Avs Talk - A Colorado Avalanche Blog

A five-game winning streak was snapped in an OT loss against Minnesota on Sunday. During that 6-game run, the Avs took 11 of a possible 12 points. And yet they remain 10 points out of a playoff spot. It's frustrating to watch but it appears that the Avalanche locker room is no worse for wear right now. The typical "most important game of the year" and "take it one game at a time" cliches are being bandied about, but it truly seems like this team still feels they can make it. I suppose bouyed by an ever-calm leader in Joe Sakic as well as not having the team gutted by the GM at the deadline went a ways to keeping spirits up.

The kings of overtime, the Minnesota Wild, managed to get a game to OT after being down going into the third. This gave the Wild 2 points, and the Canucks 1 point in another NW overtime battle. I suppose I don't watch the other divisions closely enough to really make this call but...doesn't it seem like every NW matchup goes to OT lately? It's terribly frustrating to watch every team gain points in every single game. If this keeps up, it looks like the magic number to hit the playoffs could approach the 100 points plateau. And that's just ridiculous.

But as it stands, the drive for 95 continues on as the Avalanche welcome the Calgary Flames in this weeks Wednesday night game on TSN. I can't wait for the soothing sounds that come out Pierre McGuire's...mouth. Cliches well in check, this is a huge game for the Avalanche. With 3 games left to play against the Flames, they have a chance at cutting their playoff deficit in half if they can win all 3 games. It's a tall order but it's the only option on the menu for the Avalanche.

And speaking of TSN, they messed up the Paul/Peter Stastny thing countless times (4) in today's game preview. I never knew Paul scored so many times with the Nordiques and that Peter has been on a tear as of late! Nonetheless, Paul has a chance tonight to move into a tie with his father Peter for the second-longest streak in franchise history if he can get a point tonight.

The person most likely to help him achieve that mark tonight is Milan Hejduk. He has continued to have the hot hand lately as he has scored in eight consecutive games for the Avalanche, a vast majority of those being hookups with Paul Stastny. The development of those two as a potent combo has me very excited lately. Every time they're on the ice you feel they have the potential to do something amazing.

Karlis Skrastins and Marek Svatos will be out again today as they continue to rest their respective injuries. I guess it's good in a way that Karlis went down a with a legitimate injury and not some weak injury that only made him sit out one game. Hopefully people see what I mean by that. As for Svatos, it seemed he was starting to find his touch again and now he has to set up in the press box while he recovers. It's unfortunate as he has obviously had a very rough season. Fortunate for the Avs as they'll save a bundle when re-signing him, if they do. If they don't, they can still save a bundle by switching to Geico.

Injuries
Brisebois - back, out for season
Leopold - wrist, mid-March
Turgeon - calf, IR
Skrastins - knee, day-to-day
Svaots - groing, day-to-day

Conroy - upper body, day-to-day
Richie Regehr - consussion, IR
McCarty - hip, IR

Hot
Stastny has 16 in 10, Hejduk has 7 in 4, Clark has 2 in 3.

Iginla has 20 in 13, Langkow has 12 in 14, Huselius has 4 in 2.

Cold
Sakic has 1 in 4, Arnason has 0 in 4, Guite has 1 in 4.

Amonte has 0 in 6, Lombardi has 1 in 5, Stuart has

Goaltenders
Peter Budaj - 23-15-5, 2.72 GAA, .906 save pct
Miikka Kiprusoff - 34-19-9, 2.46 GAA, .916 save pct

Standings
Colorado - 34-29-6, 4th in NW, 9th in West
Calgary - 37-22-10, 3rd in NW, 8th in West