Devils weren't smiling.

E.J. Hradek writes puck for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail ej.hradek@espnmag.com.