(Photo credit: Michael Martin/Getty Images)By Chris Carrano
For most of this season, the surprising Colorado Avalanche have had a tight grip on a playoff berth. After last nights 5-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, all their playoff hopes are dangling from a thread. With Calgary’s victory last night, the Avalanche only have a two-point cushion over the Flames for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.
The two teams play each other on Friday night in what should be a monumental classic in the Rocky Mountains. For Calgary, and most of its fans, anything less than a playoff berth this season will be considered unsuccessful and would probably lead to the exiling of the Sutter brothers, GM Daryll and Head Coach Brent. The Avs, however, have been a surprise all season long and were never expected to make a playoff run.
The Avalanche have lost three straight games and six of their last seven. Much like how the stock market corrects itself, maybe the NHL’s Western Conference is doing the same. Teams like Detroit who were out of playoff positioning before the Olympic break now find themselves in thick of the race as they sit in sixth place and Colorado, who expected to be a bottom feeder this season, sees it’s stock falling rapidly.
Goalie Craig Anderson has given up 14 goals in this last three starts and surrendered five goals on the 27 shots he faced last night. "We're still leading the race," he said. "We have six games left and destiny in our own hands. We control our own fate. If we win Friday, we're looking pretty good. That's the bottom line. We need to focus for the next game and put this one behind us."
So what’s the problem with the Avs? "I certainly don't think that we're squeezing the sticks," Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said. "All season long, the couple things that we've done pretty consistently is play with passion and play with energy, use our speed. We've got to find a way to get that back for 60 minutes in our game. Right now that's lacking."Listen, we're fighting for a playoff spot. There's a lot on the line here, but we're still in a good spot. Are we playing the way we want to be playing? No, but it's a long season and you're going to face some obstacles along the way and we've got to face the challenge the right way."
At least the coach is positive. Colorado picked the wrong time to get into a slump and with six games left to play, time is running out.
AROUND THE NHL
Sabres vs. Panthers: Buffalo moved closer to clinching the Northeast Division last night with a 6-2 win over the Florida Panthers. Rookies Tyler Ennis and Nathan Gerbe scored for the Sabres Tim Kennedy, Henrik Tallinder and Adam Mair also chipped in scores and Jason Pominville scored his team leading 24th goal of the season. Trade deadline acquisition Raffi Torres had three assists in his first game back since sitting out for six with a hand injury. He was also named the first star of the game. Goalie Ryan Miller made 13 saves for his 39th victory which pretty much eliminated the Panthers from making the playoffs.
Blackhawks vs. Wild: Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville decided to start Antii Niemi in goal last night and his decision paid off as Niemi and Co. blanked the Wild 4-0 last night in Minnesota. Niemi made four saves during a 91-second 5-on-3 power play for Minnesota late in the second period, and held off the Wild the rest of the way to improve to 21-7-3. "It's big, it was a nice response," Quenneville said. "It was nice to show him some confidence as well and he responded with the game we were looking for."
Coyotes vs. Flames: With their playoff hopes all but evaporated less than a week ago, the Flames held on for a 2-1 victory over the Phoenix for their second straight win. Ian White started the scoring with a second period power play goal and Ales Kotalik netted the game winner at 3:46 of the third. Lee Stempniak pulled the Coyotes to with one when he scored on a feed from teammate Wojtek Wolski, but despite pressing hard in the closing minutes, the Coyotes couldn’t get the equalizer. The Flames also stunned the Washington Capitals in their prior game and head to Colorado tomorrow with a chance to tie the Avalanche for the eighth and final playoff spot. We know what the stakes are," said coach Brent Sutter said. "We knew going in ... if we did our job and got some help that we'd have an opportunity to go down there two points behind. It's a big difference from where we were last Saturday."
OTHER SCORES
Carolina 2, MONTREAL 1
Tampa Bay 2, PITTSBURGH 0
DALLAS 5, San Jose 1
TONIGHT'S GAMES (All times EST)
Florida at Boston 7pm
Buffalo at Toronto 7pm
Philadelphia at NY Islanders 7pm
Atlanta at Washington 7pm
Carolina at Ottawa 7:30pm
Columbus at Detroit 7:30pm
St. Louis at Nashville 8pm
Vancouver at Los Angeles 10:30pm
