It is often impossible to say what gives a hockey club "jump," the fabled elixir that separates winners from losers during the long winter's journey into spring. It is most often attributed to travel or age or that perennial favorite, hotel room service, but these explanations are as fluid as the ice in Los Angeles.

For the Avalanche, there is no mystery about it. The Avs' discovery of jump at this late date is attributable to only one factor: desperation.

To watch them cling somehow to the periphery of the playoff race is invigorating, particularly with their leading men - Joe Sakic, Milan Hejduk and Paul Stastny - leading the way, as they did Wednesday night against Calgary.

"If we lose this one, it's almost impossible, 12 points down," said Sakic, who flipped in career goal No. 602. "Huge win. We still have work to do, but we're still in it. Gave ourselves hope."

Unfortunately, this sort of desperation is required of the Avs and not of New Jersey and Detroit, their former compatriots in NHL domination, for a reason. The Avs' front office has lost its golden touch.

It is not just goalie Jose Theodore sitting there on the bench with his $5.5 million salary. Even if you don't think Alex Tanguay is worth that kind of money, you have to admit it would have been far better spent on him than on Theodore.

Call it bad luck, if you like, that Jordan Leopold, the defenseman the Avs acquired for Tanguay, has managed to play in just 15 games while Tanguay would rank second on the Avs in points. But imagine how many fewer leads they might have blown if Tanguay had brought a healthy defenseman instead of a spectator.

In spite of the front office, the players that remain are giving it a final shot, inspired no doubt by the amazing Sakic, who is not only a leader's leader but a hockey player's hockey player at 37.

But no amount of desperation can overcome basic arithmetic. Having won 13 of 14 available points in their past seven games, they are still eight points out with 12 games to play, all the more troublesome in an era when teams ahead of you can get a point for losing.

In today's NHL, the secret for teams in the middle of the pack is to play as many overtime games as possible. That favors teams that play dull, low-scoring games, which is not the Avs.

It's a serious flaw in modern scoring. The Minnesota Wild, for example, has gone to overtime in twice as many games (24) as the Avs (12). As a result, the Wild was guaranteed at least one point in 34 percent of its games, while the Avs have been that lucky in just 17 percent of theirs.

In fact, winning games in regulation no longer means what it once did. Scoring one more shootout goal than your opponent is worth the same as a dominating 6-1 victory. Worse, scoring one fewer shootout goal than your opponent is worth half a dominating 6-1 victory. That makes no sense at all.

Of course, if you're solidly in the playoff bracket, as the Avs used to be, you don't worry about such things. If you have to make up 10 points down the stretch, teams ahead of you collecting points for losing can be pretty annoying.

Even with all the new rules and restrictions on spending, the Devils rank second in the Eastern Conference. The Wings not only are first in the West but have the most points in the league. Their dominance, it turns out, was not all about money.

The same cannot be said of the Avs, who stand ninth in the West.

No matter how inspiring their last-minute playoff push might be, it is necessary only because their front office ain't what it used to be. Even in defeat, it was as if the Flames were trying to remind them of this fact by scoring one of their goals on a feed from Tanguay to Stephane Yelle, former Avs shipped north in exchange for players now vaguely recollected.

Nor is it just the bad moves - Theodore, Patrice Brisebois, Pierre Turgeon, Brad May. It is also the good moves not made. For example, tied with Tanguay for second in points for the Flames is Swedish winger Kristian Huselius, obtained in a minor trade with Florida in December 2005 and quite suddenly a 69-point scorer.

The Avs used to make inspired veteran acquisitions, too, from Claude Lemieux to Ray Bourque to Rob Blake. No more. Their goal scorers Wednesday were the remains of their day - Sakic and Hejduk - and the first wave of the next generation in Stastny.

Refusing to lose, as they did Wednesday, as they have for two weeks, they are as deserving of admiration as any Avalanche leaders ever.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the front office.

kriegerd@RockyMountainNews.com