CENTENNIAL - Nobody in the Avalanche dressing room Tuesday was downplaying the importance of tonight's game.

We've all heard it before, and we're going to hear it some more.

It's a must-win.

The Avalanche meets Calgary tonight at the Pepsi Center (7, Altitude), and Colorado's flickering playoff aspirations will be on the line.

Colorado is ninth in the Western Conference standings, and only the top eight teams qualify for the playoffs.

Calgary is in eighth place, 10 points ahead of the Avalanche, and tonight's game is the first of three remaining between the teams.

"We have to win, that's the bottom line," right wing Milan Hejduk said. "We have to take care of business, win the game, and we need to get some help down the road."

After tonight, the Avalanche and Flames meet April 3 in Calgary and April 8 at the Pepsi Center in the regular-season finale.

"Every game is critical and none bigger for us than (tonight's) game," Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said.

Colorado, which saw its five-game winning streak end with an overtime loss at Minnesota, has recorded points in each of its past six games but hasn't gained much in the standings.

"You figure when you win five in a row and get 11 out of 12 points you are going to gain four or five points," Colorado center Tyler Arnason said. "We gained two. That's tough."

But he doesn't believe the Avalanche faces an impossible task.

"We haven't taken ourselves out of it yet," Arnason said. "We play three games against Calgary. . . . If we win all those, we're not that far back. We have to win a lot of our next 13 games."

Brett Clark agrees.

"Every game is a must-win," the defenseman said. "We have to go out and compete hard every night and give ourselves a chance to win. You never know how things are going to turn out until the end of the year.

"Every team in our division is winning. We just have to worry about us and do what we can do as a team. We have to keep playing the way we've been playing."

Colorado has games remaining against San Jose, Vancouver (three), Minnesota and Nashville, and all of those teams are ahead of the Avalanche in the Western Conference playoff race.

"We have our work cut out for us, that's for sure," defenseman John-Michael Liles said. "We have to play well, we have to win a lot of games, and we have to get a little help."

And the Avalanche needs to play solid hockey.

"We have to come out strong," goalie Peter Budaj said. "We're playing in our building. Hopefully, we can take it to them. . . . We have to play with the lead. The last few games we've been playing well defensively and haven't given up too many chances."

Quenneville is encouraged by the Avalanche's recent play.

"A lot of the parts of our game have been real strong . . . ," he said. "We're finding ways to win hockey games. All you can do is control what you can control.

"We've haven't gotten any help along the way. All three teams we've been trying to catch have been picking up a lot of points. (Tonight) is a chance to close the gap."

All together now . . .

"It's a must-win," Quenneville said.

Flames at Avalanche

• When: 7 tonight.

• Where: Pepsi Center.

• TV/radio: Altitude; KKFN-AM (950).

• Leading scorers

Calgary (37-22-10) G A P

RW Jarome Iginla 33 46 79

LW Kristian Huselius 30 39 69

LW Alex Tanguay 19 49 68

C Daymond Langkow 28 39 67

D Dion Phaneuf 17 27 44

Coach: Jim Playfair

Colorado (34-29-6) G A P

C Joe Sakic 27 50 77

C Paul Stastny 22 44 66

RW Andrew Brunette 24 41 65

RW Milan Hejduk 28 30 58

LW Wojtek Wolski 20 23 43

Coach: Joel Quenneville

• Injuries: Calgary - RW Darren McCarty (hip) and D Richie Regehr (concussion) are out indefinitely; C Craig Conroy (upper body injury) is day to day. Colorado - D Patrice Brisebois (back surgery), D Jordan Leopold (wrist surgery) and C Pierre Turgeon (calf) are on injured reserve; D Karlis Skrastins (knee) is out; RW Marek Svatos (groin) is day to day.

• Sidelight: Calgary has the second-worst road record in the Western Conference (9-16-8) and the third-worst road record in the NHL. On the other hand, the Flames are tough at home, with the league's best home record (28-6-2). Colorado plays Calgary three more times this season, and two of those are at the Pepsi Center.

• Notes: Peter Budaj will start in goal for the Avalanche. . . . Stastny has an NHL rookie record 18-game points streak (eight goals, 18 assists). . . . Hejduk has an eight-game points streak (six goals, seven assists) and has 28 points in the past 20 games. . . . Quenneville said the playing status of Svatos would be a game-time decision. He has missed the past five games. . . . Former Avalanche player Tanguay ranks second in the NHL with a 21.6 shooting percentage. He has 19 goals on 88 shots.

bentonj@RockyMountainNews.com

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