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Iginla quest continues vs Flames

January 1, 2016, 7:05 PM ET [1 Comments]
Rick Sadowski
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Happy New Year, everyone! Hope 2016 turns out to be the best year yet.

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Not much going on with the Avalanche following Thursday's 4-3 overtime loss to Chicago before an overflow crowd of 18,048 at the Pepsi Center, with plenty of Blackhawks fans in attendance.

Jarome Iginla's quest for his 600th NHL goal will continue Saturday and it seems fitting that it could come against the Calgary Flames, where in 15-plus seasons he scored 525 of his 599 regular-season goals.

Iginla had three shots on goal Thursday, a couple of them one-timers on power plays, but his four-game scoring streak (two goals, two assists) came to an end.

Iginla is the seventh-leading scorer (fifth among forwards) on the Avalanche with 10 goals and 10 assists in 38 games. He had two goals and an assist in the Avalanche's 6-3 home win against the Flames on Nov. 3, giving him two goals and four assists in six career games against his former team.

The Avalanche are 6-1-2 in their past nine games and they finished December with a 9-3-2 record, their first winning month of the season. They're also 7-2-1 against Central Division teams.

Colorado (18-17-3, 39 points) is four points behind Nashville (18-13-7, 43 points) for the second wild card in the West. The Predators are at Carolina on Saturday and will be at the Pepsi Center next Friday when the Avalanche close out a five-game homestand.

Like the Avalanche, the Flames (17-18-2, 36 points) are in the hunt for a playoff spot. They've lost two games in a row.

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The Avalanche could have used puck-moving defenseman Tyson Barrie in overtime Thursday. He was scratched because of flu-like symptoms and may not be healthy enough to play Saturday.

Frankly, they were fortunate to get a point against the Blackhawks after falling behind 3-1 in the second period. It could have been a lot worse except that goalie Semyon Varlamov kept them within striking distance.

Erik Johnson's goal with 4:55 remaining in regulation sent the game to overtime, just the Avalanche's fourth this season. The Predators, in contrast, have seven overtime losses -- one in a shootout -- and two shootout wins.

"That's what we've been trying to do pretty much all year, bring those games to overtime when we're behind in the third period," coach Patrick Roy said.

A too-many-men penalty proved costly in the extra period as Jonathan Toews scored during the 4-on-3 advantage with 1:31 to play. The Avalanche had a rare 3-on-3 practice Wednesday.

"Should have practiced my line change," Roy said. "I thought we did OK on the 3-on-3 at the start, but I'd like to see us bring more pucks to the net, see us driving more to the net.

"Result-wise, getting a point is a good thing, but we can't be happy with our performance, especially in the second period (when they were outshot 17-5); that was not good enough. Thank God our goalie was there. He made some great saves and kept us there."

Varlamov will be back in goal against the Flames.



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