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Colorado knows it has to put full effort in against Minnesota
Published March 31, 2007 at midnight
CENTENNIAL - Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville began to have flashbacks during the third period of Thursday night's game against Phoenix.
Colorado was plagued earlier this season with poor efforts in the third that left possible points on the table. The Avalanche has played much better late in games during its 11-1-2 streak that has kept it in contention for the final Western Conference playoff berth.
Colorado almost let a 4-0 lead slip away against the Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena, but it held on for an essential 4-3 victory that kept it seven points behind the Calgary Flames with five games remaining in the regular season.
"We had a perfect two periods and had a nice 4-0 lead," Quenneville said. "You think it's going to be much of the same, and then they score a quick one and then it's 4-2 and it's a real hockey game.
"We gave up two leads against them in their building early on in the year," he said. "We did some good things. You just can't let your guard down at any point. I think early on in the year, that game maybe would have gone to overtime and we wouldn't have come up with two (points).
"That's the difference in putting something together in a positive way that we haven't been able to do."
The Minnesota Wild will be at the Pepsi Center today (1, Altitude) to face the Avalanche in another "must-win" game for Colorado.
"We were up 4-0," Brett Clark said. "We played a great 40 minutes and then we started to sit back, and that's something we can't do right now."
The Flames, who play at Vancouver tonight, could eliminate the Avalanche with a win combined with a Colorado loss.
Colorado must beat Minnesota to assure that its game Tuesday in Calgary is meaningful.
"We needed (the Wild) to beat Calgary," defenseman John-Michael Liles said. "They are probably as disappointed as we are with how they played, and they'll be coming in ready to go (today). There's no doubt about that. We'll keep going out trying to get two points and keep playing the way we've been playing."
Colorado hasn't gotten any help from some of the league's better teams in Detroit, Nashville and Minnesota, who lost to the Flames in the past 11 days.
"It's frustrating," forward Ian Laperriere said. "We need help, for sure. It doesn't matter if we win all our games; if we don't have any help, it won't do us any good. We have to take care of our end."
Wild at Avalanche
• When: 1 p.m. today.
• Where: Pepsi Center.
• TV/radio: Altitude. KKFN-AM (950).
• Leading scorers:
Minnesota (45-25-8) G A P
RW Pavol Demitra 25 39 64
RW Brian Rolston 31 31 62
C P.-M. Bouchard 19 37 56
C Mikko Koivu 19 33 52
RW Marian Gaborik 28 23 51
Coach: Jacques Lemaire
Colorado (40-30-7) G A P
C Joe Sakic 34 57 91
LW Andrew Brunette 25 52 77
C Paul Stastny 25 46 71
RW Milan Hejduk 31 33 64
C Tyler Arnason 16 32 48
Coach: Joel Quenneville
• Injuries: Minnesota - G Manny Fernandez (knee) and D Petteri Nummelin (leg) are day to day. Colorado - D Patrice Brisebois (back surgery), D Jordan Leopold (wrist) and C Pierre Turgeon (calf) are on injured reserved. Ian Laperriere (groin) is probable.
• Notes: Minnesota, battling Vancouver for the Northwest Division title, has lost its past two games after putting together a franchise-record nine-game winning streak. . . . Minnesota has earned a point in nine straight road games (7-0-2). . . . Colorado has tied a franchise record for wins in the month of March (10-1-2). The record for any month is 11, in January 2004.
What's on tap
The Avalanche is seven points behind the Calgary Flames, with five games remaining, for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference:
Avalanche's remaining games
• Today: Minnesota
Avalanche is 3-4 against Wild, 1-2 at home.
• Tuesday: at Calgary
Avalanche is 3-3 against Flames, 1-2 on the road.
• Thursday: at Vancouver
Avalanche is 4-3 against Canucks, 1-2 on the road.
• April 7: Nashville
Avalanche is 2-1 against Predators, 1-1 on the road.
• April 8: Calgary
Avalanche is 3-3 against Flames, 2-1 at home.
Flames' remaining games
• Today: Vancouver
Flames are 3-4 against Canucks, 2-2 at home.
• Tuesday: Colorado
Flames are 3-3 against Avalanche, 2-1 at home.
• Thursday: at San Jose
Flames are 1-2 against Sharks, 0-1 on the road.
• April 7: Edmonton
Flames are 5-2 against Oilers, 3-0 at home.
• April 8: at Colorado
Flames are 3-3 against Avalanche, 1-2 on the road.
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