Funny how a hot streak can so drastically change the outlook of a team, along with the playoff hopes of the club it is chasing.

As recently as Friday, Avalanche forward Andrew Brunette surmised that most hockey observers had written off the team, and he was right.

Now, just a few days later, it's the slumping Calgary Flames' turn to sing that tune.

"Everybody's written us off, but that's fine," Flames forward Craig Conroy told the Calgary Sun. "This could be the point where it turns around and things start going great.

"It's got to start (tonight), though, because we can't take any time off and can't wait any longer because Colorado's coming and we've put ourselves in this position."

The Flames, who host Detroit tonight, lead the Avalanche by four points in what has become a furious race for the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference.

But that lead was 12 points two weeks ago, before the Avalanche completed a 4-0-1 trip, rallied for a crucial 3-2 home win against the Flames and swept this past weekend's games against Phoenix and San Jose, coming from behind in both games.

"This is definitely like playoffs for us right now," Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said.

Might the Flames, who are 1-4-1 in their past six games, be feeling a little heat?

"I don't know what they're feeling," Avalanche captain Joe Sakic said. "But we know we still have a lot of work to do. We know we have to win a lot of hockey games."

The Avalanche has gained eight points on the Flames during an 8-0-1 run that seemingly came out of nowhere. The Avalanche hadn't won more than three games in a row before the streak, and that only happened twice.

"We've been chasing it all year, looking to get into one of these stretches where we feel good about ourselves," Quenneville said. "It took us a long time to get here, but right now, we want to make sure that we keep playing the same way, which has been noticeably improved."

The Avalanche and Flames each have 10 games remaining and meet April 3 in Calgary and in the April 8 regular-season finale at the Pepsi Center, the makeup contest for the Dec. 21 game postponed by a blizzard.

While the Flames this week take on Detroit and Nashville at home - the Red Wings and Predators are running neck and neck for first place in the Central Division - the Avalanche opens a three-game trip Wednesday in Edmonton to face an Oilers team that lost its 11th straight game Monday, 2-1 against Vancouver.

The Avalanche plays the Oilers on Friday and visits Northwest Division-leading Vancouver on Sunday.

"(The Oilers) are going to be looking to win a game, so that's going to be challenging right there," Quenneville said. "The bottom line is, let's keep playing the way we're playing and concentrate on that and the (playoff) picture gets clearer and clearer. We certainly have gained a lot of ground here down the stretch. Let's try to sustain it."

The Avalanche and Flames each have six road games remaining; Colorado has gone 17-15-3 on the road and Calgary 9-18-8.

"We've been playing with the season on the line for the last month," said Avalanche goalie Peter Budaj, who has posted a 2.07 goals-against average and .917 save percentage in the past nine games. "We've been playing great and, hopefully, we're going to take this momentum into the road trip in Canada.

"I don't want to say we're playing unbelievable, but we're playing much better than we did before and we've gotten the results that we always wanted."

The Avalanche has outscored teams 33-19 during the streak.

"(Budaj) has been strong and steady and comfortable, especially when the game's on the line," Quenneville said. "The guys in front of him through this stretch have been very effective. Guys like (defenseman) Kurt Sauer, who are getting double or triple their normal minutes and giving us a lot of consistency and dependability."

SAKIC HONORED: Sakic was named the NHL's second star of the week for the period ending Sunday. Sakic was the league's second-leading scorer in the week with three goals and six assists in three games.

San Jose's Joe Thornton (four goals, six assists in four games) was the first star and Dallas' Mike Modano (four goals, two assists in four games) was the third star.

Modano scored his 502nd and 503rd career goals to pass Joe Mullen as the all-time goal-scoring leader among U.S.-born players.

Points streak The Avalanche has gone 8-0-1 in the past nine games. It's the Avalanche's longest streak with at least one point since posting a 7-0-5 record from Jan. 19 to Feb. 14, 2004.

Date Opponent Result

Feb. 27 Columbus W 3-2

March 1 at Chicago W 6-1

March 4 at Detroit W 4-3 (OT)

March 6 at Boston W 2-0

March 7 at Buffalo W 3-2 Date Opponent Result

March 11 at Minnesota L 3-2 (OT)

March 14 Calgary W 3-2

March 17 at Phoenix W 6-3

March 18 San Jose W 4-3 (OT)

Remaining games

AVALANCHE

at Edmonton Wednesday

at Edmonton Friday

at Vancouver Sunday

Vancouver March 27

at Phoenix March 29

Minnesota March 31

at Calgary April 3

at Vancouver April 5

Nashville April 7

Calgary April 8

CALGARY

Detroit Tonight

Nashville Thursday

at Chicago Sunday

at Minnesota March 27

at Minnesota March 29

at Vancouver March 31

Avalanche April 3

at San Jose April 5

Edmonton April 7

at Avalanche April 8

sadowskir@RockyMountainNews.com

Back to Top